Catamaran Steering

[ausnp84]

Ok, so one other option I’ve thought of, I could fit an ally square tube between the hulls (and under the wooden aft platform), then run the tie bar through it. The lever arms could then be bolted direct to the quadrants below decks, giving me a full sealed system that still uses the tie bar.

Thoughts? I was a bit worried about a 4m square tube would bend but if I secure it to the underside of the wooden platform, it should lock it all up nicely.

N

[atoll]

ideal,but just be aware that the tie bar as well as moving side to side also moves fore and aft,ie when the rudders are central the bar sits as far forward as it will go,and when the rudders are hard over the tie bar sits further back so your tube needs to be wide enough to accomodate the travel .

my tie bar with 10 inch levers/(quadrants) has about 5 inches of movement fore and aft inside the crossbeam when turning the rudders from lock to lock.

Originally Posted by ausnp84

Ok, so one other option I’ve thought of, I could fit an ally square tube between the hulls (and under the wooden aft platform), then run the tie bar through it. The lever arms could then be bolted direct to the quadrants below decks, giving me a full sealed system that still uses the tie bar.

Thoughts? I was a bit worried about a 4m square tube would bend but if I secure it to the underside of the wooden platform, it should lock it all up nicely.

N

[ausnp84]

In the end, I’ve had to go with conduit cabling for the port rudder. It turns out they built the starboard bed 3” higher than the port one to accommodate the steering cabling, so unless I go through the faff of doing that to the port cabin, Lewmar conduit cabling makes sense. It’s only for 2 x 4ft runs so shouldn’t add too much pressure to the system and will mean I can FINALLY ditch that awful tie bar.

Ta for all your help folks.

N

[admiralslater]

On the pdq 36 the cross bar comes out through the side of the hull just behind the rear beam . The slot is only 6 inches long . We were very concerned out the looks and acceptance by the public . If you can lower the cross bar and reverse the position on the tillers . That would be best . The helm drives one side and the bar slaves to the other side

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by admiralslater

On the pdq 36 the cross bar comes out through the side of the hull just behind the rear beam . The slot is only 6 inches long . We were very concerned out the looks and acceptance by the public . If you can lower the cross bar and reverse the position on the tillers . That would be best . The helm drives one side and the bar slaves to the other side

Thanks for that. Does much water come in through the slot?

Unfortunately the tie bar is smack bang where the dinghy lifts, hence why I’m likely going to have to go the cable route.

N

[admiralslater]

Steering on our 36

[admiralslater]

Did not work sorry

[admiralslater]

Trying again, never had water get in ,but it is a wet hatch

[GRIT]

Admiral Slater.

I've always been curious why cat manufacturers do the cross bar behind the beam. I notice PDQ, Gunboat, and others do it this way. Why not within the beam?

Either bring the bar/rudders forward, or the beam back...? It's only a few inches, so I don't think it's weight in the ends, or rudders too far forward.

I know it's something logical, I'm overlooking, and I figure you're the right fellow to ask.

Thanks.
Paul.

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Admiral Slater.

I've always been curious why cat manufacturers do the cross bar behind the beam. I notice PDQ, Gunboat, and others do it this way. Why not within the beam?

Either bring the bar/rudders forward, or the beam back...? It's only a few inches, so I don't think it's weight in the ends, or rudders too far forward.

I know it's something logical, I'm overlooking, and I figure you're the right fellow to ask.

Thanks.
Paul.

Good question Paul. A lot of the newer Lagoons, Leopards, etc have an internal bar but I’ll be damned if I know why you’d fit it externally. I seem to think the TS5 has an exteral one as well.

Just seems a really odd way to do it...

N

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by admiralslater

Attachment 189737
Trying again, never had water get in ,but it is a wet hatch

Ok cool, thanks for this. When you say wet hatch, do you mean it’s a wet area anyway and any water that comes in goes to a bilge type area?

N

[admiralslater]

On the 36 having the bar external allows the integraty of the water proof bulk heads to be maintained , reduce friction , and weight. If an internal bar was used the tiller would have been 3 feet long and taken up a lot of locker space for no particular advantage . Also the entire steering system is visible in seconds for inspection . We where concerned about public reaction but it never was an issue .
There are lots of cats out there that have part of their steering system out side .
Everyone makes their own decisions.
The hatch is wet in so much as it has a drain in it , it never actually gets water inside except when washing it

[admiralslater]

Paul how is the boat coming.

[GRIT]

I knew there would be a logical explanation for the outside bar. I put mine inside the back beam, and when planning it, I thought, "well, I'll lose that buoyancy, if we ever inverted". Even then, I didn't think of that as being the reason for the external bar.

Thanks David.

The project is coming along nicely. Lots of niggly things to do, but we're getting there.

My wife's scheduling the launch, and launch party, already. I'd like to keep the boat in the yard as long as possible, so she's allowing me until mid September. I'm good with that.

It won't be completely finished inside, but we're tired of land life. We'll park it somewhere along the way, and finish it on the water. We did that with our last two projects, and it worked well.

I hope you're somewhere sunny and warm... We just got 5cm of snow last night, but it's not going to last long, it's warming up nicely here.

Cheers.
Paul.