Steering went out

[Bobby]

Ok, so there is yet another problem with the boat. It seems to never end, especially this year. So I was about to go wakeboarding and the driver turned to bring me the rope. When he tries to straighten out the boat, it won't turn. I took apart the back part of the boat to look at the rudder assembly and everything was still intact. The steering whell can spin freely with little to no resistance. I get towed back in and put the boat on the trailer, and when the boat comes out of the water the steering starts to work again for a little bit. I turned the wheel a few times and it went back to not working. I moved the rudder by hand and the wheel responded once more, but didn't work for longer than 10 seconds. I'm thinking that something in the steering box is loose and needs to be worked on. Has anyone else had this happen to them? As always any and sll help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

[SGY]

Bobby, what year boat? I wonder if your anchor bolt on your steering cable block came undone. This would cause the kind of failure you are describing. Some 2003-2004 Nautiques underwent a recall for this.

[Bobby]

the boat is far from an '03 or '04, it is an '82. Where would I find the anchor bolt on the steering cable block? It seems like it'd be worth checking out.

[SGY]

Not sure how to access the steering block other than pulling up your floor behind the motor box. Mine is located about two feet forward of the rudder assembly. I would think the anchor would need to be fairly close to the rudder.

[Rick]

The anchor bolt is the one that attaches the silver tube to the stringer with the steering rod coming in and out of the tube when you turn the wheel. If it works intermitently it is more likely a loose pinion gear in the steering unit or a broken cable.

[workky]

I had the sam eproblem with mine this year.Mine turned out to be a broken steering cable ,it was broken were the cable comes out of the gear box,about the last 14inches or so.When u would turn the rudder by hand it would feed the cable back into the gearbox ,so i could steer until i turned it to the right to much,then it would unwind and come out of the gearbox and quit working.when i turned the rudder it would catch again and we could keep going,this is how we got it back to the landing ,we just didnt make to many right hand turns.You can easily tell if the end is broken just by taking off the spent tube of on the stearing head and see if the cable comes out,or u can pull it out,if it indeed is broken

[Bobby]

Now does anyone know of a place to get a steering cable? it turned out to be the problem. I usually get my repair stuff from discount marine but they apparently do not sell what i need.

[NautiqueJeff]

You're not going to like this.

The part is $275.00.

CLICK HERE.

[882001]

i heard you can buy the one at dim its like a half a foot longer but will work

[workky]

I replaced mine with a QC11,i got a 18ft one,i think i might have gotten by with a 17ft,but i didnt want to take the chance.I paid 68.00 for it.It doesnt have the throw that my old one had ,but it doesnt really affect the way the boat drives,other than u cant turn as sharp as u could.Thats why the nautique cable is so exspensive it has a 10inch travel,versus 8inch.I believe.Plus its an oddball size