Rotary Steering Cables

This high performance quick connect rotary steering cable is designed to reduce backlash*, and is used with the SH5180P and SH91650P (tilt) HPS™ Rotary High Performance Helms.
HPS Rotary helms are recommended for most power-assisted steering sterndrives and jet boats.
The HPS Rotary High Performance Steering systems are sold as components, only, and are not available in boxed kits.

The SSC63xx** cables have a special powder-coated helical core to allow a precise fit to the outer conduit. This cable, used with the HPS Rotary helm units will allow exceptional response with very little lost motion (backlash).


* All mechanical steering systems rely on a push-pull cable to do the work of moving the drive unit. The steering efficiency (percentage of your steering effort that actually gets transferred to the drive housing) depends to a large extent on the backlash inherent in the cable.
By virtue of their design, all cables (even the best) have some degree of backlash or lost motion. Lost motion is the difference between the amount of movement at the input end of the steering cable compared to the movement at the output end. This motion is lost in "take-up" between the inner core of the cable and the cable's outer conduit. Backlash is experienced by the operator as free play (slop) in the steering wheel.

While some degree of backlash is acceptable on most boats, certain high performance boat/engine combinations exhibit engine flutter and steering instability when there is a high degree of backlash. The instability becomes magnified at higher speeds - especially above 50 mph.
Dual cable mechanical steering systems are recommended by SeaStar Solutions as well as engine manufacturers for these boats.

With dual cable steering systems, one cable can be adjusted at the engine to counteract the backlash in the other cable, and vice versa. This negates most of the backlash effect — reducing engine flutter and the resulting handling instability.

** The "xx" at the end of the part number represents the various cable lengths available, in feet.