External Sttering Installation Problem

[Pismo]

I have dual ram tabs. My trim tab rams are right in the way of installing potential external steering rams. The top of the tab rams are right on the crank centerline and cover from 7" to 13" out from the edge of the Bravo transom assem. The normal place to mount external steering rams is 9-11" out from the tran assem edge on the crank centerline. You can see in the picture the tabs rams are right in the way. It is 6.5" from the edge of the tran assem to the inner tab ram. The centerline is just above the white strip.

I need some short steering rams and a good sized wing plate for the drive. Are the new IMCO rams which mount to the side of their beefed up transom assem available yet? They are short and would be perfect to mount to the hull right next to the Transom assem.

The XS guys are supposed to get back to me but never have after several contacts.........

Any suggestions?

How about single ram, then the centerline is not a concern? Is single ram hydraulic steering worth it? Dual is best but how is single?

See Pic

Thanks very much,

[Pismo]

Thanks, looks great, esp with the shortie. How long are those rams and how far out from the edge of the TA are they mounted? Can I squeeze them in my 6.5 inches?

[roadtrip se]

so Nanook and my eskimo bride will be headed out for a little snow shoeing today. There is a brisket on the smoker though to remind us of warmer places.

Pismo, you are at what I call the "eyeball" phase of steering installation.
Walk out, eyeball it, walk back inside, repeat. I must have done it a thousand times.

As MP said, my stuff is Latham. The rams are their 9-inchers. My mounting points are at about 6 1/4 inches, which looks like it will collide with tab rams, but they don't.

It works great and it looks great.

PM me if I can help,

Todd

[Pismo]

Talked to the guy at Latham, he said he had 7" set (maybe full length is 9" like roadtrips setup?), their smallest, which mount 6"-8" out from the assembly edge. Still tight. A 'bargain' price at $6700 for the setup to the helm. The xs guy Brian seems much more helpful/flexible and is working on the problem for several 22 owners. Hopefully he will come up with something. Its a tough problem, fit .vs. turning radius.

Still working on it

Cheers

[Hilsinger Motorsports]

Hi Guys,

XS is currently making a 7" cylinder specifically to fit the Black Hawk 22's with K-Planes. One of the 22 owners has been really helpful in assisting XS build a system for a BH 22 setup. We are dealers for XS and I am happy to offer a "group rate" discount. Purchases of 3 or more systems in one order will qualify for the discount.

The 22 BH setup does present some issues, but Brian at XS has most of them solved. The issue that remains (as mentioned above) is the turing radius that is lost by using the shorter cylinders. Under power this is much less of an issue, but around the docks is where you will notice the loss most. There is no real "safe" solution as of yet to help the loss of turning radius, but as for the hardware involved, XS has it figured out, and the price will be less than half of that $6,700 quote. Infact, perhaps around 1/3, XS has not given me the exact pricing yet, but it will not be much over the typical single bravo retail pricing setups.

If I can be of any help, please let me know.

Thanks,
Allan Hilsinger :)

[Pismo]

I may remove the inner trim tab rams and just leave the outer. The tabs will move twice as fast then, they are very slow now with the double rams and it will buy me two more inches space for the steering rams.

Any thoughts?

[RickSE]

Pismo,
Here's another option. This is the single ram Latham steering Donzi has used in the past on 22's. Probably not as good as a dual ram but it works fine.

[Pismo]

What length ram is that from Latham? It looks like there is a large mounting bracket on the hull, it that from latham as well? Looks like you could set it up as dual ram also.

thanks

[RickSE]

It should be all Latham stuff including the bracket. The bracket is pretty large. And yes I would think you could mirror a second ram on the other side.

I'll measure the ram tonight.

Nice thing is that it clears everything and does not limit turning radius.

http://www.donzi.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1006

[BigGrizzly]

We did Batmans Blackhawk drive two years ago and Bret Mays of the Mayfair has all the stuff for the black hawk drive. as for strength all the rams are good I prefer Imco because they are all stainless and are biggter with 1 inch rods. plus all the parts fit, no running around getting stuff. It took me 2.5 to get the old stuff off and 2 hours to put the new twin rams and helm kit on. three years and not any problems. It seems California guys like Imco and Florida guys go for Lathem and the unknolagable go for WPM.

[Pismo]

Any contact info for the guy at Mayfair?

Thanks


Guy at marine machine recommends using long rams mounted on brackets outside of the trim tab rams. Similar to Ricks' setup but with dual rams.

[gero1]

alan hillsingers number is 513-616-6147. i drive a truck for a liveing so when alan calls an asks me a ? i am in fla.wi,mi.oh ,some where far from the boat, its my fault its takeing so long, cant be home and pay bills to. the guy that did all tats stuff is no longer there, have called mayfair 2 times and talked to somebody ??? but had never heard back from them. i did send alan my extra b/h drive case so they coulduse it to make the wing plate. this weeks ? was how many cc's dose the helm hold...ummmmm a can holds 12 oz and i can hold 2 cans........how many cc's in a oz??? gentelmen i am working on it

[Rootsy]

I don't want to answer for Allan but when i was doing my half system last spring and bought a cylinder from them i was told they do not offer half systems for they do not believe they are adequate...

as an add-on system i have to disagree.. as a stand alone hydraulic system i would agree...

I do have all of my blueprints and 3D models for everything for an alpha, except a cylinder, hoses and IMCO manifold for anyone willing to take on their own project... If someone supplied me with a sample i could pretty easily generate a TRS or BRAVO wingplate, etc... single or dual system...


Jamie

[BigGrizzly]

The guys name is Brett Mays and worked for Harding marine and CP performance does sell his stuff

[Hilsinger Motorsports]

Thanks gero...lol...I guess a phone number would help :)

Rootsy bought a single cylinder from us, but I was comfortable selling him just a cylinder because he is extremely well versed in hydraulics and machining, so I felt that he was more than knowledgeable enough to make the call on his own boat. In general though, I do not recomend single cylinder systems. I feel they do not cover the bases of safety adequately enough. Thanks for the input though Jamie.

Thanks again to gero, glad you are working with us, I also got your v-mail...lol...you kill me man.

Anyone is welcome to call me anytime, even if you do not buy a system I would be happy to help you anyway I can.

Have a good night folks :)