Need Help Please emergency hydraulics

[murrman]

Hey Guys, I've got some questions resulting from a situation i was in this weekend. Myself, bro and his son were in fishing tourney off port aransas (TX) yesterday, about 35 mi offshore when hydraulic hose burst- about 1/4" hole. we had nothing to seal with other than white medical tape and plastic ties. Had little to no effect, the tape covered but this is oil so... very soon no steering (twin 250 merc verados) storms overtaking us, high winds,building seas, life jackets, kid inside head,coast guard (pan, pan) etc... motors working great, but mostly dead in water. Steering with motors barely able to keep us heading with the following seas. Finally decided to fill reservoir with bottles of water (hydraulics is hydraulics). Absolutely wonderful, until it ran out. We would refill and made it to jetties in rough seas and were towed in by tow boats us. Thankful ending. So my question is how bad did we screw up the hydraulic steering system ? Will we need a new pump or just purge and replace with new lines? What else? thanks in advance. MC

[Double Z]

You'll know more once you get all the water out. Like you said, hydraulics is hydraulics. Water is very much a non-compressable liquid.

[Pau Hana]

Good on you for keeping your wits about you and working the problem! In any case, the repair costs will be a pittance compared to what may have happened!

Sounds like you may have a warranty repair there.....

[sixty]

The Seastar manual says that water can be used in an emergency situation I would think that after getting all of the water out of the system it should fine. Call the MFG and see what they say.

How old were the lines?

[murrman]

Thanks for the replies guys, the lines are three years old (05). Hell, even the tow from 25-30 miles @ 180/hr @ maybe 3kts in heavy seas...cha ching. I believe the pump is 950. Well, we'll see what mercury/progressive or whatever will pay. Anyway, i would not have done anything different (except brought some frog togs along). Thanks, MC

[Dirtguy]

The thread about emergency equipment didn't say anything about parts. Great time to do so.

Keep some clamps and some ATF. Regardless of what others say, ATF is pretty good 'general' fluid to have on board.

Clamps of all sizes as well. Hose of several types as well. Keep the highest grade available to use for everything, and several sizes.

Wire of difffernt gauges and lengths. Butt connectors and eyes and tape.

Good idea to use seawater. the original oil shoulda kept the pump ok. Flush and see what's what.

DG

[MATTANZA]

i carry extra hydraulic fluid and hose fittings, just in case. i would flush out the helm, ram and hoses seperately with hydraulic fluid.