Chris, I got the bleed kit and did the IV procedure a few days ago and got a good bit of air out of the cabin helm, which is higher than the deck helm. While doing that, I also did a partial bleed of the steering arm. No air there. I also did the IV procedure on the deck help - one very small air bubble. When I finished, everything seems to be working properly.
Yesterday, I tested the steering again and it was still a bit sloppy but not nearly as bad as last week. Today, I went back to the higher cabin helm and got a bit more air out of that. Sort of scratching my head over that situation. There were no visible leaks on either helm. Then I took a close look at the O rings on the filler caps of both helms. The one on the deck helm was buggered up pretty bad. Replaced that and did another air bleed on each helm.
I'm speculating that the bad O ring allowed air to enter the deck helm, which then worked it's way up to the higher cabin helm. Does that sound plausible to you?
I plan to do a lot of fishing this weekend and will let you know if it holds up. If not, I'm not sure where to go from here. Any ideas?