Adventure 208 steering

[Gus_Ag]

Hello,
This summer I bought this 1997 Grady White boat. My first Grady, so I am not familiar with it. The motor was replaced a couple years ago with a Suzuki 200 (DF200AP). Runs great, but it pulls to starboard, not much at medium speed (18mph), a lot at high speed (35mph). I have the drive trim tab adjusted as far as it can go, which improved the pull but did not get rid of it. The boat has the original steering, which has considerable play as well.
So, my thought is to replace it with a new hydraulic steering system. Any recommended brands for such a replacement system? I have decent mechanical skills, would it be something that I can do myself?
Whatever adivse regarding this is much appreciated, thank you!

 

[Coastboater]

Sea Star is a common brand. They also now have electric steering which should eliminate pull altogether.

 

[Gus_Ag]

Will look into it. Thanks!

 

[TMANN]

Cable steer now?

 

[seasick]

200 HP is too much for the original steering system . Grady recommended hydraulic steering for 175 HP and up.
That said, the pulling to starboard may be something else. If you mean that the motor is much harder to steer to one direction versus the other, your tab may be incorrectly adjusted. In fact the adjustment is counter intuitive. I am not sure what adjustment you made but assuming you have a normal rotation motor, the tab should be turned about 15 degrees clockwise looking from underneath . If there are tick marks stamped on the underside of the ventilation plate, start with one to two tick marks. Looking from behind the motor when tilted down, the rear edge of the tab should be rotated to the right.
Another possible issue is that you may not have NFB ( No Feedback steering box). That is somewhat easy to check. Try turning the motor by hand at the motor. If you can move it side to side and steering wheel turns, you do not have NFB steering. That will make the pulling a lot more obvious

 

[Gus_Ag]

Yes, right now it is cable steering.

 

[TMANN]

Yes, right now it is cable steering.

Oh yeah, hydraulic will fix it. You have to pull the motor to replace it. Straight forward to do if you have the tools. Seastar is the standard. I also installed a Vevor 300hp kit on a friends boat. He's happy with it. Off Amazon, looked just like a Seastar copy.

 

[Gus_Ag]

As far as the trim tab adjustment, following the Suzuki motor manual instructions, I moved the rear end of the trim tab all the way to the starboard side. Lesser adjustments were tried, but the farthest out is what gave the least pull.
Also, from your description, I do not have NFB on the steering system.
I have checked out the Dometic (was Sea Star) steering options, it seems that the electronic steering is much simpler and perhaps the best. However, I have worked with electronic controls for decades and know that they can be prone to failures (static, interference, etc.) so there is a concern that a steering control failure could disable steering in foul weather.
I welcome your comments in making the most reliable steering system choice.

 

[seasick]

I find the recommendation to move the tab as far to the right as possible hard to understand, especially if as far as it can go is 90 degrees. If it is 90 degrees than moving it as far as it can go to the other side would have the same effect ( or close to it)
There is a difference between the steering being harder to turn in one direction as opposed to the tendency of the motor to feel like it wants to turn in the opposite direction. The later case being a characteric of steering system without NFB. In your case however 200HP really needs hydraulic steering.

I am not familiar with the absolute need to remove the motor to add hydraulic steering. On the 208 it is necessary to move the motor to port to get enough space to replace the steering cable but if you are removing the mechanical system for hydraulic you can cut the old steering cable to remove it in pieces.

 

[Gus_Ag]

The max tab adjustment is only about 30 - 40 degrees, and it did reduce the pull to starboard. If I let go of the helm, it will turn to starboard quickly. So, it sounds like I am headed for a hydraulic steering solution. Also, as seasick suggests, I am hoping not to have to remove the motor (will look at it carefully prior to starting the new steering installation).

Thank you everyone for your valuable input! This is a great (Grady) forum.

 

[TMANN]

The support rod pointed out in blue slides thru the swivel bracket. Then the ears bolt to it and the cylinder bolts to the swivel arm.

When I say pull the motor, I'm only talking about 4 bolts and back it up 6" to slide the steering cable out and the new support rod thru.

 

[sshaderiii]

I bought a 1998 Adventure this month and my port bow nav light doesn’t work also my horn and live well doesn’t work. Is there an electrical problem or is each item broke ?How should I go about getting it fixed?

 

[DennisG01]

I bought a 1998 Adventure this month and my port bow nav light doesn’t work also my horn and live well doesn’t work. Is there an electrical problem or is each item broke ?How should I go about getting it fixed?

This is a thread about steering - if you can start a new thread, it would be better. What you've done is affectionately called "hi-jacking"

 

[Fishtales]

The Seastar power assist module is nice. Easy peasy to steer.

 

[trimix]

Seastar is excellent choice but would also recommend Yamaha engines like 150/175

 

[sshaderiii]

This is a thread about steering - if you can start a new thread, it would be better. What you've done is affectionately called "hi-jacking"

Sorry about that I’m new at this . Thanks for the heads up