As the weather gets more pleasant and the days get longer, boat owners find themselves preoccupied with thoughts of getting out on the water to enjoy a day of peace and quiet. Clearly, it is time for a visit to the boat to do a little bit of maintenance and clean up so that you don’t miss out on the first perfect day to head out on the water. You want to have all of those little tasks completed and know that your boat is prepped and ready to go as soon as the weather cooperates. Whether you call it a motor boat or a powerboat the intent is the same, there is an engine that makes it go and that is the first place you focus your attention. You change the oil, check the filters and even check the gear oil, but that is about the point where you begin to feel confident that your work here is done and you are ready for a great season of boating. Sadly, most boat owners completely neglect their hydraulic boat steering. They have no idea that there are a few small maintenance steps that they could take to ensure that this critical system on their boat will function flawlessly throughout the coming season.
What You Need
It is best to complete this work each spring before you put your boat in the water or more often if you are logging a lot of hours on the water. You will need a few wrenches, the correct sized open ended box wrenches work the best. A torque wrench is also a good idea when it comes time to reassemble everything and return the fittings to factory spec. And you will also need some high quality marine grease and a good supply of either shop towels or paper towels.
Clean Out the Old Grease
At the engine, you will want to remove the support rod from the steering/tilt tube. You will need to clean all of the old grease out of the steering tube. The old grease could have hardened and be very difficult to wipe out. There are a few alternate methods that others have discovered when trying to clean out this sludge. One option is to use a brush that is designed to clean copper pipe. They have metal bristles and can help to drag the dried up grease clods out. Some creative boat owners have rigged up an adaptor so that they can fit the end of the brush into a drill to make it even easier to manage. You can find this type of brush at your local hardware store or big box store. Another option is to use a 12 gauge shot gun cleaning tool. This is the perfect size and can be much easier than trying to dig out the old grease with just a paper towel. Whichever method you select, just be sure to get all of the old grease out so that it doesn’t contaminate the new grease.
Replace the Grease
With all of the old grease removed, it is time to replace it with new grease for the year. Make sure to get plenty of high quality grease all over the support rod before reinserting it into the tilt tube. You will also want to put some grease into the tilt tube itself and the support bracket holes. And finally, put just a little bit of grease on the threads before you insert the washers and tighten the nuts.
Check All Fasteners
Next, you are going to want to check all of the fasteners and fittings on the steering system. This is not really a fun job and not always easy but it is better to do it now so that you won’t need to do it later in the year when you are out on the water and have steering issues. You will want to get up under and behind the dash to check the back of the steering helm pump as well. Be sure to inspect all of the fittings for unusual wear and if anything is beginning to crack, this is the time to replace it.
Check the Wheel
One of the last tasks in this process is to remove the steering wheel and re grease the steering shaft. Again, if the existing grease is old and dry then completely clean the area before applying new grease. You can also take a moment to inspect the wheel itself for any damage or cracks before replacing it.
Check the Oil
The final step is to inspect the hydraulic. You want to make sure that it is clean. If the oil is dirty then the system needs to be flushed with clean oil. If this is a task that you are comfortable with then go for it but if not a dealer should be able to complete the flush pretty quickly. They will have an automatic pump that will refill and re-bleed the system.
Before Every Trip
With the annual maintenance completed, you will just want to follow a quick pre-trip checklist before each excursion. Check the fluid level at the highest helm pump and top it off if it is low. Then make sure that the wheel turns well from side to side. You are looking for an immediate response to know that the system is functioning correctly. Also, make sure that you complete the turn test at all steering wheels on the boat. And finally, check all of the hose fittings and connections to be sure that there are no leaks. After this thorough check of your hydraulic boat steering system, you can head out to the water knowing that you will have a great experience and that you don’t need to worry about any steering issues. You never want to overlook a small issue that could have been easily corrected only to find that you are later faced with a much more serious or more costly issue.
