Hydraulic Steering - Chinese Imports

[jncunliffe]

Hi,

I’m thinking of making the move from cable to hydraulic steering on my Suzuki DT100. Both eBay and Amazon have Chinese companies offering systems well below the price of the main market players. Has anyone any experience of these units?

The two I’ve seen are the Woqi ZA0300, £334 on Amazon, and a Noerl/Seawell system on eBay for £440.

Cheers,
JonC

[Xk59D]

By time you pay VAT etc they will be more than a baystar or damn close, not sure what happens if you need parts if you go that route either but worth considering.

Personally I wouldn't pay for hydraulic steering on a 100hp if you have a decent modern-ish non feedback helm already and the steering is in decent nick? juice ain't worth the squeeze imho. I had a non feedback on my last 100hp and no issues, wasn't particularly heavy either. Wouldn't have considered it money well spent to upgrade for no reason that us for sure.

[breezeblock]

I would avoid buying unless you could see it before purchase as the pictures and the description might not be what you get Chinese quality varies wildly from absolute poop up to reasonable quality its your gamble

[beamishken]

Id have to agree with Xk59D this time i dont see the facination with hydraulic steering on lower hp engines I've had plenty 85/90HP yam powered boats and a 115 all with cable steering and never had any problems our sailing club has 4 boats all with hydraulic steering bigest outboard being 70hp and im not impressed too many turns lock to lock and theres a shed load of busted steering systems lying about from various repairs that have been required.
You can typically replace a mechanical system 3 times for the cost of 1 hydraulic system and they dont break every year or two I've got a boat thats almost 20 years old with the same steering i fitted from new
The only advantage i can see is you get slightly better hose routing options with hydraulic

[jncunliffe]

Thanks for your thoughts fellas. I must admit I’m only on my third helm/ cable after 27 years but when I saw the cheap hydraulic kits I was tempted to ‘upgrade’.

What and from who would be your recommendations for a cable system? Is the no feedback back variety really worth it?

Cheers,
JonC

[charliee]

IMHO the no feedback system is absolutely worthwhile, its just better plan and simple. i would upgrade to this rather than going hydraulic and put the savings in the fuel tank.

[Pikey Dave]

I'd take a good quality known brand NFB cable system over an unknown hydraulic system any day. Saying that, my preference would be a (known) quality hydraulic system funds permitting.