17.2 DE: replace the mech steering or go Hydraulic?

Running sea star dual helm on big boat. Been good 2 years now. Also running nfb on a 17 .5
Aluminum with a 50 merc was a bit stiff but is better now. The cable wasn’t compatible with my existing helm so keep that in mind.( you might run into same thing by the sounds of it) I would also suggest running the recommended grease for it not axle bearing grease. Or Lithium
 
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Early 70's 18.5' D.E. with a 302 Ford 270 volvo leg.
Replaced the old rack and pinion helm with a new NFB seastar rack and pinion helm and new cable. The helm and cable come as a kit.
The helm,.cable and some new steering connection components came to around 500 bucks ish if I remember correctly.
All works well. Nice and smooth going from hard left to hard right.
 
Always impressed with the vevor brand stuff as far as Chinese knockoffs go they’re quality seems to be quite good. I know someone who has their helms and have seen them myself pretty impressed. Reviews sound positive.

m.vevor.ca

150HP Hydraulic Outboard Steering Kit Teleflex Marine S ystem | VEVOR CA

Buy 150HP Hydraulic Outboard Steering Kit Teleflex Marine S ystem at cheap price online, with Youtube reviews and FAQs, we generally offer free shipping to Europe, US, etc.
m.vevor.ca m.vevor.ca
 
23Hourston said:
Running sea star dual helm on big boat. Been good 2 years now. Also running nfb on a 17 .5















Aluminum with a 50 merc was a bit stiff but is better now. The cable wasn’t compatible with my existing helm so keep that in mind.( you might run into same thing by the sounds of it) I would also suggest running the recommended grease for it not axle bearing grease. Or Lithium























Cheers. I've done the same for a long time on larger boats than this DE. The seastar stuff has always been good. The rear steer seems to wear out every couple years but as others mentioned, rebuild kits are reasonable. Anything above the 30x10 and I'd be on to an electric assist.

Thanks for the mention about the lithium grease!
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I had mechanical steering on my last boat, a 2000 Campion 542, I switched it over to the Baystar hydraulic steering and it was night and day. I did the conversion myself, I just had to zip cut the steering rod into pieces to remove it out of the motor well. What else are we going to spend our money on, a great upgrade and no steering wheel creep.
 
Fishin said:
Owned a few different boats mostly hourstons and double eagles all had mechanical cable style steering, I’ve since switched to hydraulic steering when I re powered my hourston in my opinion I’ll never go back, easy to install on your own well worth the money just go with a quality kit and your set, I haven’t had to do a thing to it. . My boats a 17’ hourston with a 2022 115 mercury I found with cable steering on a smaller boat that if I had 2 people on one side netting a fish the motor would tend to turn left or right depending which side the weight was on, now just point where you wanna go and the motor only turns when you want it to.
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This is the exact reason I switched my 17’ Hourston and then my 18’2 Hourston to hydraulic. Cable drove me nuts when leaning over the side
 
Hydraulic all the way. Have had it on a couple boats and no issues. No feedback is great, troll straight and will not turn itself. Very little maintenance if any
 
This thread showed up so I figured I'd give it closure. It's winter and I'm bored. Maybe it's useful to someone else down the road making a similar decision.

I went with cable steering and it's been great for a year. Turns with ease, doesn't wander or turn by itself when your hands are off. It's night and day from the old system. Easy Instal. The cables of today can be pretty flexible and easy to deal with. Whole removal and Instal of complete system took two hours.

I think most guys go from a ****** old cable steering system to a new hydraulic system and can't believe the difference. If you go from a new cable system to a new hydro system on a small boat you might not notice all that much difference. Sure, it'll be smoother with hydro but it ain't night and day.

I was shocked how smooth the new cable unit was. The three cable steer boats I've had were all shot (systems were all old) and I just assumed that's the best cables had to offer. I never changed any of them till this one.

The cable steering on the 115 yam turns slightly easier than the hydraulic steering on my aluminum swinging twin V8 for reference.

From a cost stand point, the below unit I installed was around $250. Somewhere around 15-20% of the cost of going seastar/ Uflex hydraulic.

Heres the unit I installed in the 17.2DE

Uflex Fourtech 16' Mach Rotary Steering System w/Helm
 
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