Cable steering system

The owner of the boat at the next dock over was having his boat worked on again. The boat's hydraulic steering system was not working right again and it looked like he was going to have to replace the steering cable unit again. Lack of use and maintenance is the real problem, but I could not figure a nice way to tell him that. The problem eliminated itself by the mechanic telling him as much.

He asks me if my boat had the same problem. I said no, but I have a drum and cable system that is of the type that is not used very much anymore.  He wanted to see it.

I showed him the one on our 37’ boat and explained how it worked. Then I showed him the one I made for the little schooner I built, that tied the rudder on the stern to a ships wheel I had made. The schooner set up works well but it is a little rough looking. When I made it I was not sure I could get it to work so the wheel is not as nice as it could be. I also made the drum from scrap plywood so it looks a little crude also, but it is hidden and is not normally seen. Next time I pull the boat out I will make a wheel and drum that looks better.

He said that the system looked like the one that his Granddad had on his boat, but that was over 30 years ago. I told him that it probably was basically the same. Once set up, not much can give problems.

The system has a steering wheel with a drum that has two sections to it.  There is a passage hole that lets you run your cable through the hole so that part of the cable can wrap around the drum on one side, clock wise and the rest of the cable can wrap around the other half of the drum counter clock wise.

When the wheel is turned, cable wraps on to one side of the drum while the other side of the drum lets the cable unwind. When the ends of the cable are attach to a motor or tiller that pivots, one on each side, turning the wheel will turn the motor or tiller. Springs on each side are used to keep the cables tensioned as you turn the wheel.

Pulleys are used to rout the cable from the wheel to the motor or tiller. The basic system is simple and time tested.

I had to get creative to get the set up to work on my rudder that hung off the back of my sailboat. I wanted to have a tiller override, which could take over ASAP, so I ended up with multiple linkages and springs. 

Old ideas and systems do not make them obsolete. When I wanted a way of knowing someone came in to a shop I was running, I was ready to go out and buy the components to build a buzzer for the door. My Father-in-law said, just put a bell on the door handle. What a great low tech, low cost solution that was. He was always using Occam’s razor…the simplest explanations or solutions are the most plausible.

I put a cord on the drum for the picture... the cable would not stay on the drum for the photo.