How To Repair Outboard Motor Steering

Information technology's Electrical

After installing Dometic Optimus electric steering, the author rides loftier on what he calls "the wave of the future."

Dometic's Optimus Electrical Steering Actuator represents a major change to a critical system, and I don't think information technology's an exaggeration to telephone call information technology the future of outboard steering. I installed Dometic's electric steering on my 22-foot center panel, and it has delivered on the promise of simple installation and operation while assuasive precise command, minus the messy hydraulics.

My 22-foot Cobia came with a well-used—and at the time, leaking—BayStar hydraulic steering system. Replacing the seals on the hydraulic ram resolved the leak, simply the steering was still not very responsive, and a lot of endeavour was needed to make a plow, even later purging the system twice. Frankly, I had had enough. I'd seen Dometic's organisation afterward information technology debuted last year and wanted to install it in my center panel.

The Optimus system consists of two primary components: First, the electric actuator at the stern that connects to the outboard (one per engine) and second, the electronic, bulldoze-past-wire helm unit to which the steering wheel mounts. The electric actuator turns the motor past spinning roller screws inside the threaded body of the actuator. The arrangement also has a brandish and wiring harness. The wiring harness connects to the side of the actuator, the gunkhole's batteries, the helm unit and the boat'due south NMEA 2000 network. There are 3 CANBus networks running; 2 are used for communications between helm units and the actuators, and the 3rd communicates with the boat'due south NMEA 2000 electronics. The Optimus display is currently required for all installations. You can also add a joystick with multiple engines for easier maneuvering, dynamic positioning and autopilot. The joystick includes a loftier-precision attitude, heading and position sensor packet to accurately maneuver the vessel.

Before showtime the installation, I was mostly concerned with pulling the big wiring parcel through my boat. Fortunately, Cobia built the boat with a four-inch PVC rigging tube that was only virtually half full. Between the relatively empty chase, the apply of fiber-drinking glass fishing rods and the help of my petite, 12-year-old daughter Molly (who I parked upside down inside the panel to take hold of the wire bundle as it came through), the wiring -harness was quickly in identify.

Emboldened by my success pulling the wiring, I moved on to testing the setup with the components in the gunkhole. Before ripping out the existing Baystar organisation, I wanted to make sure the new i was going to work. I was able to make it as far as the display wanting to calibrate (which I skipped considering the actuator was not secured), and everything looked proficient. I had to drain the old hydraulic lines and have the ram off the motor. That concluding part turned out to be the hardest step in the entire install. It took lots of pushing, pulling, pounding and an errant wrench to the forehead to gratuitous the erstwhile, corroded ram.

Installing the actuator was as simple equally following the diagram and making sure all of the washers, spacers and nuts fit in the right place. The final job was connecting the ram to the tiller arm. By the grace of something, I didn't drop the bolt, nut or washer in the drink, and everything bolted together nicely.

All that was left at that bespeak was making the final connections, which consisted of battery cables, captain and display connections and a NMEA 2000 network connection. Scale was a two-infinitesimal task which required little more than turning the steering to each lock. Half dozen hours after starting, I had the entire system in place, including a new hole in the dash for the Optimus display. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the system was to install and excited to try it out.

After extensive dockside testing the post-obit morning, I dropped the lines, backed out of the slip and went for a spin. If you're expecting me to study on some inherent bug, then you lot're going to be disappointed. The arrangement has worked -perfectly. I've logged more than lx hours and 700 nautical miles on the h2o with the new steering with null troubles; it's precise, intuitive and piece of cake to use.

My direct footing for comparison is the well-used Baystar hydraulic steering, which had a worn helm pump that fabricated the turning try asymmetrical, with turns to port requiring much more effort than starboard. This added upward to a fatiguing experience, specially in slow zones where more corrections are required to go on the boat straight. I could have replaced the old captain pump and resolved some of my issues with the existing steering, but I wouldn't have enjoyed the many benefits of electronic steering.

With the electronic helm, a slight plow of the wheel corresponds to a precise movement of the outboard. In that location's no sloppiness at all, and effort is always the aforementioned. Y'all can too adjust the number of turns lock-to-lock at low speed and loftier speed. (I've set my steering for four turns lock-to-lock at low speed and six at high speed.) I've also set the steering endeavor at lx percent at low speed and 85 at high speed. I like a stiffer bike than the default settings, and information technology was very piece of cake to tweak it to my preferences.

When the ignition is off, the actuator has a mechanical lock that firmly holds the motor in place. I've withal to come across the motor move from a following sea, wake hitting the stern or any other force. This control has nearly eliminated any worry of unintended turns, fifty-fifty if I take my easily off the wheel for a moment. Before, when I tilted the engine out of the water, the outboard would slowly fall to 1 side or the other and rest on the stops. With electronic steering, the motor never moves unless you turn the wheel.

My Yamaha 150 has a 35 amp alternator, and I paid shut attention to how much power the actuator consumed. My testing never saw consumption to a higher place sixteen amps, and even those levels were -fleeting. When the motor isn't turning, it uses less than 2.5 amps when -underway and much less when stationary.

Calling out i product equally the time to come of such a broad category as marine steering may seem bold or fifty-fifty silly, just if the cost can be brought down, I feel this system volition go the new standard. The precise control, simple operation and like shooting fish in a barrel integration are all compelling—as is the absence of hydraulic fluid, pumps and lines.

The single engine/unmarried captain configuration for my boat carries a listing price of $five,200. Dometic says a typical twin-engine installation with a joystick would cost $18,200. The visitor says information technology plans to bring the toll downwardly and is working on offer simple installs without displays. I'd also similar to see a simpler, less-expensive autopilot for installs that don't take the joystick and an anti-theft Pin when the display is -present. An added level of security (not possible with other steering options) would just increment the value of electronic steering.

Overall, I'm thrilled with the organisation and look frontwards to years of problem-costless, reliable steering.

This article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.