Reply With QuoteWPM in Corona
I may soon be running a 500HP. Do I need hydraulic steering? Who offers a competent product that is not too expensive?? Thanks, Tab
WPM in Corona
I have been told by a variety of sources that if you boat's speed will exceed 70 miles per hour you NEED the hydraulic steering for safety.
Depending on the speed you are going to be running you can go with a variety of different options. First option would be to run a single ram external steering. I would recommend using WPM in Corona, CA. Their single ram kit is simple to install and it doesn't require modifications to the drive, unlike other manufacturers (Imco). Everything is bolt on to the drive and the kit works great. The second type is dual steering. Again if you use WPM it is easy to install and works great.
On both types of steering listed above, they use the cable that runs from the helm to the Brazil valve to activate the rams. The cable freequently can be sloppy and depending on the Brazil valve (supplied by Mercury) can be jerky. The benefit is that the boat will track straight and there is no safety issue.
The third type of steering is full hydraulic. This is by far the best, but is complicated. 4 hydraulic lines to the helm, no cable, no Brazil valve, etc. This is the smoothest and most accurate type of steering you can run.
In terms of pricing, I am not sure how much they are. I remember them being cheaper than Imco and is a better product. Ball park I would guess you are looking around 3-4k for the assisted steering and around 5k for full hydraulic. Hope that helps.
Another vote for WPM, I just bought their dual ram single bravo kit for $2100 from Max Machine Worx. This is the add- on kit, not hydraulic to helm. CP also sells it for that price. It looked better for a couple reasons: the $2100 IMCO kit comes with rubber lines and you have to crimp the fittings. The WPM includes braided lines pre- made to length. I also recall a thread a while back where guys who had owned both liked the WPM better.
Thanks guys. Is WPM the complete name of the company? Website? Anybody know anything about Latham(sp?)? HP350SC, why did you choose the dual vs single? Thanks, Tab
It stands for warlock performance marine, I do remember difficulty finding it. Someone can probably point you to their website. This time I just looked at the cpperformance description. Have heard good things about Latham steering as well as Marine Machine steering/components. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them really. As far as dual ram steering, I'm shooting for 110 mph and want strongest setup I can afford. I had to buy steering rams 1" longer than std. length to clear tailpipes. In a few weeks I'll probably ask for some help on the boards installing them so follow along and we'll both learn. About all I know so far is you mount them on the same horizontal "line" as the driveline.
Here's a "before" shot....in a few weeks I'll post "after" shot.
There web site is WPMracing.com,
I bought a used dual ram for 800.00 and had to buy a couple of parts from WPM.
They sent me instructions for installation and were very helpful.
There was a used WPM dual ram for sale in extreme boats mag. for 1000.00
Hope this helps.
Clint
Thanks for the info guys. Tab
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