It may be surprising to many, but when you think about it, most rowing boat clasees come with a rudder-based steering system. Typically only double- and single-sculls come without a rudder. While the old-style stern-coxed rope and rudder systems are rather straight forward, the bow-coxed and toe-steered boats are mildly more elaborate. And it's the effort to make those systems corrosion-resistant, lightweight, and easily adjustable that makes them more complicated and, thus, requiring some additional attention for on--going proper function.

Every season a handful of folks have issues/failures with steering systems. Some are so grievous as to have the steering cable cut through the metal grommets and then seize up when the friction becomes too much. The good news in this case, and in most cases, is that the failure is often self-inflicted and largely avoidable with a little knowledge and attention. This article is to provide you with the former.

Starting with the basics: The cable that attaches the toe to the rudder head is a sixteenth-inch thick (seven-by-seven spindle) stainless-steel 'rope'. It's available at most marine stores, so if you go shopping for it locally, make sure not to get anything thicker or it won't fit through the cable guides and grommets. (Otherwise just just order replacements through www.shopshax.com, where you'll certainly get the right size at a good price.)

The stainless-steel designation does NOT make it corrosion-proof, just corrosion-resistant. Having said that, most rust-like stains on the cable itself will come from other sources, and those need to be investigated to identify the source and whether that source is going to be an issue.

Attached to the rudder head and atop the rudder are three pieces of hardware needed to connect the cable to the rudder head. There are two the D-shackle, two C-channel guides – both of which are kinda obvious based on their similarity to the fourth and third letters of the alphabet – and the brass cable clamps. The first two parts enable the easy pivoting of the cable in relationship to the rudder head as it turns. The cable clamps hold it in place and in tension and are fundamentally important.

Cable tension deserves a discussion of its own. I like to have about as much tension in the cable as is physically possible. Having the cable too loose means that it won't respond to subtle movement in the toe or tiller. It also means that the cable housing/sleeve is more likely to pop out of the grommets around the mounting bracket of the toe or tiller. To illustrate that point, imagine if the cable was allowed to drape/sag, the cable housing/sleeve (the black/grey lining used at the rower's end of the cable) would eventually drop out of its slots in the grommets and cable guides and the cable would rub along the grommets.

Here is what I do to get appropriate cable tension. (Keep in mind that Sykes and I prefer to use a single piece of cable that starts and ends at the rudder head, rather than two pieces that start at the rudder head and finish at the toe-steer or tiller.) Release the pressure on the toe-steer thumbscrew (or the clamp in the bow-cox tiller) so the cable can slide through without turning the toe. Clamp down one side of the cable onto the rudder head with the screws of the brass cable clamp tight. On the other side, put the brass clamp on the cable – both the loose end and the other end that runs back through the boat – but don't tighten the screws. Pull on the loose end so that it makes the cable tight throughout the boat, don't worry that it also pulls the rudder out of alignment. Then slide the brass cable clamp up to the C-channel guide. You'll notice that the pinching force of the brass clamp alone will hold the tension in the cable even without tightening the screws. This will free up both of your hands to tighten the screws on the brass clamp. Now, turn the rudder head so the rudder is straight with the fin, and then put the toe where you want it to be when the rudder is straight. Tighten the thumbscrew (or the nut to clamp the washers down on the rudder tiller of a bow-coxed-four).

So that's getting the appropriate cable tension. Back to the rest of the steering system.

Between the toe-steer and the rudder head and the fittings just discussed, you'll find a sequence of cable guides and grommets and some cable housing/sleeves. All of these pieces are there to sustain tension in the cable even when you adjust the footstretcher fore and aft. It does this by keeping the cable length constant. It's here, however, that we need to pay special attention.

You need to make sure that the cable housing/sleeve fits into the grommet on the toe-steer mount, and into the large hole or grommet of the cable guide. When it does, the cable really doesn't touch the metal of the grommet/guides and slide through very easily. When the cable sleeve does not line up – say it pops out during transport or when you install a new cable – the cable will rub up against the edges and act like a cable-saw and slice through the metal fittings. The cable is harder than the alloy fittings, but it will likely seize-up when it cuts deeply into the grommet just like a saw can in a piece of think wood.

The cable sleeve of the toe steer has to be slightly longer than the straight-line between the cable guide and the grommet on the toe-steer mount, or the cable will still cut into the edges of the grommet. It needs to be long enough so that the cable comes into the toe-steer mount (on coxswain's tiller) nearly perpendicular to the grommet.

For bow-coxed-fours the tiller's mount stays put and so there is no need to change the length of the cable sleeves from that which is provided. The challenge with toe-steer fittings is, however, that the range of fore/aft movement of the footstretcher is greater than the cable sleeve will allow. If you install enough cable sleeve to reach a footstretcher placed all the way forward, once the footstretcher is moved astern a good deal, the port-side cable sleeve will kink and pop out of the grommets. That's why toe-steer systems come with an additional length of sleeve so that you can change out sleeves to find the appropriate length.

If you have the cable sleeves lined up appropriately and there are no kinks in the sleeve, the cable should be able to move easily and steering should be effortless. Some folks might like to add a grease or petroleum jelly in the tight spots near the cable sleeves. I warn people against this just because that jelly can collect dirt or salt and thus become hard to move over time.

If you find that the cable moves too easily and it's too easy for your foot to stray on the toe-steer, I recommend that you tighten the pivot nut under the toe-steer plate itself. The nut is an M6 nylon-coated nut that you can tighten to make it hard to turn the toe. You can do so enough to make the toe impossible to turn, which is what we recommend you do if you want to pull out the rudder altogether, which you may do when rowing your 2- as a 2x.

In review, it's important to pay attention to your steering system. If you or your rowers start to feel the steering become more difficult, look at all the contact points to see if there is evidence of the cable not being lined up. Some times, but very rarely, the rudder itself can be the culprit. If the rudder gets bend back, it is possible that the rudder will rub on the keel-line of the boat. That typically only happens after hitting something that knocks the fin out or bends it, so that should be enough to get your attention to where things aren't moving smoothely.