Steering slack

[mikew]

Hi all,
My first posting on this forum!
I have recently purchased a 2008 Macgregor 26M and absolutely love it. What a great all round boat.
I have noticed however that there is quite a large amount of slack in the steering with the wheel turning maybe a quarter turn or more until it finally bites and has any effect. Is this something i can adjust to take out of the system altogether? I have read many reports of failing steering and replacement systems so am naturally a bit worried about that!
I suspect this will me the first of many posts!
Happy sailing to everyone here.
Mike

[Crikey]

Hi Mike! Indeed, there are many area of the steering that can be improved over stock. Looking through this sites mods will give you much of the information you need to 'firm' up yours.
As you have a used boat, it's possible most of the symptoms you describe might come from a worn rack-and-pinion mechanism behind the helm. I would suggest you immobilize the steering push rod with a pair of vise grips, inside the rear, and then try to determine, with the help of an assistant, how much of the play is attributable to just the wheel mechanism. Follow that through the rest of the linked system as much as you can, and you will determine fairly easily what needs attention.
Alignment and tightness can make a noticeable difference to the way the hull handles under both, power and sail.
Ross

[Divecoz]

Welcome Aboard Mike... Glad to have you along....for The Adventure
Crikey beat me to it.. I'm moving a bit slow this morning.. But anyway .. Yea .. What Crikey said

[Crikey]

Welcome Aboard Mike... Glad to have you along....for The Adventure
Crikey beat me to it.. I'm moving a bit slow this morning.. But anyway .. Yea .. What Crikey said

Hey Dive.... cut me some slack, hahaha!
Hopefully, that'll teach you to lay off the scotch on a weeknight.

[Divecoz]

Hahaha... Na Last Night it was just a Bottle of Red Wine..The wife only had half a glass and I had , had a couple Cocktails while getting dinner ready..OOppss

Welcome Aboard Mike... Glad to have you along....for The Adventure
Crikey beat me to it.. I'm moving a bit slow this morning.. But anyway .. Yea .. What Crikey said

Hey Dive.... cut me some slack, hahaha!
Hopefully, that'll teach you to lay off the scotch on a weeknight.

[Highlander]

Yep,
Two double Scotch cocktains while making dinner is just the ticket !
Just don't drop the dinner plates with the food on them on the way to the table or they'll be no wine for U !!

J

[mikew]

Hi,
Thanks for the welcome and the info. I'm up at the boat again next weekend so i will do some exploring and see what i can identify. Surely it shouldn't have worn out after 3 to 4 years? Anyway i will see what i can find and might well have a few more questions for you then!
Thanks again,
Mike

[mastreb]

Check the rudder brackets to make sure they've not bent out. That's a common and easily corrected problem.

[Dawgfish]

I recently broke the casting hub(spud) inside the helm housing on my X. in the process of OMG WTF NOW, i disassembled it to find the geared hub stripped on half of the hub thats is used. I turned the hub 180 and JB welded the broken center spud to get back to a marina. it worked for 3 day of 35 mph wind. I priced new complete systems @ $180+ ( was advised that the cable was starting to siezeup and caused the strippage)the cable housing was cracked by the fitting by the motor.... good luck!!!

[c130king]

... was advised that the cable was starting to siezeup and caused the strippage ...

This is exactly what happened to my 2005 in 2007. It was about 3 years old at the time. The cable seized up and when I tried to force the wheel to turn it stripped the gears in the rack and pinion. Replaced the whole rack & pinion and steering cable. Cost was about $180 if I recall correctly.

Now I lube the steering cable with sythentic marine grease a couple of times per year. Just squirt a dollop on a rag...rub the rag on the business end of the steering cable...turn the wheel stop to stop a few times to work the grease around up inside the cable as much you can...throw the rag away...then don't worry about it for 6 months or so.

It has been nearly 5 years with the new system and it still seems to work very well.

And as to the original question...I do have a little bit of steering slack but not that much and I don't worry about it.

Cheers,
Jim

[jschrade]

I think that the steering system is not linear in its feel and leads one to believe there is more slop than exists. The challenge is that many expect the same experience as in a car - boats are much slower to react to input. So they end up cranking the wheel back and forth making an "S" like wake. This is tough on the steering!

How I teach people to drive the boat smoothly is to slowly move the wheel until you see the bow (in reference to a landmark) start to move and then back it off just a bit. You need to find what neutral really is for your current, wind, speed and heel. Once you find center, you can easily and smoothly steer the boat.

Moving my wheel an inch or two or just even pressure will start the nose moving in a different direction. It depends on speed and sea state how much you need to use.

Jim

[bartmac]

Whilst the steering mechanism on our 26X seems to work fine and is covered by a dedicated helm cover when not in use,I've often wondered what if it didn't work...so to that end I've made a removeable tiller handle which "plugs" into a bracket on our outboard....better safe than sorry

[innervations]

Hi BartMac, great idea. Any photo?

[bartmac]

No photo yet...I've done so many mods and been meaning to photo and post BUT our internet at home is S@#T so not done .Really quite simple ..used a galvanised gate hinge ,the type that comes apart into 2 pieces..used half of the hinge..the pin half ..heavy duty and bolted it to the side of our outboard facing forward...that leaves a 16mm post pointing towards the cockpit in an upward 45 deg angle.Just slip a SS pipe of the right inside dimension over the pin...I shaped the pipe in a bit of an S shape to gain height and to miss the sides of the cockpit to maximise steering angle.All of this was set about on one of our first sails when a sudden direction change was required but the motor was not hooked to our steering....I managed to "steer" our 26x by grabbing the motor and manually turning it to get us out of a sticky situation...we now don't disconnect our motor quite as readily when near shores other boats etc......well the Macgregor is a bit of a barge....our pointy caravan

[innervations]

Nice one. Thanks BartMac. I get a pretty good idea from your description. Larger boats I have sailed always had emergency steering so good to have a cheap but effective alternative on the Mac.