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In a message dated 8/6/99 2:50:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:
<< Over a 10
year period the steering has been very reliable - with the rudder ram and
steering ram needing rebuilding once. >>
Bandersnatch has Wagner hydraulic steering made around 1981. In 1994 one of
the two ram piston seals failed while underway in the St Johns River near
Jacksonville so that when I turned the wheel to the left the rudder moved but
very reluctantly and came back to center if I stopped spinning the wheel. I
came right and anchored. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just whip out the
spares, slip them in and off we go in about an hour." Turns out the seals
have about the same "shelf life" and "in use life" and the spares just
crumbled in my hands when I tried to stretch them into the groove in the
piston. I cut the second one in tow with a sharp knife and put the two
pieces in the grove. I got to St Augustine where I had Wagner FedEx me new
seals and I put them in the next day.
Moral: Replace decaying soft machinery parts (hoses, belts, pump impellers,
steering seals) before they crumble.
I like the hydraulic steering. There is less than an inch of backlash in the
system, I can easily add an hydraulic autopilot, and there is a anti-feedback
valve so, if I choose, I can just let go of the wheel and it will not move
(or disconnect the wheel entirely to use the autopilot or emergency tiller).
If I choose feedback mode, I can certianly feel the force of the rudder back
to the wheel.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Anchored Norfolk VA
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