I’ve had my autopilot for about 4 years now I think. This past month the steering has stiffened up significantly, last time I was on the water I could barely get the motor to steer, maybe about 5 degrees in either direction max. I figured it needed to be greased because I only salt water fish. But today I noticed this o ring popping out of what I’m assuming is the steering drive for the motor mast. Has anyone had this issue before? Looks like an absolute bitch to disassemble and repair, would like to bring it in for maintenance but cant give up the kayak in the middle of the season. Any ideas or past experiences with this for a quick fix? If I can’t fix it on my own I’m probably just gonna ride it out to the end of the season and rely solely on rudder steering. I mostly troll anyway so can get away with only rudder steering.
Posted by good_you_
2 Comments
Does that O-ring go all the way around, or is it a small O-ring that somehow got wedged just in that spot?
Either way, I’d remove it ASAP – it’s clearly no longer sealing whatever it was meant to seal and it’s causing steering problems. Should probably replace it as soon as you can too, as whatever it *was* sealing is probably not going to be happy being unsealed.
Its now an unintended feature! Enjoy your new off the rod hook keeper! Hope you get that resolved, thats quite the jam, sorry to hear