Twin Honda hydraulic steering

[Cdpapillon]

I have a “new to me” 2004 22 Cruiser. It has the original twin Honda BF40As and a Baystar H4600 hydraulic steering cyl. As far as I know, everything about the steering system is as it was delivered to the original owner in 2004.

My question is: has just been wrong for the last 17 years or am I just dreaming up excuses to change expensive pieces? The boat goes to starboard with no problems. However, very little port helm is needed to bring the steering link arm into contact with the tie rod (the one that joins port/stbd motors). At full port helm, enough contact is made and force exerted to move the whole steering ram.

A separate but likely related issue is that the two motors cannot be trimmed fully independently. You can move them separately, but more than a slight amount of trim will also cause the aforementioned interference.

Now, I’m no rocket surgeon, but I think there is a better way. Any thoughts?

[T.R. Bauer]

Mine is a seastar (very similar) that I installed myself and it's impossible for it to do what you noted. It works better than what I had - dreaded cables.....The motors go up and down independently without interference or bind and the steering has pretty good feel. Anyway, I think there is a chance they didn't install the correct pivot plate.

[Hunkydory]

Our 2000 CD22 started with cable steering on our twin Honda 40’s. Those systems were prone to getting salt water into the steering shaft at the motor & the rust build up causing seizure of the rod. We first switched to the Baystar hydraulic H4600 cylinder in 2005 to stop the jamming problem & to add a auto pilot. The ears from the motor to the connecting arm between the motors had to be replaced with longer ears for the hydraulic steering to prevent jamming. The tolerances were very close with some contact & movement like you describe, but no actual jamming & full independent movement. In 2015, I did the work to switch to the Baystar H4635. With a lot of adjustment, I got it to work without jamming, but it did have some problems. When Sportscraft Marine mounted our twin Honda 60’s in 2019, they did a great job & much better than mine, when I first mounted the H4635 with the twin 40’s. If I remember right the reason I went with the H4635 when replacing the H4600 was the H4600 was out dated & no longer available. The present system is like T. R. says total free independent movement.

Jay

[Cdpapillon]

That may be the way I go. The HC4600 cylinder is an old and discontinued model that doesn’t use a pivot plate. It uses the same bent stainless rod that mechanical steering systems use to move the motor.

My other thought is the reuse the same cylinder but move it to the port motor. This would elementary any interference and only require new hydraulic lines.

[Hunkydory]

This is the H4635 mounted on the twin 40’s port motor



H4635 mounted on Twin 60’s starboard motor.



I don’t have photos of the H4600 mount

Jay