Steering problem

[rsarnott]

I have only had my 2015 C 28s for a few months and am still learning. Yesterday when we were out the rudder become very slow in responding to the helm. The helm never seem to come to the stops and the rudder would finally slowly respond. When docking the helm froze. After docking the helm and rudder responded normally. When I attached the power cable I noticed the wash down system was on I must have hit the switch when I was removing the power cable before going out. I have no idea if that could have anything to do with the steering.

Any help greatly appreciated
Rafe

 

[S. Todd]

Have you checked the fluid level at the helm. With those symptoms the first thing I would suspect is low fluid level.

 

[rsarnott]

I checked the fluid level and if anything it might be overfull

 

[KennyMarrs]

I would also make sure if you have an autopilot that it isn't engaged. It's good to have the remote close by and not in a cabinet where it could get bumped.

 

[SJI Sailor]

That happened to me one time when the autopilot engaged, as Kenny notes. Happened when leaving the marina, and I have no idea why it engaged.

Doesn't really apply to this thread, but what I learned was never to set a destination on the chartplotter until outside the marina, so there would be nowhere for it to aim for (except maybe "heading hold")

 

[Bob/Bradenton]

Rafe, Like the others, it seems to be fairly common to accidentally turn the Auto-Pilot on. It's happened to me twice. You "told" the boat where you wanted to go so that's where it will go. Regardless of what you do with the wheel. Head out in your boat in an open area and manually turn the auto-pilot on and off. See if it feels like what you are experiencing.

Also, a common issue with the Garmin auto-pilot is a bad pump design. When the pilot is turned off, the boat tends to wander to the left/port, regardless of how many times you turn the wheel to the right. Garmin replaced my pump at no charge. Not sure about your older boat. Bob/Bradenton

 

[rsarnott]

Thanks,

I will give that a try it does seem to explain what happened and and I had been playing with various things on the Garmin and autopilot to try to get smarter.

 

[CaptT]

Rafer,

I'm not sure if you found the answer for your steering issues. So I thought I'd post this link.viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18990&start=0&hilit=Steering+issues I have the same boat and had the same issues. The check valve solved the problem. As the thread says, try turning in the 3 set screws on the steering manifold. The autopilot won't work but your manual steering should return to normal.
I know how frustrating it was for me so I hope this helps.
Terry