Because this is a twin-engine installation, there are several considerations. The size of the motors and the distance between the helm and the outboards means that a mechanical steering solution is not an option. This left us with three possibilities: hydraulic, hydraulic with power-assist, or electric.
It would have been fantastic to have installed the latest digital electric actuators, such as the Yamaha Helm Master EX system. These allow full digital control of the steering, and include the ability to implement joystick docking. However, the costs of this solution greatly exceeded my available budget and so I decided on a more conventional hydraulic system. The total cost was estimated to be about $2,500 for all the components, and this system allows a power-assist option to be added at a later date.
Next I needed to get the correctly-sized components. All outboard motors exhibit a twisting motion caused by the torque of the propeller, meaning the engine will
