Steering issue.......poor service?

[Mike Monte]

I have a 2001 TE28. Standish in Tiverton replaced my steering system this past April as the piston developed a leak at the end of last season.

Since the installation I have taken the boat out a few times and noticed that the steering had progressively become less-responsive.....To the point where I called Standish last Wednesday, spoke to the owner, and was told that the replacement piston was larger thus more revolutions of the wheel is needed to move the rudder.

Last evening (Friday) while underway in Mount Hope Bay, I lost all capability of steering.....

The rudder way stuck hard to port thus my boat kept going in circles. The wheel was unresponsive. I tried to physically straighten the rudder but could not move it.

I managed to get the get boat back to port by using my bow-thruster non-stop for 50 minutes....

I called Standish and there was no answer as it was after store hours.
I then drove directly to Standish. The owner was there and I explained the issue.

There is no steering fluid (at all) in the bilge and no fluid (at all) under the steering wheel hub...... I feel that there may not have been enough fluid put in the system when the new one was installed...
The owner said that they may get to it later on today (Saturday).

I had to cancel my boating plans for today. I have friends coming over to go boating on Father's Day (tomorrow...) which I have not cancelled.

Shouldn't my repair go to the top of their list???

Is there anything that I can do to trouble-shoot?

I am losing confidence in my service provider...

What would you do?
Mike

[Paddy]

At the minimal they should put you at the top of the list and re-bleed the system asap...it takes less than an hour.

Hopefully, that should remedy the situation and get you back to enjoying the weekend.

Good luck!

[socalmike]

Mike. Call me. Just had a similar issue. 858 220 8947

Easy fix. We blew a line at the t behind the helm. Bought a new compression fitting and re bled the system. May have air in the system that has pushed all the way down to the steering ram at the transom.