Toilet Macerator Blog: Maintaining Your Sailboat Steering System
How to Always Keep Your Sailboat Steering System Going Strong We located this chafed Dyneema steering cable on a new $700K boat at the US Boat Show. As we pointed out in the November 2018 issue, Dyneema's chafe protection will not be fantastic, and is certainly much worse than wire, which is typically used for this function. We've addressed the importance of emergency rudders (see "The Hunt is on for a Quality, Well-placed Emergency Rudder," PS November 2008). And we've looked at ways to guide the watercraft utilizing a drogue should the steering stop working. The sensible approach, of course, is to avoid steering failing to begin with. Like rigging, sails, and hull in- tegrity, steering is among those essen- tial items which needs close monitoring. Here are a couple of things to think about when inspecting your steering system every season, or prior to any long passage. Tiller - Stainless steel pintles and gud- geons ought to be inspected thoroughly for fractures...