I have run into some strange issues at my yard but last week I heard a new one. Add this to my 'hard to believe' list.
I ran into a friend who was getting his boat ready for the season. He mentioned that he had to bleed his hydraulic steering since he had to turn the wheel many times to get the motors to move. I commented that bleeding is a bit of a pain for one person typically. He said," No it's not, my system gets bled at the helm just by turning the wheel 3 turns to port and three times to starboard. I mentioned that just moves the air around and that the air has to be bleed at the ram.
He said, " No, there is no bleeding needed at the ram".
I pointed to the bleed valves on the ram and his response was " Those aren't bleed valves, they are grease fittings". I looked in shock and said "No they aren't" They aren't zerk fittings, how would you possibly add grease?"
He said " It was a challenge the first year I had the boat. I had to gerry rig a bunch of fittings to get my grease gun to attach to the valves" " Every year I squeeze marine grease into those fittings"
I just smiled and started to wonder what the inside of his hydraulics must look like. Who knows, maybe marine grease and Seastar fluid like each other.
I ran into a friend who was getting his boat ready for the season. He mentioned that he had to bleed his hydraulic steering since he had to turn the wheel many times to get the motors to move. I commented that bleeding is a bit of a pain for one person typically. He said," No it's not, my system gets bled at the helm just by turning the wheel 3 turns to port and three times to starboard. I mentioned that just moves the air around and that the air has to be bleed at the ram.
He said, " No, there is no bleeding needed at the ram".
I pointed to the bleed valves on the ram and his response was " Those aren't bleed valves, they are grease fittings". I looked in shock and said "No they aren't" They aren't zerk fittings, how would you possibly add grease?"
He said " It was a challenge the first year I had the boat. I had to gerry rig a bunch of fittings to get my grease gun to attach to the valves" " Every year I squeeze marine grease into those fittings"
I just smiled and started to wonder what the inside of his hydraulics must look like. Who knows, maybe marine grease and Seastar fluid like each other.
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