1975 Starbuck 18' Jetboat 402 Berkeley 12JC

[boatnut62]

our local hydraulic shop builds the custom to order. Have had many made over the years and have always had good luck. oiling your cables before storage for the winter is always a good idea. a hose clamped to the end of the cable and rigged to air will help push oil through the cable. always use a very light oil. wd40 works good for me.

[Mikes402Jetboat]

I finally installed my new Telefex SS141 Stainless Steel - Rack and Pinion with a 16' single cable today. I used a rotory saw to cut the hole in the dash to slightly larger than 2 1/4 " then drilled the 3 holes to mount the aluminum plate to the dash, that hold the new helm up. I drilled the holes slightly larger than the directions said to. Once the holes were all drilled out, I used marine epoxy to seal up the bare fiberglass and wood to help prevent any dry rot from forming in the dash holes. (I read up on drilling holes in fiberglass, and took a little advise to do this for safety). My rack and pinion system had to be inverted from what the directions showed. The rack was mounted on the bottom instead of the top of the helm. I had to do this as the boat is left handed steering...not right handed. My cable runs down the left side of the boat, not the right. (If your boat is left handed steering, and your cable is running down the left side of the boat, you will also have to do this!) When I tested the steering system as shown in the directions (rack on the top of the helm), the cable was actually working backwards (turning right moved the jet to the left), so I unbolted the helm from the rack and pinion and moved the rack to the bottom of the helm. This solved the problem for me, and I thought I would share this info in case anyone else has to replace an old left hand steering system in a jet boat. I still have to re-install the port fuel tank, sending unit, wiring, and gas line...good job for tomorrow as it is getting late. As always, I appreciate the advice and comments from members of this forum. I feel I have learned quite a bit about the steering in boats at this point, and hope to not have any future issues anytime soon. A friend showed me a peice that mounts at the end of the cable, it has an o ring and a zerk fitting on it to help lube the cable at the end of the transom, and keep water out. I haven't purchased it yet but plan to.

Thanks for all the input guys!

Mike in Missouri.

[Mikes402Jetboat]

Posted a new picture of the jet boat if anybody wants to check her out. The new steering works great now, and I'm glad to be done with it!

Mikes402JetBoat

[SS-201]

Be sure it steers the same direction, some cables go up the left and some go up the right. If you have that problem they make a adapter to change the direction that goes to the helm and the cable goes to that.
I had that happen to me, my son took it out and ran into the dock.

[Mikes402Jetboat]

I already checked that out, and have the steering working correctly. I checked it before final assembly.

I had to turn the aluminum plate that holds the helm to the dash 180 degrees from it's original position shown in the instructions, so the helm would bolt up to it upside down. I redilled the dash to mount the plate 180 degrees from what I had already drilled it for. (turned the aluminum plate around 180 degrees from what the instructions showed to make the helm bolt in upside down). Unbolted the helm from the rack and pinion cable assembly, and flipped the rack and pinion to the bottom instead of at the top as the directions showed. (most boats are right hand drive, mine is left hand. Instructions are only for right hand drive boats without any warning or any instructions for making it into a left hand drive. Rebolted the helm and rack and pinion back together after flipping it over, and rechecked the steering before before drilling or putting anything back into the dashboard. Once that was done, it worked correctly...so I mounted the helm to the dashboard and everything checks out.

Thanks for the warning though...after all the work it took to get the old parts out, and get the old cable out...it was fiberglasssed to the floor in one spot. I made darn sure it worked correctly before putting the fuel tank, apholstry and seats back into the boat. That I have to say the hardest part was getting the fuel tank back in with the motor and Bassit headers still in the boat. The tube that goes through the transom that the steering cable goes through, had to be loosened up quite a bit in order to remove the old cable and to put the new one in, since the bellhousing of the motor was interfering with the cable coming out. I made sure to get that tight, and to seal it with fresh silicon on both side of the transom too.

Thanks for your concern!

Mike