Re: F_R Hynautic Man - Educate Us
The first thing to realize is that there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to steering your boat. Whatever energy that it takes to steer your boat is supplied by your muscles. Hydraulic steering is not power steering. However, there is such a thing as power steering available.
Having said that, yes oil does make a difference, especially in cold weather. However, I see you are in Miami so that's probably not a real big issue. I did see a boat once that was filled with Ford ATF, and what a stiff dog! Ford must have some kind of friction modifier in their oil ?
You can make it easier to steer, within limits, by selection of different helms. But the tradeoff is that to make it easier you have to make more turns hardover-to-hardover. Other factors are the motors, lubrication in the tilt tubes, if used, hose sizes, which ram you are using, etc. So you see, there is no pat easy answer to your question.
What brand steering do you have? I worked for Hynautic, and Teleflex was our arch rival. After I retired, Hynautic sold out to Teleflex. Hurts.
