Major Steering Issue

[RiverLance2012]

I have a 2002 Caravelle 18 ft 3.0 Mercruiser... I bought the boat over winter for a good deal and I just took it out last saturday to test it out. It took a couple times to crank it after giving some gas but then it ran pretty good except I had to hold the steering wheel extremely hard to the right to keep it straight. It turned a little easier going left but if I let the steering wheel go it would easily just turn left on its own. Just keeping this boat straight was way too hard. Anybody have a clue what is going on???

 

[proshadetree]

Re: Major Steering Issue

You need to adjust the steering tab on the out drive located above the prop which looks like a small fin mounted up-side down.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Major Steering Issue

If the boat is pulling hard to port you should move the tab to port. That should compensate for the torque. How much? You will have to figure that out by trial and error.

 

[RiverLance2012]

Re: Major Steering Issue

Okay I have adjusted the fin it was a little bit cocked to the left, I adjusted it to be straight. I have a marine service coming to pick it up and check everything out and do all the service on my boat tomorrow. I told him a about the issue and he said he would just check everything out to make sure nothing serious was wrong. He is replacing the impeller in which he told me it may or may not need to be replaced but I told him just to go ahead and replace due to all the comments I have seen on here about them. Also he did not mention anything about replacing the spark plugs, he only mentioned oil and filter. Should I replace them if he does not and if so can I use regular plugs???