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Help Choosing a Steering System

tboltmike

tboltmike

Regular Contributor
"I'm restoring a 1975 Arro

"I'm restoring a 1975 Arrow Glass Cheetah, tri hull. The steering cable froze near the motor. this is a Detmar 500. Several sources say this is an obsolete system and cables are not to be had.
Therefore, I'm looking a replacing the entire system. What I have found are rotary and rack and pinions. Both are available in standard and no feedback. However, I cannot find a good discussion as to which would better suit my boat.
The boat loaded out is about 2000 lbs and does about 38 mph. It has been about 4 years since i had it in the water and don't recall a feedback problem.
Any advice is appreciated. Mike"
 
"rotary are usually easier to

"rotary are usually easier to fit. they allow tighter cable bends at helm end, can be rotated to change exit angle. racks work fine if you have lots of room in dash for extra length. no feedback is worth the few extra bucks. it eliminates the torque steer and makes piloting easier. different ratios are available also. the slower turning (4-4.5) units are for larger, heavy boats. make docking, trailering more difficult on small ones. most come with 90 degree bezels. 20 degree are available as an option, if that better suits your application. hope that helps. S."
 
"No-feedback, all the way. Sa

"No-feedback, all the way. Safety first. You can take your hand off the wheel and the boat won't turn (but keep one hand on the wheel anyhow)."
 
"Hey Mike..I have the arrow-gl

"Hey Mike..I have the arrow-glas viper..they are great boats..! I put Hyd. steering on mine..cost more, but have not had one problem in over 15 years..It had out-lasted 5 motors..! I have 3 teen-age kids with friends that want to learn to ski..so it has had its use, and is still good and working well.....Tom"
 
"Tom,

There are still quite

"Tom,

There are still quite a few old AG's out there. I saw a yeller Viper in a storge yard the other day. Pretty well weather beaten gel and interior but the hull looked sound. There is an active AG website. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Arrow_Glass_Boats/ You can see pics of my restoraton in the photo section, "mike's cheetah". The moderator is a former AG employee and has some good insight in the company and boats history."
 
"I had a standard rack and pin

"I had a standard rack and pinion on my old boat and when I restored my current one I installed a No Feedback steering system. The difference is absolute night and day!!! In my opinion, NFB is the only way to go.

look at it this way. If you glance an underwater object with standard steering, you can can have the wheel literally ripped out of your hands. This will not happen with a NFB helm.

KJ"
 
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