Hydrolic steering reservoir filling tip

[CaptG]

I am putting the auto pilot from my old F32 with mechanical steering on my 10 meter with hydrolic steering. After I had the new hoses made and installed with the new hydrolic pump that replaced the mechanical ram, I needed to refil the hydrolic reservoir. There is a large plug on top that the air valve screws into. I could not get it to budge and having outgrown the grab a big buddy and six foot cheater bar mentality because that usually resulted in breakage and wrecked parts, I resorted to straining my thought process on how to fill the reservoir through the 1/4 inch hole the valve screwed into with out making a mess. The valve unscrewed with no hassle. Small funnel or baster tube is what I came up with. Off to Wally world to see what was available. Even their smallest funnel would not fit into the hole and when I was looking at the basting tubes, they were also too big. And then I saw it hanging on the rack. A turkey marinade injector. A large hypodermic needle. $5.00 later and back to the boat. Clipped off all but about 1/4 inch of the needle and proceeded to fill the reservoir in short order and with out making a mess. That needle is now part of the boat tool collection. Hope this helps some one.

[prowlersfish]

Glad you got it done , hopefully that will help someone else

[yorklyn]

CaptG, Way to go on the restraint of avoiding the cheater Bar!!! Thank goodness we get smarter as we get older!
Good tip, thanks for sharing!