[alberg30] steering wheel

[Guy Lalonde]

Hi all. Here is my experience with whell steering on an A30.

Wheel steering pros:

Ease of use and all controls in one location.

Wheel steering cons:

1 - Takes up a lot of cockpit space. 2 - The installation is very tight
fitting which makes it difficult to do maintenance. 3 - At some point in
time you will need to re-bed the pedestal and because of item 2, previous
owners (as well as myself in the 2 years I've had it) neglected this. Which
then lets water infiltrate... and do its damage in the cockpit floor... and
then you have a pedestal bolted onto a surface which is not as strong as it
once was (soggy and rotted balsa)... and because of item 1 the pedestal /
wheel always gets knocked by someone trying to manoeuver around it (or
holding on to it), further weakening its attachment points. All a recipe for
eventual failure. Needless to say I am removing mine and going back to
tiller steering.

But if well installed by removing balsa around all holes and filling with
thickened epoxy then it might be another story. You'd only end up with water
in the bilge.

As for emergency tillers, the setup on 466 was well done by a previous
owner. The tiller was left in place, cut approx half length, folded back out
of the way to the vertical position. Ready for use any time. It is also used
with an old tiller autoplilot.


My 2 cents (CND, which is about 1.3 cents US)

Guy
#466


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