SHETLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION

I've just installed a cheap Vevor hydraulic steering system in my MK1 Family 4 (the original type with the bucket/area in the stern for the engine). This system is quite compact so it does fit in the limited space. The ram/piston moves and it doesn't have a projecting out arm - the linkage to the outboard steering nut is quite central so it all fits, and works, within the bucket.

One good feature about hydraulic steering is that you can cut the pipe to length - it came with 15' pipes I think and I probably cut them down to around 12' in the end.

I only took one photo today and it was more to get a photo of the radio I put in although you can see the helm steering pump there behind the wheel - like the ram/piston as the back it's also very compact. On the radio - I'm hoping the IPX7 waterproofing will mean the radio can be in the elements when operating which will be a lot better than having a non waterproof radio in the cabin behind the door.

I'll put up more pictures if anyone is interested.

Derek

That looks to be a neat install. Any chance of a look at the rear ram assembly ?

Just getting back to this now because today is the next day / next weekend I had a look at this.

This week I received a bleeding tube with the quick fit connectors (they look like air hose connectors) - I purchased it on Amazon - and I tried this tube to do a final bleeding to remove air from the hydraulic system. Actually I don't think there was any advantage with this pipe over a bit of off-cut of the steering pipe which didn't cost anything. In the following photos you'll see I still have the bleeding tube attached (clear tube with brass quick-fit connectors). Normally this tube is not attached.

The RAM fits in nicely with about 2" spare each side - on this kit the ram moves left and right and it has an arm that move this outboard motor (my outboard currently has a cover over it but it's a Suzuki DF50. In this photo you can see that I have all the outboard control cables coming through a gland thing on the starboard side. I've now also run the 2 hydraulic pipes though the same gland. You can see a funny white circle - I 3D printed this to fill in the hole that used to house the cable ultraflex splashwell mounting kit. I'm not happy that the end of the bar for the hydraulic steering is so close to the cables and pipes coming through the gland - really a better/different location would fix this problem. But I suppose the bar never really moves (the ram moves) and I've just about got enough clearance so this is what it is right now.



From the rear looking into the stern of the boat you can see there is nice clearance on the port side (and that bar never moves - the ram moves on the bar)



But, as I said, I'm not really happy with how close the end of the bar is on the starboard side - but because that's what it is, and it doesn't move, and I kept the hydraulic steering pipes up and forward I'm hopeful that there won't be any wear on anything. If I was doing this at the same time as putting an engine on I think I'd move all the control cables and hydraulic pipes to a better location which would be pretty easy. You can see my 3D printed "plug" to cover the hole from the last splashwell steering mounting kit (it's very white looking I know compared to the Shetland gelcoat colour...)



A photo of the port side from within the boat (looking to the stern) - you can see I still have the bleeding tube attached.



From the same location in the boat a photo of the starboard side where all the engine control cables and now the hydraulic steering cables come through into the engine bucket (I'm not sure of the correct term of this bit of the Shetland's transom/stern).

Well done! That looks to be a very neat install. Where did you obtain the hydraulic kit ?

My relatively new ultraflex cable steering had seized so I was going to buy another cable system when I came across the relatively cheap (for a hydraulic steering system) here: https://eur.vevor.com/boat-steering-kit ... 0602435790

It came with everything required to install it but the kit did NOT come with any hydraulic steering fluid. I had a couple of bottles of Mavimare steering fluid so I used that (I'm just assuming the fluid is common across all steering systems).

Derek

Thanks for that. I'll check it out.