steering feel hydralic vs. nfb vs dual cable

[BoatGoFaster]

When you switch to hydralic or the no-feedback steering do you lose the feeling that you have with cables.

Right now I have the teleflex dual cable rotary . Its old and I think time to replace. I've heard that with hydralic you lose the ablility to feel the boat and keep it on the pad.

Opinions?

thanks

[Jeff "Yammer"]

.......... some say a VEE bottom cant be felt while at high speeds . My V-king is in 104 MPH range and it was the best investment on my boat . I will never own
another boat without it (SeaStar Pro) . With a Pad-Vee Port to Stbd balence is the key . Any quality steering will work if the boat is rigged right !!!!!!!!!!
You could not control a/the boat with any type of steering if its not set up correctly.

Jeff.

[BoatGoFaster]

.

[woodco]

You will never solve handling problems of a boat that the setup
is wrong from the start.I still use the old style without any complaints but have heard negative feedback on the NFB steering setup.As for the hydraulic steering I have that on my
cruiser and it works flawless............

[BoatGoFaster]

Yes, of course, its critical.
But thats not what I am asking.

My steering helm and cables are 15 years old. I want to update them.

I have a deep vee with a pad. The current system is a Teleflex SAFE-T II helm with dual cables. Its not bad, but I think the cables are stretched or worn. I cant tighten the slop out as good as I used to.

So, now its fifteen years latter. If I replace the system what is everybodies thoughts on driving a pad bottom with Hydralic sea star PRO or a NFB dual cable system.

I have had some people say that you lose the feel of the boat on the pad.

I have NFB on another boat that is strictly deep V and runs no more than 55 with a 150. Not bad on that boat. But thats not a pad bottom fast boat.

opinions? thanks

[woodco]

Stick with the newest and best rated cable steering.....

[Rickracer]

And as far as I know, none of them would ever go back to cable, for what that's worth. I've always liked dual opposed RideGuide, but I've never had a SSP on a pad Vee either. I know that every boat I've ever driven that has hydraulic has been a pleasure to drive, especially around the docks. :cool:

[BoatGoFaster]

Woodco,

Which cable system is the best?

[dan agnew]

if when you drive your pad v boat you count on the steering feel from your wheel you do not want hyd steering, i know jeff has hyd steering and the club is fsat as sh-- but you cannot feel any steering input.
while no feed back is just that no torque steer in or out of throttle the only way i can discribe the driving of a nfb system is when you go to counter steer the boat it is hard to add a smidge of wheel as there is a hump? you must overcome not much but just enough that you wind up oversteering or understeering boat as it is not smooth from your brain to your arms to the wheel to the engine. i hope you understand what i am trying to say just an irritation not impossible. woodco is correct stay with dual cable if you have not changed the helm it is probley worn out to the point that you cannot correctly adjust play out
the other down to hyd is it will NOT return to correct center each time so you wind up constantly moving your hands to a new center when turning left to rite to left. no problem but you must put trim control on turn signal style mount as you will wind up with coil cords wound tight around helm all the time.
i must say jeff and his stream flies in the face of what i am saying and you may get to where you can run without steering input feel but after driving and racing v hulls for 30 years im just too hard head to learn new tricks

just my 25 cents worth

Danny

[woodco]

I would just replace the cables and helm with standard Teleflex
replacement parts.I don't know what the top rated system is as
of today but jus freshen what ya got.....


Well said Danny.......;)

[ScottyG]

I installed my NFB Steering on my 1985 Vector/Merc XR6 near the end of last season and must say I am very happy with the system.I do not miss fighting the torque at different RPM and Trim settings and it makes the boat much more pleasureable to operate while still allowing "feel" on speed runs.Having said that I should explain that in hard turns the NFB clutch disengages(it is designed to do this) and then you can feel the torque and remember the reason you bought the system.It takes about 15 minutes to get used to this. I should note I have not had my boat over 74mph(GPS) so I couldn't tell you how this system will feel at speeds over that.If you are on Long Island you are welcome to drive the boat this season to see how it feels before you spend your $$$.Good Luck,Scotty

[Glenn]

I'll first say that I've only had this boat 2 summers. It's a pad V and from what I've been told by others who have driven it before and previos owners with different systems is that it has always been a bear. My first choice was the Ride Guide system but it didn't fit my budget at the time. I have no regrets about the NFB steering. I will humbly say I haven't really driven hard another similar rig with a different system though. However, when the boat is well balanced with a proper fuel load and a bit of weight port she is drivable and a pleasure to fly in the low 70's with NFB.

Glenn

[dan agnew]

being as how i am a hydrostream nut/freak/obsessed/idiot i love em new old or whatever.
with the side steer it will not handle perfect with you alone or set it up so you can drive it without a passenger and add one and it will not handle course you shouldnt wfo with a passenger anyway hard to drive with wife flaying you with fire ext.

Danny

[pyro]

I instealled nfb on the '86 Baja/merc 150 I used to own. The NFB clutch in the helm adds a tiny bit of slop to the steering. You can let go of the wheel and it doesn't spin, but if you turn left, you feel the torque while the wheel is moving. Overall, I guess it worked OK on that boat, it only was good for 60 mph. If you go with cables, you may be better off with plain rack cable system, as long as you can stand the torque. I wish I had the money to go for hydraulic!

[BoatGoFaster]

I decided to go Sea Star Pro. I figure if the ally's use it, then it works.

Now maybe it will be the boat I feel and not the steering torque.

thanks for all the advice

[Jeff "Yammer"]

................ you will not be sorry . It's nice to dock the boat after a few tanks of gas in a day and feel like you did when you got in the boat . After battling with D/cables all day even a beer can get heavy.

Jeff.

P.S > Remember that if you have trim on the wheel you will have to switch to the turn signal type ( also a nice addition ) .