Carver Owners Forum

So i got my engines running after buying my 85' Carver 3207 at auction a couple weeks ago. I prematurely took it out of the slip because I need to move one slip over due to incorrect placement by the marina. I took it out of the slip and quickly realized that the steering wheel was not doing anything. It felt like it was clicking. Both the wheel house and the fly bridge felt the same. I think it's out of hydraulic fluid or something but I don't know how or where to check it.

Can someone give me some pointers to where the reservoir is located and what fluid to use and anything else I might need to do to get the air out of the system as well.

Likely, it has plenty of fluid in it. There is a reservoir in the aft cabin, somewhere along the transom, that also needs to be pressurized (with a bicycle pump) to between 20 and 30 PSI. There is a gauge on top of the reservoir so you put enough air in. If it leaks back out, there is a leak somewhere in the system. We have seen them lose air pressure from sitting over the winter or longer storage times. The reservoir should be relatively centered on the transom, so look in the aft head first, then migrate to under the berths.

Ramsport47 wrote:Likely, it has plenty of fluid in it. There is a reservoir in the aft cabin, somewhere along the transom, that also needs to be pressurized (with a bicycle pump) to between 20 and 30 PSI. There is a gauge on top of the reservoir so you put enough air in. If it leaks back out, there is a leak somewhere in the system. We have seen them lose air pressure from sitting over the winter or longer storage times. The reservoir should be relatively centered on the transom, so look in the aft head first, then migrate to under the berths.

I believe that is what is behind the Port side bed where the drawers are. I have removed the drawers and seen something like that behind them.... I'll look on Friday when I'm out there.

And you'll probably have to perform a bleeding operation which is turning the wheel in one direction a ridiculous amount of turns, like 60 or something like that, and then the same in the other direction.

The hynautic website has the procedure on their website. I had to do the same on my 87 3697 - when I bought it, the reservoir was non-existant - somebody stole it.

waybomb wrote:And you'll probably have to perform a bleeding operation which is turning the wheel in one direction a ridiculous amount of turns, like 60 or something like that, and then the same in the other direction.

The hynautic website has the procedure on their website. I had to do the same on my 87 3697 - when I bought it, the reservoir was non-existant - somebody stole it.

is it self bleeding by turning the wheel?

I'm going to search hynautic now

Yes, the pressure in the reservoir sends fluid up to the pump (your steering wheel). Eventually the air in the system is pressurized by you turning the wheel and pressure differential moves the compressed air to the reservoir.
Ingenious.

Hey Waybomb, our 1987 3207 is leaking fluid at the upper helm. It is a Hynautic. Is there a seal kit for this or does the whole steering box need a rebuild? Sorry for the hijack but you guys were talking about our next pressing problem already.

Thanks, Iceman

They make seal kits. And there are outifts out there that will rebuild it for you for something like 350 bucks. I don't have a link.

I have never taken one apart, but there's lotsa parts in there. Before you attempt it yourself, you may want to read up on it. Looks straight forward and probably worth a try. Ebay tends to have parts - do a "hynautic" search.

Good Information. Thanks for the help, I'm gonna look at it tomorrow when I get out there.

When my steering cylinder sprang a leak I took it to a local hydraulics repair shop. An hour shop labor and a couple bucks for parts and it was good as new. You don't always need a boat guy to fix things on a boat.