Clueless noob has Sea Star Hydraulic Steering Question

[Maniac]

Hi All! I'm a soon-to-be Bennington owner, with no previous experience with pontoon boats, and limited experience with boats that have steering wheels. Pretty sure I'm going to like it, based on many of the posts I've been trolling through for the past couple of weeks. Many of my questions have been answered without asking, but I'll have a few more. I'd like to ask them all at once, but I'll start with the most important, and it's whether to get any sort of power assist steering or not. 


Since my main interest is fishing and cruising, I'm buying a 21 SFX AGP with a 115 Yamaha Vmax and elliptical pontoons. The lakes I'll do most of my boating on were scraped out by glaciers long ago so there's a lot of rocks and shallows, often in unpredictable places. One reason I'm going with the ellipticals is that Bennington says they're best for shallow draft as well as flotation & stability. Since I don't plan on doing any water sports, high speed handling isn't a consideration. My question is, do I really need anything more than manual steering for low speeds and docking activities? I'm a couple years shy of retirement but in good physical condition. Regardless, I'm not a fan of wrestling the boat trying to dock it, especially if I might have to steer with one hand.


Last question: Can Spring come soon enough for those of us who are icebound??


Thanks in advance for any suggestions/input!


Charlie

 

[cwag911]

You might be able to get away with cable steering on your 115.

 

[adkboater]

I'm all about the full power steering, never owned a boat without. I would think it would just make life easier to be able to one hand the wheel during docking and not worry about it. Wouldn't hurt if someone else needed to drive who couldn't handle the manual steeeing. Just my 2 cents!  

 

[Maniac]

Thanks, guys. What's the difference in low speed steering effort between the basic Sea Star and the full power steering? Is it significant?

 

[kaydano]

I have cable steering with a 150. We do a lot of water sports, and anything other than a straight line is two-handed at running speed. It's not super difficult though.  I look at it as good exercise. 


Docking with cable steering is almost one-finger easy though, because there is no steering torque at idle.  If that's all you are worried about, there's no need to worry!


Like Carl said, you might be fine with cable. I've been struggling with whether adding hydraulic without also adding power steering would be a waste of $1200, and I've concluded it probably would be a waste. The only real benefit would be having no steering torque while going in a straight line at speed. With the cable steering, I can't let go of the wheel without it turning hard over on its own. So, there is a safety benefit to hydraulic without power. There is no circle of death risk.


You can DEFINITELY dock with one hand with cable steering though.


I'm more of the opinion that one should either get both hydraulic and a power steering pump, or neither. 

 

[Maniac]

I have cable steering with a 150. We do a lot of water sports, and anything other than a straight line is two-handed at running speed. It's not super difficult though.  I look at it as good exercise. 


Docking with cable steering is almost one-finger easy though, because there is no steering torque at idle.  If that's all you are worried about, there's no need to worry!


Like Carl said, you might be fine with cable. I've been struggling with whether adding hydraulic without also adding power steering would be a waste of $1200, and I've concluded it probably would be a waste. The only real benefit would be having no steering torque while going in a straight line at speed. With the cable steering, I can't let go of the wheel without it turning hard over on its own. So, there is a safety benefit to hydraulic without power. There is no circle of death risk.


You can DEFINITELY dock with one hand with cable steering though.


I'm more of the opinion that one should either get both hydraulic and a power steering pump, or neither. 

"Steering torque" is what I was thinking about, I'd only ever heard the term when referring to front wheel drive cars. I'd never heard about the circle of death either! Having the basic Sea Star setup will at least mitigate that possibility, it could be good insurance if the wheel slips out of the hand of the driver. As much as I agree with your last sentence, I'm going to keep the basic steering and if I ever need to, add my own power steering pump.


Thanks for weighing in!

 

[Indian_Lake_Bum]

Our old boat had cable steering with a 50 and the wife wouldn't drive it.  The new boat has hydraulic steering and a 150 and the wife will drive that.  Makes a difference for us and wouldn't go back to cable......although would like to have power assist.  Maybe on the next one I can get the power assist.

 

[Link]

Maniac, I am a slow speed cruiser and I only have cable.  IMO it is not a problem in the least, in fact if I were to buy another boat with a 115HP or less I would rather spend the money on some other accessory rather than assisted steering

 

[1Blderbob]

Having cable systems on previous pontoons and now having power assist on a large boat with ESP. I would not ever have a boat with a cable system again. And it does take more time and energy to keep the cable system working smoothly. I would suggest that you should have a hydraulic system as a bare minimum. Much cheaper if done from the beginning.

 

[lakeliving]

I have had all three steering types. I had cable on our 115 two toon boat and it was fine in a straight line and slow speed docking. But I will say power assist is the cats a$$

 

[kaydano]

The circle of death refers to falling out of a boat with cable steering, and the prop torque causes that boat to turn around and come back at you. If it misses you, it will come around again and again. Hopefully you are not unconscious and can swim away. Another fix for this would be to have a gas pedal like a car. If you fall out, boat stops.  Or wear your kill switch safety lanyard. This isn't a big risk in a pontoon boat though. More of a danger for low profile bass boats and such where it's easier to be ejected if you hit something.

 

[lakeliving]

The circle of death refers to falling out of a boat with cable steering, and the prop torque causes that boat to turn around and come back at you. If it misses you, it will come around again and again. Hopefully you are not unconscious and can swim away. Another fix for this would be to have a gas pedal like a car. If you fall out, boat stops. This isn't a big risk in a pontoon boat though. More of a danger for low profile bass boats and such where it's easier to be ejected if you hit something.

Wear your kill switch lanyard and you'll be fine!

 

[kaydano]

If you passed out while driving, and don't fall out, the circle of death may give you time to come to before running into something.  Hydraulic will keep you going in a straight line until you run out of lake!

 

[kaydano]

Wear your kill switch lanyard and you'll be fine!

I added that to my original post right after I posted it, but I was too slowand you caught me!

 

[Bill N]

If you passed out while driving, and don't fall out, the circle of death may give you time to come to before running into something.  Hydraulic will keep you going in a straight line until you run out of lake!

Yes, but if you passed out while driving, you have had too much fun and should have found someone in a little better condition to captain the joyride for awhile!

 

[mattb]

Get the hydraulic now, if need be, you can add the electric pump later.

 

[Michiman]

Yes, a pricey option but probably worth the money. As such, I'd recommend taking a sea-trial with and without if at all possible. While you can certainly do without, over the life of the boat, the cost to have it drive a bit easier will be minimal and you'll likely enjoy it. Just my two cents...


Either way, welcome to the "Club". Pictures when delivered...

 

[adkboater]

It's really going to come down to your preference and budget. As you see all the opinions here there are plenty of opinions. With the HP you're looking at you could go either way. I don't think there's a person on here who would hate full power assist, but if that's not in the budget you can always go hydraulic and add the pump later. If it's just you driving and the cable fits your bill I'm sure that'll be fine too! As with everything it come down to the budget you have to work with. 

 

[kaydano]

If you can afford power steering, get it.  By all means.  No question about it.


But if you are bumping your budget limit, and you have to decide between power steering and some other upgrades, then you have a hard decision to make. 


If you just cruise around mostly, not much turning at high speeds, no water sports, but you want a larger motor to get you from point A to B in a straight line in a hurry (like when a storm comes in, or a medical emergency, or a toilet emergency - don't laugh, or maybe out of beer) then cable steering may work just fine for you.  Remember, cable steering isn't permanent.  You can upgrade to power steering anytime you want.  But, you would have wasted money on a cable system (few hundred) and unless you do it yourself, it will cost more to have someone install it after the fact than just letting Bennington do it from the start.


If I could do it over, I would have added it to my order from the beginning.  But my brain is wired to not spend money unless I'm convinced I have to.  Plus I'm a DIYer, and virtually everything is bolt on these days, so I passed on it and figured I could add it later.  I have looked into what it would take to add hydraulic though, and I believe adding it would not be a problem for me. But I have worked with hydraulics in the past, so I'm at least familiar with how that works.  The guys on the forum have been a big help in my decision, and believe me, this is one of those decisions that is almost impossible to describe in words.  Test drive if you can.


At this moment, my strategy is to wait and see if I get PADS.  If I do, my next boat will have it.  My kids are growing up.  They'll be moved out of the house before I'm too old to turn a steering wheel!  I don't see doing much watersports after they move out.  So, until grandkids come along, I figure cable steering will work for me.  I might catch PADS before then though...

 

[kaydano]

It's really going to come down to your preference and budget. As you see all the opinions here there are plenty of opinions. With the HP you're looking at you could go either way. I don't think there's a person on here who would hate full power assist, but if that's not in the budget you can always go hydraulic and add the pump later. If it's just you driving and the cable fits your bill I'm sure that'll be fine too! As with everything it come down to the budget you have to work with. 

If I had seen this post, I wouldn't have written mine!