Sua Sponte
Active Member
Have a weird problem that has gotten progressively worse over the past season.
When under way, there are times when the steering just totally does not work. At all. I can be zipping along on plane and turn the wheel three or four complete rotations with no effect (with the auopilt disengaged). I have a rudder indicator on the autopilot that shows me that the rudders are not responding. My electronic rudder indicator sensor is on the starboard rudder and seems to be working fine.
The thing is, if I click on the autopilot, it works perfectly with no issues at all. I can steer the boat perfectly with the autopilot engaged by using the click/chirp knob.
Anyone have any troubleshooting tips before I start tearing everything apart? Could this be a steering pump issue (mine is on my starboard engine)? My immediate thought is that since the autopilot works fine, the pump is OK...is that a faulty assumption?
What should I be looking for? I searched the forums with "steering slipping", "steering cables", and a couple others with no luck....help?
When under way, there are times when the steering just totally does not work. At all. I can be zipping along on plane and turn the wheel three or four complete rotations with no effect (with the auopilt disengaged). I have a rudder indicator on the autopilot that shows me that the rudders are not responding. My electronic rudder indicator sensor is on the starboard rudder and seems to be working fine.
The thing is, if I click on the autopilot, it works perfectly with no issues at all. I can steer the boat perfectly with the autopilot engaged by using the click/chirp knob.
Anyone have any troubleshooting tips before I start tearing everything apart? Could this be a steering pump issue (mine is on my starboard engine)? My immediate thought is that since the autopilot works fine, the pump is OK...is that a faulty assumption?
What should I be looking for? I searched the forums with "steering slipping", "steering cables", and a couple others with no luck....help?