Eric: They can be either hydraulic or manual. The manual system (as on my boat) has two sets of steering cables, one from either helm, plus a changeover handle on the lower helm. In the bilge, at the transom, there are two steering swivels - imagine a 1/4 slice of pie - which pivot from side-to-side around a central pin. These are stacked one on top of the other, and each is driven by one or the other of the steering cables. In between them is a lever arm, also connected to the cenral pivot pin, with a spring-loaded, articulated "finger" at the end. The upper and lower swivels have a notch in the middle of the outside diameter the same width as the finger.
The lever arm is connected to the rudder tillers. So what happens is that when you turn one of the wheels, the correponding swivel plate pivots. The changeover handle is connected to the articulated finger on the lever arm, so when you select Upper Helm or Lower Helm, the finger moves to engage the appropriate swivel plate. The spring keeps tension on the finger, and drops the finger into the notch of the swivel plate when the wheel at the helm is turned, moving the notch back and forth until the notch engages the finger. The swivel plate then imparts the motion to the lever arm which is connected to the rudders. Quite simple and almost foolproof - until a fool goes from the inside helm to the flybridge without changing the selector handle. Then you have no upper steering. Exciting, really, in a crowded moorage with the wind blowing you toward the rip-rap bulkhead and boats coming up- and down-channel. I believe that hydraulic steering was an extra-cost option on dual station boats. It is certainly simpler to modify a boat to dual station steering using hydraulic than it would be to find all the fiddly parts for the manual control and mount them. Plus, hydraulic has the advantage of being completely redundant for both stations - no need to select the station to steer from. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en.
