Hi everyone. I'll start by saying I'm going to give a lot of detail here, as I figure the more detail I can give, the more chance I have of one of you gents knowing what my issue is and how I might be able to fix it. Sorry if this post runs a bit long because of it!
So I've got a 1986 Winner Tournament with a Merc Black Max 150hp. Since I bought (actually I traded for) this boat 2 years ago and did some repairs to the motor it's been a fantastic boat. However, it does one thing that I really don't know why... It has a strange steering issue. I say "strange" because at first you're going to say, "oh, see that all the time..." but to me it's strange because it doesn't seem to be caused by any of the normal things. Let me explain.
While it doesn't have hydraulic steering or anything fancy like that, the steering is very easy to turn in both directions at slow speeds. I've also had someone apply a great deal of force on the OB trying to simulate the boat underway to see if the steering tightened up or changed, and in both cases I can easily spin the wheel left and right with barely a pinky on it.
Once this thing gets up on plane though things turn out to be entirely different. Turning in EITHER direction, port or starboard results in a very hard to turn wheel. It's much harder to turn to port than starboard, but both are much more difficult than they should be. A turn to port actually requires both hands on the wheel cranking pretty hard.
Originally the anode had been replaced with a flat "non-trim-tab" anode. I replaced that last year with a standard trim tab and adjusted it to where I think it's best. I can't say for sure, it may have made it better, but it certainly didn't "fix" the problem.
I read a lot talking about the engine height. It's on a manual jackplate, so easy enough to adjust. But everything I could find basically said I should have the prop shaft about 3 1/2" below the pad. When I measure it, that's exactly where it's sitting right now... One note here, there is a large "step" (for lack of knowing an actual term for it, "offset transom" maybe?) behind the end of the pad. In other words, the transom doesn't just go straight down flat. The transom goes down, then there is a place that's pretty close the the level of the cavitation plate that is flat all the way across to the... ummm... what's the term? Anti-chine? Basically it's about a 3ft wide section or so... That steps "in under" the back of the boat probably 9" and then it drops down to the actual pad (aerator inputs, drain plug, etc are here as well)
I don't know if because of this design, or the design of these Winner boats if maybe the engine should be a lot lower or higher than that 3 1/2"?
As for trim, it really doesn't seem to make that much of a difference either. Rather I trim it all the way in or leave it out where I'm hitting max speed the steering wheel seems pretty much equally difficult to turn. At least until I come off plane. As soon as it drops off plane I can just about breath on it and kick it in any direction you'd like.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
So I've got a 1986 Winner Tournament with a Merc Black Max 150hp. Since I bought (actually I traded for) this boat 2 years ago and did some repairs to the motor it's been a fantastic boat. However, it does one thing that I really don't know why... It has a strange steering issue. I say "strange" because at first you're going to say, "oh, see that all the time..." but to me it's strange because it doesn't seem to be caused by any of the normal things. Let me explain.
While it doesn't have hydraulic steering or anything fancy like that, the steering is very easy to turn in both directions at slow speeds. I've also had someone apply a great deal of force on the OB trying to simulate the boat underway to see if the steering tightened up or changed, and in both cases I can easily spin the wheel left and right with barely a pinky on it.
Once this thing gets up on plane though things turn out to be entirely different. Turning in EITHER direction, port or starboard results in a very hard to turn wheel. It's much harder to turn to port than starboard, but both are much more difficult than they should be. A turn to port actually requires both hands on the wheel cranking pretty hard.
Originally the anode had been replaced with a flat "non-trim-tab" anode. I replaced that last year with a standard trim tab and adjusted it to where I think it's best. I can't say for sure, it may have made it better, but it certainly didn't "fix" the problem.
I read a lot talking about the engine height. It's on a manual jackplate, so easy enough to adjust. But everything I could find basically said I should have the prop shaft about 3 1/2" below the pad. When I measure it, that's exactly where it's sitting right now... One note here, there is a large "step" (for lack of knowing an actual term for it, "offset transom" maybe?) behind the end of the pad. In other words, the transom doesn't just go straight down flat. The transom goes down, then there is a place that's pretty close the the level of the cavitation plate that is flat all the way across to the... ummm... what's the term? Anti-chine? Basically it's about a 3ft wide section or so... That steps "in under" the back of the boat probably 9" and then it drops down to the actual pad (aerator inputs, drain plug, etc are here as well)
I don't know if because of this design, or the design of these Winner boats if maybe the engine should be a lot lower or higher than that 3 1/2"?
As for trim, it really doesn't seem to make that much of a difference either. Rather I trim it all the way in or leave it out where I'm hitting max speed the steering wheel seems pretty much equally difficult to turn. At least until I come off plane. As soon as it drops off plane I can just about breath on it and kick it in any direction you'd like.
Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!