Cable & Pulley Steering

I've been moving to a new house the last week and the garage I'll be doing my boat building work in needs some cleaning out and refurbishing (it has a slight lean that needs to be straightened out). I do have an update on the steering situation though.

 After deciding to go with the cable and pulley steering system I went on eBay and found pretty much everything I'm going to need. First, I bought the steering column which will hold the steering wheel, though I'm not sure if the steering wheel I currently have will fit because its not from the cable and pulley era. It looks like it has may fit but I'll need to take the column apart where it mounts to the dashboard. I'll update with better pictures once I'm moved in to the new house.

Secondly, I purchased some pulleys and the two spring connectors (not sure what they're called) as well as the components that connect to the outboard bracket, minus the actual steel piece. Overall this seems like it will be easier to put together than the Teleflex system. The only con of the pulley system I have read about so far is that there will be some feedback from the outboard. This means if I hit a wave and the outboard moves, my steering wheel will also move.

First picture is of the steering column and the second is of the pulleys and other components. (The second picture is from the eBay posting as there was a problem with the shipping and it hasn't arrived yet.)

Hatch Beams and a Boat Show

The past week or so I have been working on the hatch, which is directly behind the bench. This was probably one of the more frustrating parts of the build as there are a lot of pieces. There are 4 beams width wise, 2 beams length wise, and 4 square spacers that all fit between the coamings. What made it hard was dry-fitting everything, because once you added a support beam, the coaming would get pushed out just enough to make the other beams fall down. I realized the importance of a good fit and one that didn't need to be pushed, but rather placed, into position. I will be fastening the beams in position by twos to make it easier. Hopefully the pictures will do a better job at explaining what I'm talking about. I also replaced the dashboard and was a lot happier with the grain and the fairing I did to make it fit.

I also participated in the 2013 Spring Lake Wooden Boat show this past Saturday and had a lot of fun showing an "in-progress" boat, as well as talking to other boat builders and getting their inputs and recommendations. It was pretty cool talking to other people about boat building who have the same passion for it that I've found. I talked to some people about my steering problem and most of them recommended the cable and pulley system, even though I already bought the Teleflex system. I've been looking at pricing and may just buy the pulley system and get it done with.

Below shows my boat and outboard and in the show, and some of the hatch beams.