Don Foreman wrote:
On Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:22:09 -0500, CaveLamb
wrote:
I was digging around looking for a cheaper 12 volt linear actuator
(for remote steering outboard motor) and came across this site..
https://www.surpluscenter.com/home.asp
http://www.surpluscenter.com/prodIndex.asp#LL
enjoy!
Sounds like an interesting project.
Interesting - as in "may you live in interesting times"?
Or maybe more to the point...
"Necessity is the mother of some really strange kids"?
I suspect most of us here have some control freak in our nature.
Therefore, I suspect most of us expect a machine to be controllable (well Duh!).
So a 6000 pound boat that ISN'T under control is pretty scary.
Especially in really tight quarters, surrounded by a bunch of way more expensive
other-people's boats! With people watching every move!
My motor is mounted on the transom (or what there is of a transom) about 3 feet
port of the centerline of the boat.
The transom itself is a "walk-through" type (aka Sugar Scoop) and has a cute
flip-over boarding ladder in the center. There is 2 or 3 inches clearance
between the motor and ladder.
Add to all that, the motor is turned just a bit so that it compensates for the
off-center thrust at cruise. (vectored thrust compensation) It works
beautifully - at cruise.
So the motor's thrust, being offset to port, tends to make the boat turn to
starboard.
In smaller sailboats the motor can be steered just like a fishing boat. But
larger sailboats, for some traditional reason unknown to modern man, usually
have he motor locked down and use remote controls for gear shift and throttle.
So, just like her diesel powered sisters, she tends to go where she wants to go
rather than where I want her to go. Left to her own wiles, she will _not_ back
to starboard (period), and getting going from a dead stop will usually involve
some amount of turning to starboard.
Newton trumps Einstein!
So...
Did I mention that there is no tiller on a remote-throttle motor???
It doesn't matter, because all outboard motors have the tiller mounted on the
port side (way out of reach if the motor is hung on the port side!).
Anyway...
I've removed the lock pin from the motor so that it can be rotated.
My one-man Keystone Cops routine consists of stepping out on the boarding deck,
laying both hands on the motor cowl and turning the motor to point as needed,
then putting it in gear and slowly (EVER SO SLOWLY!) backing out. (The rudder
rotates 360 degrees on this boat, so it can help some, but no way the rudder can
overpower the motor). It doesn't look too bad from the pier (neighbors have
commented on the apparent smooth control of the boat when undocking. But they
are not aboard doing this funky Texas Two-step)
Once 3/4 clear of the pier, select neutral, step back out on the back porch and
twist the motor the other way, back to the controls in the cockpit to shift into
forward, stop the turn, back out back again to straighten up the motor...
And woe be unto anyone in the cockpit who accidentally gets in the way!
There are several possible obvious solutions here.
One might be to install a normal outboard "thru-the-tilt-tube" steering system.
But the catch there is that all of those systems stick out ot the tilt-tube a
foot or more(!) and foul the boarding ladder.
Or
Adapt a steering tiller to the starboard side?!? (very possible)
(a bent bracket bolted to the motor and a hickory stick - pretty simple)
Or
Move the motor to the starboard side (and replace the old mount with a new
swing-up mount - oh yes, and swap the back stay to port (where it should have
been in the first place!) And, relocate the throttle control to the starboard
side of the cockpit...
Or
Figure out a more compact steering mechanism. There are several electric
systems on the market (Panther for instance) but ALL mount off-center of the
motor. Won't work here. Bummer
So, noticing a 12 volt _POWERED_ scissor jack on a new car (WTF?!?!?!), I
wondered if such a drive might be available to solve my silly problems..
A couple of bent steel brackets and a 12 inch actuator?.
Hmmm....
In the end, I'll probably wind up moving the motor to starboard this winter.
But electric steering??? Way cool!
Next thing I'll probably want wireless remote control too!
(Honey! Where's the remote???)
--
Richard Lamb