From Here to Modernity
When we initially purchased Island Eagle it had a steering system that had to be seen to be believed. Starting from the wheel, it went like this:
1) The wheel (an incredible bronze beast from a World Ware II Liberty Ship) drove a vertical shaft (#1) through a rack and pinion.
2) Shaft #1 drove a right-angle gearbox (#1) at the bottom of the wheel housing.
3) The output of gearbox #1 drove a horizontal shaft (#2) with a universal joint (#1) that ran to the forward edge of the pilothouse, where it drove another right angle gearbox (#2).
4) The output of gearbox #2 drove a vertical shaft (#3) down through the saloon and into the lower bathroom, where it drove a right-angle gearbox (#3) bolted to the ceiling.
5) The output of gearbox #3 drove a horizontal shaft (#4) that ran along the deckbeams aft through the port cabin, through the bulkhead to the engineroom, through the engineroom and terminating at the aft end of the engineroom.
6) The aft and of the shaft drive through a chain and sprocket (#1) to a lower horizontal shaft (#5), located below the port side deck.
7) Shaft #5 continued aft, using a universal (#2) as it followed the curve of the hull. It terminated just aft of the bulkhead between the lazarette and the master stateroom.
8) Shaft #5 then drove a chain drive (#2) to a short horizontal jackshaft (#6) mounted on the lazarette bulkhead.
9) Shaft #6 drove aft to a massive right-angle gearbox (#4) mounted right by the rudder post.
10) The output of gearbox #4 drove the rudder via a very large chain (#3).
So, if you've been keeping track that's six shafts, four right-angle gearboxes, three chain drives and two universals.
Needless to say, this was very, very, very difficult to operate. Turning the wheel to real muscle, to the extent that when I docked the boat I'd have sweat running down my fact. Add to this the fact that there was more than 180 degrees of slack in the system, so you could wiggle the wheel around with no effect at all. Finally, there was no rudder angle indicator!!! So the only way to tell the rudder angle was to count wheel revolutions, because it was 8 turns lock-to-lock.
Here's a picture of chain #2 and shaft #6, as well as gearbox #4 and chain #3.
So, we decided to solve this whole problem by replacing the mechanical steering with a brand-new Jastram hydraulic system. Our good friend Aaron Paugh did a very, very professional installation, with help from Bob and Scott. We ran Type K 1/2 copper tubing, and were able to do the entire run from the pilothouse to the lazarette with only a single joint, which is in a nice visible location. We used SwageLok fittings for all copper joints, and JIC fittings on all of the flexible lines. We also plumbed in risers so we could put
the autopilot pump in the engineroom, because the noise would be annoying in the lazarette, which is open to the master stateroom.
Scott feeds the tubing from the lazarette to Aaron in the bilge:
Here are a couple of shots showing the copper lines and also the location of the autopilot pump:
Verdict: the new hydraulic steering system has been perfect. Well, other than the fact that we forgot to tighten one of the SwageLoks and on the day we filled the system we left for lunch and came back to find that roughly 3 gallons of hydraulic oil had run into the bilge. From which it had been pumped by the bilge pumps. Leaving a massive slick around our boat. And did I mention that this was the very day that we had received a WRITTEN warning from the harbourmaster about ensuring that we took proper environmental precautions during the refit? Here's a picture of me that evening, it was definitely the worst day of the entire project:
| 
Login
|
