204c Owners with Seastar Hydraulic Steering

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I'm installing a Seastar hydraulic system on my 1987 204c with an 87' Mercury 150hp.

Wondering if any of you 204c owners have done this upgrade?

What length hoses did you use?

Thanks
john
 
I had it done in 2002 when I repowered my 1988 204c. Dealer installed it so I cannot give you any hints but can tell you it was one of the best upgrades I have done.

Just happen to have the boat at home after having the bottom painted. If the rain stopd here long enough I will peek under the cover and see if the hoses are marked somewhere.
 
I was looking for the hose length.

Yesterday I pulled out the old cable & it measures 17ft. So if I read the online ordering instructions correctly, I need to add 2ft to that giving a total of 19ft. Since they only come in even increments, I will go with 20ft.

Thanks
 
I looked at mine briefly this weekend. Thought there would be markings on the hose but did not see any on the exposed hose. Did notice something I had not thought about before. When they installed mine they put a "hard fitting" where the hose comes through the fiberglass in the engine well. I have a long hose run from helm to coupling then a short hose from coupling to cylinder. That might be the standard way to do it and I just never thought about it.
 
UPDATE:

I completed the job this weekend. Turned out not to be as difficult as I was initially worried about.

The hose length turned out to be 20ft.

The only issues that I had to work through were:
1) Clean out the Tilt tube. It had 20+ years of accumulated dried and nasty grease. Used a rotozip to get the bulk of the crud out, followed by a series of honing using a drill and a brake cylider hone tool with liberal amounts of oil.

2) The fittings that attach to the helm were not long enough to reach back far enough to connect the hoses. :doh
Added small 1/4in extention fittings.

3) Although the helm is stamped with port (P) & starboard (S), the cylinder is not, neither is the manual. So there was a 50/50 chance I would get it correct. :noob And of course I never win 50/50's and got them wrong and needed to flip them. :-|

On a positive note, I wish I had done this job sooner. I'm amased at how much easier it is to turn. Just like driving my truck. :dance
 
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