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Welcome to CSR, a website for Sea Ray owners to enthusiastically discuss all aspects of Sea Ray ownership. Whether you are looking for your first Sea Ray, or have owned one for years, you are sure to feel “at home” on CSR.
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Welcome to Club Sea Ray!
February 2nd, 2009 by CSR_Admin
Potential Steering Loss – Teleflex Sea-Star Hydraulic Steering Systems
April 14th, 2010 by fwebster
One of the systems on our boats that we nearly always take for granted is the steering. The reason is simple: it always works, it never causes problems and it requires no maintenance. But what do you do if you lose your steering?
Steering loss can happen and I would be willing to bet that very few of us have the necessary ingredients on our boats or are prepared for an emergency fix.
Any boat with Teleflex Sea-Star hydraulic steering is subject to losing it’s steering. For Sea Ray boats this usually means inboard and v-drive powered boats above 32 feet. Unfortunately, when the Sea Star system fails, it is seldom a partial or intermittent failure.
How The System Works:
The basic Sea Star system is a hydraulic pump operated by the rotation of the steering wheel. Hydraulic oil is pumped out of one port on the pump and into the hydraulic line that runs to the stern of the boat where it then connects to one port on the steering cylinder. This causes the piston and attached cylinder rod or actuator to move toward the opposite end of the cylinder. The ball joint on the end of the cylinder rod is attached to the boat’s rudder linkage so moving the cylinder causes a similar action in the rudders. As the piston moves, oil is displaced from the opposite end of the cylinder via the port on the other end. The displaced oil travels back to the pump and enters the opposite port. The hydraulic steering system is a closed system. The oil in the lines, the cylinder and the pump form the reservoir for the pump. The cylinder has internal check valves so the rudder cannot move and remains stationary unless the helm pump is turned and oil flows into the cylinder.
Steering Loss:
Any time the oil level in the Sea Star system gets low enough, the helm pump will ingest air. Since air is compressible, once the level is low, the helm pump just compresses the air it has ingested when the steering wheel is turned. The air compresses in the lines instead of the pump moving hydraulic oil which means you lose your steering. The helm pump’s reservoir is small so it doesn’t take much of a leak to allow air into the system. The symptoms you will most likely notice are “spongy” or soft steering and a lot of play between port and starboard reaction to steering input. The steering play gradually increases until you have a revolution or so of play followed by a soft feel in both directions and no rudder deflection when you turn the wheel. Long before this, however, the boat becomes unsafe since its steering reaction is so vague and sloppy that you lose steering control.
For air to get into the system, hydraulic oil must get out. So, where does the oil go?
The first place to check for leaks is all of the fittings connecting the hydraulic hoses to the pump, to the cylinder, and if equipped, to the power assist module and the autopilot pump. It is also possible that the hydraulic lines, which are usually plastic, may have gotten crimped or physically damaged with clamps or screws securing them or something else somewhere between the helm pump and the transom area.
The other main source for steering system leaks is the steering cylinder.
Below is a stock photo of a steering cylinder from Teleflex:
Note that the piston and mounting bracket are in the center of the cylinder and that the cylinder rod extends on both ends. Depending upon where you leave your steering wheel, a portion if the cylinder rod is always exposed while its opposite end is protected inside the cylinder packing gland and seal. The exposed cylinder rod can eventually become pitted due to its exposure to moisture and a corrosive atmosphere. Pitting on the cylinder rod will eventually wear or cut the seal in the end of the cylinder……..and you get a leak.
Other than wiping down the exposed cylinder rod with some hydraulic oil (nothing else-solvent based spray lubricants will dry out the seals!), there isn’t much you can do to prevent the pitting. Fortunately, it takes a long time for the steering cylinder to become damaged to the point of leaking hydraulic oil. Of course, how wet your bilge is, whether your deck drains drip into the bilge, and how salty the water you are in has a big effect on how fast the cylinder rod will get pitted. Once the cylinder rod is pitted, replacing the packing or seals in the end of the cylinder is a waste of time since the pitted area will just cut the new seals. A new steering cylinder is the quicker and better remedy that requires a fraction of the labor that re-sealing the cylinder does.
How Do We Get the Boat Home?…….An Emergency fix
When you feel the steering start to get spongy, you are already out of hydraulic oil and are ingesting air into the system which also means you don’t have much time before you lose steering. On boats with an autopilot, you can steer using the “jog” buttons on the AP since most autopilot pumps have some oil capacity. Without an autopilot, you just have to slow down and steer with the throttles or by shifting your transmissions into and out of gear. With a single engine boat, when the steering pump ingests air, you are done …..call the towing company who gave you the sticker you put on your dash.
All of us with Sea-Star hydraulic steering should have a quart of Sea Star hydraulic oil in our spares kit. I know it is expensive, but a quart of hydraulic oil and a very small funnel will go a long way and can quickly restore your steering if they are on the boat and not in your dock box. Just top off the helm pump with oil and turn the wheel from port to stbd several times to purge the air and you will have your steering back.
Tip: A cheap plastic wine glass with a hollow plastic stem and the base cut off makes a great and inexpensive funnel to refill either the helm pump or your trim pump.
Copyright 2010 Frank A. Webster
Rotten boat coring, a successful repair
May 21st, 2009 by fwebster
From time to time there are comments on CSR about coring. Many people consider cored hull boats to be evil and won’t even consider owning one. The truth of the matter is that cored construction is quite common and is used on many high line and expensive brands.
If you have read many threads on boat buying, you almost always see the recommendation to survey prospective boats and have that survey done by a competent marine surveyor. I was the Sea Ray dealer (where we also happen to keep our boat) the last couple of weeks, and saw the first cored hull problem this dealer has had to deal with. I thought some of you might like to see the problem and how the dealer and Sea Ray handled it.
The boat involved is a 2000 460DA. The owner noticed the boat listing in the slip. At first, several months ago, it was a little bit, barely noticeable from the stern. Then it got worse. Eventually the generator exhaust was almost submerged which on this boat means she was listing about 3” to the port side. The dealer found the port side hull vent had been leaking. The vent hole is sawed into the cored side, so any leak can let water get into the cored area between the inner skin and the outer gelcoated skin. This particular boat had been leaking a while, and the hull side coring was found to be wet from the stern to about 5’ forward of the hull vent…….a total of about 10’ worth of wet hull/coring. The fiberglass guy at the marina identified the wet area by sounding the hull and with a moisture meter.
This is a photo of the water draining out of the core:
The hull vents were removed from the hull and about 3/16” holes were drilled in the bottom of the cored area to allow it to drain naturally. The bow was raised slightly until no more water would gravity drain out of the lowest, aft-most hole.
Next, shop vacs were taped to the hull and any remaining water was vacuumed out of the cored side.
Even though a large area of the core got wet, the extent of the damage in this case was some rotten coring between the inner and outer skins around the hole sawed in the hull for the vent. The damaged area needing repair was limited to the area on the bottom and aft end of the vent which was about 1” to1-1/4” into the core from the opening. The rotten area was dug out and removed, as shown here:
The repair was done by digging out the rotten balsa and filling the area between the skins with West Systems Epoxy thickened with #403 Microfibers. The holes drilled in the hull were filled and sanded smooth. Since the repaired area at the vent was covered by the vent panel itself and the holes drilled in the hull were below the waterline and in an area covered with bottom paint, gelcoat repairs were not necessary.
While the usual feeling here on CSR is that wet coring is the kiss of death, this is a case where a bad situation was caught and properly repaired with no long term negative impact on the boat or its value. Since the rotten balsa was limited to a relatively small area, and the wet area was easily drained and dried out, the boat was only out of service about 10 days and the cost of the repair was very low. In fact, the owner wanted the boot stripe replaced while the boat was out of the water and it took longer to get the stripe from Sea Ray than it did to fix the wet coring.
If you have read much of what I post about establishing and maintaining positive dealer relationships, here is a good example of why: This boat is kept at the dealer’s marina, it is well maintained and most of the maintenance is done by the dealership, so the dealer knows the boat’s history. The Service Manager was able to get Sea Ray to handle the repairs for the owner and an accommodation even though the hull is a 2000 model…….4 years out of the hull warranty.
Summary:
—> A wet core isn’t a good thing, but does not necessarily mean the boat is DOA.
—> A wet core can be repaired reasonable quickly and easily without breaking the bank. This example was less than $2000.
—> A core with significant wood rot is a different story since the rotten core must be removed and replaced.
—> Any part or item mounted in a sawn in hole in a cored structure is a potential source of water intrusion into the coring. Consider having any such items like hull side vents, windlass foot switches, spotlights, etc. removed and the coring sealed with epoxy or resin then re-bed and remount the removed part.
—> The cause of the problem pictured here was not the fact that the manufacturer chose to use cored construction; the coring was properly done and without defect. In this case, there was a bad seal around the side vent.
—> Were this a boat being purchased without a survey or the wet area not found by a surveyor, the entire cored side could have rotted which would have made the term “major repair” an understatement.
—> A wet core doesn’t usually just happen with no notice. An observant owner who knows his boat will usually see signs that something isn’t right… Look for listing, unexplained sluggishness or bad performance, staining, mold/mildew, drips, leaks, water/moisture where there should not be any.
Boating with your iPhone
February 7th, 2009 by TurtleTone
A short video on how your iPhone can be useful for boating.
MarineTraffic.com – AIS on your PC
February 6th, 2009 by Jim Maier
AIS is short for Automatic Identification System, it is a system primarily used by commercial ships to keep tabs on each other for collision avoidance among other things. It is getting popular on recreational boats too. There is a new website called MarineTraffic.com that allows you to view this data right on your PC screen. You can view ships and recreational boats in action all around the world. Way cool!!
I included a screenshot for my local area on the Chesapeake Bay where you can see the 5 RORO ships (short for Roll On, Roll Off, they carry cars) that are Read the rest of this entry »
Raymarine Introduces New ST70 Plus Display
February 6th, 2009 by Jim Maier
Raymarine is well onboard with the NMEA2000 rage with their new ST70 Plus Color instrument. This thing is sweet and one will definitely be going on my Seacraft this summer! This new 6.5″ display is sort of a universal all in one display that can control their pilots and can be used as a stand alone instrument to display info on the N2K network. It is color, very bright, Read the rest of this entry »
Advice for Buying a New Boat
February 3rd, 2009 by fwebster
Some of the information you have been given is not correct concerning dealers and how they operate.
First, Sea Ray does periodically offer rebates or incentives. When they do it is always for one of 2 reasons…..1. they need to balance production in a factory and giving a little money back, i.e. reducing profit, is a cheaper alternative than closing a factory since their fixed costs continue whether they run the factory or close it, or, 2. there are some leftover boats at the Read the rest of this entry »
Guide to NMEA0183 Interfacing
February 3rd, 2009 by Jim Maier
NMEA 0183 Interfacing is a common stumbling block for the do-it-yourselfer. What is it? NMEA0183 is a protocol used to share data among multiple units on your boat. It will allow you to share numeric data from one unit to another. Any proper electronics installation will make use of NMEA0183 when applicable, although Read the rest of this entry »
