Boat Steering

I have a 1775 Starcraft (fish & Sky ) and it steers hard. When I’m not in the water it seems to be easy but when in the water it steers hard. The motor is a 75 hp Merc, and does a great job and runs great . Is there anyway to lube the cable from the wheel to the connecting bar. I have lubed it and even unhooked it . The motor swings easy and the wheel turns easy but when on the water it HARD STEERING. Is the motor set to deep or to shallow or does this effect this ? All info greatly appreciated… Would like to fix before open water here. Jim

James, if the motor is not trimmed properly it can be hard to steer.

Triming makes no differance. Jim

james, does the boat steer hard when you are just idling or only at higher speeds? Does it turn harder going to the left or right or is it the same both ways? Not sure if I know what to tell you on the solution but maybe with a little more info someone will know a good fix for you

I don’t understand why it would be different in the water than out, but those cables can go bad. I had to replace the steering cable on the old Lund several years ago. It’s not too terrible of job.

The thing I just can’t figure is why it’s only hard to steer while in the water.

You need to adjust the trim tab on the underside of your cav plate on the back of the motor.
I do not have one to look at right now but if my fuzzy memory serves me right you need to turn the leading edge opposite the way the boat wants to turn. this will be the same as turning it towards the direction in turns the hardest.

Not sure if this is your problem or not..but this was mine.

I could lube up the arm and it would be a little better steering. The problem I had was when I was going straight and wanted to turn, it was hard…almost had to jerk it. Either direction. Once it moved, if I kept the steering wheel moveing just a little left to right, I wouldn’t have a problem…but if I went straight for any amount of time…same thing. Again…it seemed like once I “broke” it loose, it would turn fine….This only happened in the water and when I was going more than (about) 1/4 throttle.

Sitt’en in the garage..there wasn’t the slightest indication of a problem.

What it turned out to be was, when you pulled the arm out of the motor “tube”, I found traces of rust on the upper inside. I had the arm out three differant times, looked in there each time, but the last time I used a flashlight and could see little “bumps” of rust in there. By looking at it you couldn’t tell it was rust… I’m still surprised that I noticed them.

I ended up after cleaning the grease out with degreaser and plenty of rags, buying a nylon brush (Fleet Farm milker cleaning brush $3) and some 600 grit sand paper.

Placed the sand paper on the top side of the brush and went to work…that’s when I found out it was rust. I also replaced the two “0” rings on the tube. If you took your arm out check these…they are very easy to chew up when replacing the arm, which lets water in there.

So, I now lube the arm 4 times a summer as opposed to twice a summer as I was doing before.

I hope this is your problem, although it takes a little work, it’s a cheap fix.

I posted this same question last year. One thing our members said to watch for were frayed cables. Check at the wheel and on the motor end.

There’s other factors too, load distrabution, weight ect.

Did it ever turn easy?

Good Luck!

James, after rereading your post…I would bet .25 that is the problem…I have a 90hp Merc.

Ps when I pulled out the steering arm, there wasn’t any sign of rust….let me know if I owe you a quarter!

Thanks for all the info. I will check the rod even though I did grease everything. A little history about the boat. It is a 93 Starcraft (fish & sky ) When I bought it last year it had only been on the water about 8 times. Only had two tanks of gas ran through it. Unfortunatly the guy that bought it died before he could use it very much. It sat in storage the whole time until his wife sold it. Everything was just like brand new. Bimini top never used, Prop never even had a chip or flaw in it. Carpet was not even faded. Had to have the carbs rebuilt and fuel pump. Was almost show room condition after 10 years. The motor does not even have a scratch on it. Unlucky Him and lucky me if you could say that. I told his wife I would take VERY GOOD CARE OF IT and I will.. Now to the problem. It does not pull one way or the other but when moving it steers hard both ways at 10 mph or 39.3 mph top sp. gps. Do NOT have any open here yet but will clean everything before it gets here. What would happen if I took the trim tab off as I have seen some that don’t have any ?? The straight part goes to the front (right ) ??? Thank again Jim

Briank- From the sound of things and after rereading your post I think you just hit the nail on the head. Will get boat in and hone the tube and rod and HOPE that is it. This would make me very Happy . Thank You

The angled part goes to the front, or at least that’s the way it is on my boat. I’ve never seen a boat with a single prop that didn’t have one, as it is there to counterbalance prop rotation.

Don’t know if that could cause your problem or not.