Though I’ve owned Priorities, a 1996 Catalina 400 Mark I, for over 8 years, up until this winter I’ve never done any maintenance on the steering system. I’d check it for known C400 problems every few years: improper tension, damaged cables, and misaligned sheaves. Otherwise, I used “wishful thinking” to keep it maintained.
I worried about it, though. The Catalina 400 has a fairly complicated steering system with two wheels. Unlike later versions of the 400, mine (#53) uses one continuous series of chains and pull-pull cables in conduits. A failure of any chain or cable would likely render the manual steering system useless, leaving me to steer with autopilot steering and the emergency tiller.
The autopilot is a “belowdecks” model, where an electric actuator connects to a tiller attached to the rudderpost below cockpit floor. It’s generally very reliable, though lately the tiller developed a stripped bolt that would work loose every 1000 miles or so. It’s response rate is adequate for sailing in open water, but insufficient for docking maneuvers in a marina with any wind or current. For docking, I planned to use the emergency tiller.
Within the first year or so of buying the boat, I tried installing the emergency tiller for practice. It didn’t fit! The rudderpost was filled with foam, and a metal buildup in the rudderpost prevented a proper fit. How did the surveyor not discover this? I added it to my winter project list, but it didn’t get done for a while. I’ll write about my emergency tiller overhaul in a separate post (and yes, I actually did it!). While the emergency tiller awaited overhaul, my contingency plan was to use the autopilot to get to a safe harbor, then anchor or get a tow. Of course, this plan wasn’t real great, and it was really just more “wishful thinking.”
As one would expect with any mechanical device, putting off maintenance long enough will result in failure. Last season, while sailing across the lake from Milwaukee to Pentwater, one of the old steering cables partially broke and required repairs before we could continue cruising. We were fortunate with our circumstances, including having a marina rigger that knew how to repair it nearby, but clearly the entire system needed detailed attention.
I considered attempting to upgrade the system to be equivalent to more modern Catalina 400s. They use a radial drive system, where independant cables and chains run from each wheel to a radial drive on the rudderpost. A failure of a cable would only render one wheel unuseable, leaving the other wheel operational as long as nothing jammed. Unfortunately, this required a bunch of fiberglass work on the thick aft bulkhead, and also involved moving lots of electrical wires and cables. I would be in way over my head if I attempted this, so instead I chose to overhaul the current system to “better than new” condition.
Research and Documentation
After some consultation with some of Edson’s technical reps at the Annapolis Boat Show, watching their YouTube channel, and reading parts of their maintenance guide online, I learned a few things:
- Sheaves should be inspected and oiled annually.
- Cables should be inspected annually and replaced every 5 years, though I might extend this a bit in fresh water.
- Conduits should be replaced every 10 years, not really because of corrosion but since they actually wear from the inside out.
I’m pretty sure all these components were original to the boat at 24 years of age. Oops! Our seasons are shorter on the Great Lakes than others, but that’s still way over the service interval!
Removing the Old Conduits and Cables
I removed the cover over the steering turnbuckle above the aft cabin bunk, as well as the sheave inspection panels. I took a bunch of “before” photos to aid in reassembly. I also photographed the rudderpost area in the lazarette since I did this project concurrently with my replacement of the upper rudder bearing.
Next I removed the cables and chains. I loosened, then disconnected the turnbuckle between the wheels to release all cable tension in the system. The cables connected to the turnbuckle are short, leading only via their sheaves to the chains at each wheel just above. The wire rope clamps were removed from these ends of the cables, allowing me to pull the cables out later.
After climbing down in the lazarette, I removed the takeup eyes from the quadrant, followed by the wire rope clamps from their associated cables. These cables are much longer than the ones over the aft cabin bunk, and connect the quadrant to the other end of each wheel’s chain.
Since the compasses had been removed for winter storage already, all I had to do was pull the chain and cables up and off of each wheel’s sprocket. The assembly was a little unwieldy… especially since everything was greasy and dirty. I wore gloves, and dropped everything into a sturdy bucket to take home for measuring and inspection.
The conduits were more difficult to remove on my boat, partly because the access panels in the aft cabin are relatively small. The quadrant and turnbuckle ends of the conduits were removed fairly easily by unscrewing the large nut. The sheave ends of the conduits, however, were tricky because they were screwed into the sheave frames. I found it easiest to remove the entire sheave assemblies (fairly heavy parts in a very confined space) while still connected to the conduits. I then unscrewed the short conduit, and detached the large conduit by rotating the entire sheave assembly to unscrew it from the conduit. Not easy!
Benchtop Work at Home
At home, I took a closer look at every part, and took measurements for the new conduits and cables. At over $20 a foot for bulk conduit, and the longest conduit measuring about 9 feet long, I didn’t want to get things wrong! In the end I used under 22 feet of Edson steering conduit, and bought two Edson 2BD2D13 Cable and Chain Assemblies.
The old cables were actually in good condition. Running a cloth along each one revealed no “meat hooks” that would have been signs of impending failure. The chains looked fine, too. I still replaced all the cables and chains, but kept one of the old chains as an onboard spare.
However, the sheaves had more issues than I expected. The bearings were very dry, and one obviously had been rubbing on one side due to some misalignment. I decided the bearings were still serviceable, but needed some 30W oil for lubrication. I also noted I had to get the sheaves aligned better during reinstallation, and bought a bunch of stainless washers for use as shims.
Cutting the new plastic and metal conduit was easiest with a sharp hacksaw. I tried an old hacksaw blade with little success, then a few power tools, but they just made a mess of the conduit’s plastic interior and weren’t worth the noise and safety risks of cutting metal with power tools! The hacksaw needs to be sharp!
The autopilot tiller’s stripped bolt was removed, and fortunately I was able to order a long enough bolt and nut that could replace it.
Installing New Conduits and Cables
Prior to reinstalling everything, I installed just the sheave and sheave box assemblies to carefully check alignment. I used twine wrapped over the wheel sprockets and some careful use of inspection mirrors, though I probably should have purchased used some dowels for a more accurate alignment. I did find there were some alignment issues I had missed in previous years.
Other C400 Mark I owners note: Looking back on things, I should have made the inspection panels in the aft cabin much bigger. I assume the steering sheaves were installed before the deck was laid in place during initial construction of the boat… I obviously didn’t have that luxury now! Making the inspection panels bigger, or finding some other way to have immediate access to the sheave bolts, would have saved huge amounts of time. Instead, in order to add or remove any shims, I had to remove the entire sheave assembly to gain access to the proper locations… a horribly tedious and wasteful process!
I tried and failed to use different techniques to install the conduits to the sheaves. In the end I settled on reversing my removal process. For each side, I got the long conduit in position first, screwed the entire sheave assembly onto the long conduit, screwed the short conduit into the sheave assembly, then finally bolted the sheave box (with conduits attached) in place. Here again it would have been easier to have larger access panels! Why didn’t I think of this earlier? I felt so stupid! It was awful work!
Installing the new cables was comparatively easy. Getting the cable to initially feed into the conduits by the sheaves took some contortions, but otherwise fed easily. The long cables in the BD13 kit were JUST long enough to feed the takeup eyes at the quadrant. In fact, I thought I was going to get more space in the lazarette by making the long conduits slightly longer… but would have needed to order a longer steering cable to fit at considerable cost.
Adjustments and Lubrication
The steering cable that failed in the previous season, described in my Steering Cable Failure post, probably failed due to fatigue right at the swage point. Due to improper adjustment, every time I used full starboard rudder, the swage contacted the sheave and caused a sharp bend in the cable just above the swage. Over time, I think this sharp bend was enough to cause the cable to fatigue and fail. My objective with the new cables was to “center” the chain and cable assembly so this wouldn’t happen.
Using wire rope clamps on each cable, takeup eyes at the quadrant, and the turnbuckle over the aft cabin bunk gave me plenty of opportunity for adjustment. Interference between the cable swages and the sheaves needed to be closely monitored during the tensioning process. I tried syncing the wheel spokes with each other, but my plans were dashed when I had to retension everything after the sea trial.
After centering everything the way I wanted, I put on a little more tension with the turnbuckle. The idea is to get it just tight enough that the cables don’t jump a sheave or the quadrant. Too tight, however, and friction increases within the conduits. I’ve found the turnbuckle should appear to have a slight sag to it. I also re-checked the sheave alignment again for any issues.
I trimmed the cables to a proper length with a wire rope cutter. The “short” cables especially needed to be made much shorter.
The cables were lubricated with a bunch of Teflon lubricant (I used Super Lube). I lubricated it after installing them so things would be less messy. My inline conduit grease fittings were filled, too, and partially screwed in. I’ll probably tighten them a turn or so a few times each season.
Now that everything is adjusted and lubricated correctly, friction in the system is a little lower. Hopefully it will be more reliable, too!
Sea Trial
One of my first outings of the season was a sea trial of the system. I had Kristin get the boat close to hull speed under power, then rapidly turn the wheel to the stop in either direction a few times. I watched the sheaves from down below to check for any jumping, looseness, or rubbing.
One of the first hard turns did result in more slack being felt between wheels, and a feel of more play in the system. I checked for any slippage of the wire rope clamps, and found none. I theorize the loops of the wire rope near the clamps elongated with the strain, resulting in a tiny bit of new slack in the system. To fix this, I had to adjust one cable end (and it’s wire rope clamps), then tensioned both the takeup eyes at the quadrant and the aft cabin turnbuckle… negating my attempts at syncing the wheels with each other (for now). I’ll check the tension a few more times this season, and every season thereafter. I also added some marks on the cables to make it easier to check for any slippage of the wire rope clamps.
For my spare parts inventory, I decided not to have a complete set of spare cables and chains. I did keep one old chain as an onboard spare. I ordered one new BD13 cable for my spare cable since one new conduit was slightly longer than the longest old conduit, negating my ability to use the old cable as a spare should the new one fail. Of course this means I have to carry the cable cutter aboard, too!
Overall, this project was a ridiculous amount of tedious work! Steering is a very important component of the safety of the boat, though, and “wishful thinking” stopped working for me the previous season. Fortunately, I did this project in the winter and spring, so I had plenty of time to get work done without ruining my sailing season. Also, in the event I have steering cable issues again, or when I replace them again, I’ve got a pretty good understanding of how the whole system works together. Hopefully, I won’t have any more problems!