Hi all,

I have a 1975 32' Flybridge Sedan. My father has a 1972 Flybridge Express. We are both wondering if there is a known vendor for the steering disconnect bracket to choose from upper to lower helm operation. We know some of the new model Marinettes have this option, and wondered if we could find it somewhere and put it in ours. I believe its a bracket of some sort that attaches to the rudders in the back, and both steering cables run through it. There would then be another cable to push or pull to select the upper or lower helm. Hopefully this sounds familiar.

Thanks for any help

Nick

Thanks for the warm welcome Norm. I think we feel it will be a more simple and a cheaper option. Hydraulic systems can get expensive, and we tend to do a lot of the work ourselves, so we were hoping if we could get this setup we could install on our own. Hydraulic system would be too much for us to handle I think.

Thanks!

my 76 32 ft has the selector in the lower helm.

Hi and welcome.
I am with Norm on the hydraulic conversion. I had a 32' fbsedan 1974 with manual steering. [both wheels turn] I went with the Hydraulic steering convertion, you can find deals on EBAY all the time. My new boat is a 37' FB Sedan 1975 and the first project was to replace the cable steering with Hydraulic. It had the selector control on the lower helm. I would forget to move from lower to upper stations while leaving the dock, have to fly down the ladder and switch back to the bridge in the middle of the channel in panic mode. The nylon lines are a lot easier to run than those stiff cables. It is not brain surgery, I did it by myself. It would have been easier with two people.
Just my minutes worth.
Bill

If I was going to put the effort in, I'd switch to hydraulic, my current system just had the upper replaced by the PO and it is allready giving me signs of wear that wouldn't be on the hydraulic type system. Welcome to the site, you will find a bunch of very curtious, helpful, and friendly boaters with a vast supply of knowlege they are more than willing to share with you. Jack

My 29 FB I still have the OEM dual station cable system. So far it has been fine but like ALL cable systems it will fail.
The only advantage I have seen is to prevent unauthorized steering of the vessel. Not a big deal and I have also forgot to perform the switch no big deal but in an emergency you may not think fast enough to control vessel with throttles until you can go below to change the helm.

Anyway my vote is for hydro system. I have installed a couple in years past and the installation takes up a lot less space.
In my case my my conduit to the FB is FULL of wire and removing the cable would ease that situation and running the nylon hose is much simpler and takes up very little space.

Telefex is the leader and as I recall a call to them and they will walk you through the process to order the correct installation kit.

If some of you captains out there have installed recently...posting photos of the install and list of parts would be nice on the site.


Safe boating,

Dave

Nick, I believe captain brent is scapping out an 'm', maybe give him a pm and find out if he has on for you. Norm, I'll be talking with you in the near future, Jack.

Might try... Glen l marine designs.. www.glen-l.com... PH# 562-630-6280. They can get parts for the old Steermaster MK2 and MK3. Might be worth a call.
Mark