Hydraulic helm pump ?

[jerseysportfisher]

Anyone have any experience with Capilano Helms ? would like to here pro's /cons

Thanks

 

[plowin]

I had 5300 hours on mine, never leaked a drop and that was through two stations. Obvious drawbacks- does not steer as easily as power,expensive($900) per helm unit plus the ram,suck to bleed(like all low pressure hydraulic helms),not very conducive to taking a tower on and off during the season. What is nice is that each helm unit is adjustable as far as amount of turns from hard over to hard over, least amount is about 3.5 as I recall.
My personal opinion is that the steering is fine/great if you are not trying to turn a single screw 45' with a 38" wheel. If you are fishing a great deal or you are removing a station in the fall, like the tower out of a harpoon boat, then power rsteering with quick connect fittigs is the way to go.JMO

 

[29chawk]

i have two 1250v on my rig 31'x 12' plenty of power for my boat. no leaks just added the second helm picked it up on ebay from alario bro's for about 750.00

 

[cb34]

Capalino 1250V

New system in boat. I just filled it up and bled. Feels very stiff and turns over 9 times from side to side. Is this correct? thanks

 

[jerseysportfisher]

i was under the impression the turn ratio can be set at the helm with the knob ?

 

[BillD]

33 Flowers Emily Rose

I'll add that when I sea trialed Todd's (Madchark) 33 Flowers he had the 1250v Capillano two stations with an autopilot tied in. No engine/pump just the Capillano pump.

I put the steering through the paces best I could doing a series of tight figure 8s and the steering was (would be in a boat I'd buildi) very acceptable.

Easy but NOT super smooth 1 finger steering you'd expect from a full pump driven hydraulic. There was a little "air chatter feeling" in the steering.
Todd mentioned to me he had a "bit of air" in the lines that needed to be bled.

For me whether to use passive hydraulic or full engine/pump hydraulic would be if I needed a hauler or not.

One to two steering stations with NO hauler I'd use passive hydraulic.

If I were to put a hauler on the boat (lobster traps) in addition to steering then I'd go to pump driven hydraulic.

 

[cb34]

Adjusting

My manual gives no help regarding how you adjust the # of turns to hard over.

 

[harpoon83]

there should be a small knob outside of the face of the helm where the shaft comes out.

 

[cb34]

Stiff ass steering

New system, capilano 1250V bled 3 X stiff. Within this system I have an AP pump. Could this be the problem? Thanks....

 

[harpoon83]

1250 helm diagram

quick diagram that shows where the adj, knob should be located.
not sure if that helps or not

 

[mudhake]

you need to bleed it at the autopilot also depending where the auto pilot pump is located.

 

[cb34]

Bleeding AP pump

How do you bleed the AP pump? no bleeder valve. The ap pump is close 5' from the helm. The guy at Rose's said should be fine there. The run from there to the ram is approx 15'. thanks......

 

[jerseysportfisher]

by turning it on.

cycle for a while in one direction, then the other.Counter the steering wheel to the opposite direction. do it slow and keep and eye at the resivoir. You'll feel when its good.

 

[steveinak]

I used to use a aircraft grade oil in my system, never got stiff in the cold, made a world of difference in how easy it was to turn the wheel. Mine was 6 turns block to block.

 

[cb34]

AP bleed

by turning it on.

cycle for a while in one direction, then the other.Counter the steering wheel to the opposite direction. do it slow and keep and eye at the resivoir. You'll feel when its good.

My pump has a black and red wire, am I able to change the polarity? Red to + for one direction, red to - opposite direction? thanks.....

 

[jerseysportfisher]

My pump has a black and red wire, am I able to change the polarity? Red to + for one direction, red to - opposite direction? thanks.....

use the AP head, manual rudder direction button or wheel

 

[cb34]

AP

Head not hooked up yet, thanks for the info.

 

[plowin]

I am fairly certain that the polarity of the pump will and does reverse the pumps direction.

 

[jerseysportfisher]

I am fairly certain that the polarity of the pump will and does reverse the pumps direction.

depends if its 2 or 3 wire pump

 

[cb34]

ap

2 wire red & black