Steering

[John F.]

My '69 B31 has what looks like the original Hynautic steering. The reservoir leaks air (has to pumped every few days), and the copper lines look like, well, they're 37 years old. The helm and cylinder mounted to the stern seem fine, but again, they're 37 years old.

If I go over the system, it seems like the minimum I should do is replace all the lines and have the reservoir rebuilt. That would still leave a 37 year old helm and cylinder.

Rather than do this, should I just replace the whole system with a new Teleflex hydraulic? Trying to decide what to do this winter.

John F.

[In Memory Walter K]

Seems to me the reservoir just needs a new valve and gauge if there's no visible leakage of Hydraulic fluid. If your fluid level is staying with no loss of fluid, I;d stay with it. The system is so simple that there are few areas of wear other than O-rings. Walter

[JohnD]

John, Keep the old system. Hyd are simple and a little green on the copper never hurt anything. As long as there's no creases or punctures in the copper it will hold. Btw, having gutter's replaced on my folks house with copper, should last at least 80-100yrs before they need to be replaced again.

I had a leak at my lower helm and was able to put a 1/4 turn on the fitting and that stopped ti. Mine had some hoses to and from the hyd pump for the autopilot, one of those broke and I had it custom made a local hyd shop in Brooklyn (md) for non-boat prices.

keep you $$ for those Yannies.....

br,
JohnD