Zrob said:
Hi guys, I am new to boating so I thought I would check in on this. I test drove a boat today, had a used 130 HP 1995 Envinrude (just rebuilt) new controls not sure though about the steering and it seemed when I would turn the boat would drift off and I would have to keep compensating the wheel every now and then. Is this normal with boats? If not how much is it to replace that on a 19' boat?
Thanks.
Some drift is normal depending on the hull and the trim. Was this at high speed or at low speed? What were the sea conditions? Often a boat will 'bow steer'. The bow gets turned by swells and waves as it cuts them. Trimming the bow up may help.
On the other hand, if the boat was trimmed up too high, you might experience instability also.
If you turn the wheel at a speed above a crawl, you should see the motor move. With many manual steering systems, there is always some dead spot or free play. Under a quarter turn is normal.
A misadjusted trim anode will cause the boat to 'pull' to the right or left depending on the adjustment. Although this doesn't cause the boat to wander, it will cause the steering effort to be much harder in one direction than the other. If you are always compensating for the 'pulling' you might call that wandering.
A small difference in steering effort between left and right turns is normal since the trim tab adjustment is optimal for one speed only.
It is also possible that the motor is mounted incorrectly or the wrong shaft length was used. The cavitation plate on the lower unit should be approximately even to a bit lower than the keel. ( the problem with checking this is that when you go to the stern to look over the transom, your shifted weight will lower the motor in the water). It is better to have someone outside the boat see where the cavitation plate is positioned.
Finally, the motor may be too big for the boat. It probably isn't but check the capacity plate. Was that motor the original equipment?
