sea star vs. dual rack

[jtb]

I am running a 17' Vector with a 2.5 merc Bob's nose cone, jack plate, land n' sea solid mounts, torque tab and exhaust. I love all 1700 Lbs. of my boat but she likes to chine walk over 6000 rpm! I am using sea star hydraulic steering and noticed that on www.hydrostream.com the sell them new with sea star "pro".
My question is am I better off getting a sea star "pro" helm or going with a new dual rack system?

Any feed back (no pun intended) is welcome.

Thanks.

[Eagle One]

If you break a line on the Seastar unit you lose all steering. If you break a cable on the dual rack you'll likely not notice it and you'll still have steering although it is not as refined, it's hard to beat especially from a safety standpoint.
Eagle One.

[jtb]

thanks for the reply.........any one want to buy a slightly used sea star steering system?

[2springers26]

how much??? [email protected]

[jtb]

retails $1000 new. I havent thought of a price yet. If your serious let me know [email protected]

JT

[marshan162]

If you break a line on the Seastar unit

Is this something that does happen on a correctly installed system or a cautionary observation

Karl

[jtb]

I have (on other boats not mine) seen what happens with small leaks never had a line break or blow out. Normally we just get sloppy steering. Not cool when haulin' ass.
I was looking in a catalog at work and noticed that they sell kevlar lines, that would damn sure help!

[marshan162]

I have (on other boats not mine) seen what happens with small leaks

Were the leaks in the actual hose or at connections due to bad installation

karl

[jtb]

I have seen leaks on fittings and rubbed thru lines. I think the Kevlar lines are harder to rub thru. most of the time bad installation shows up pretty quick.

[captcarb]

I have seen leaks at the helm O-rings on skiboats that get run a lot.

The danger of the seastar is breaking the single bolt that attaches it to the tiller. Use the correct Mercury bolt and check/replace it often. Some dual cable systems also use the single bolt.

There is a multitude of information on this board on this subject.

Jim

[Eagle One]

On a recreational boat it's great but I had a line blow a hole in it during an offshore race and got a very hard left turn before I planned for it and that was at 80 MPH in a 28 Ft boat. Over 100 would have been hard to deal with. We still have to use this unit in the Supersort class but we do use Kevlar lines. Had one of those break in an accident, got cut by debrie. Just no substitute for DUAL systems when it comes to safety. I have had the Sea Star unit on a bass boat and after a few years it began to leak internally causing the need to correct periodically while running. Otherwise it's a great product if you maintain it.
Eagle One

[billyboy]

Eagle one, You mentioned your bass boat has Seastar and it is internally leaking??????? how would you know. Maybe it 's just the relief valve, and maybe you need the "PRO" seastar system rated at 1500psi, which system is on that bass boat? billy

[blkmtrfan]

Do you mean through the helm?