Stiff steering when turning right?

92 Nautique. Fitted new steering cable as old one had siezed up over the winter lay up.

Spins lovely and easy either way at idle but is very stiff turning right over 5 mph. Turning left is fine.

Alignment issue maybe?

8122pbrainard wrote: Engine/shaft/strut alignment will not create the hard steer.

A bent strut would.

Sight from the rudder to the skegs. Is the driveline on one side or the other?

I'm sure there is a more technical way, but this has worked for me.

Pete, do you remember who did the good write up on getting his strut straightened not so long ago? I'm suffering from a friday morning brain cramp.

I went round and round with a bent strut on my old '79. They kept telling me it was supposed to be offset/bent, but it was barely drivable and I could see that it had taken a shot. I experimented with seveal set-ups and found that dead inline was the best.

Jay - Here is how I straightened a bent strut. It took some tonnage, so I wouldn't twist it on the boat, as that would be pretty hard on the fiberglass.



Strut fix

8122pbrainard wrote: Interestingly, Century for years offset the rudders/struts/prop shaft intentionally to counteract the prop torque.

Do you remember which way the shaft was offset and what rotation was the prop?

Well, we have our first weekend without rain so I decided to take the boat apart.

When I did that repair on the strut area a few years ago, I didn't get it quite square and have been using shims on the port side to bring it straight. I'm just fine tuning it now.

I would like to see the boat run flatter if this can be affected by using an offset. Does an offset affect that or does it mostly affect steering. I don't have a steering issue at all, but the torque is lifting even my big butt! In other words...riding starboard high.

sounds like your port side is filling with water already   lol

offset to get the shaft out.
Greg, stop messing with the boat and run it...before you break it again

BuffaloBFN wrote: I would like to see the boat run flatter if this can be affected by using an offset. Does an offset affect that or does it mostly affect steering. I don't have a steering issue at all, but the torque is lifting even my big butt! In other words...riding starboard high.

Greg, I assume you have someone sitting in the observer seat too? My '90 runs dead flat with just me driving- if I add an observer and they sit in the corner, it lists to port at speed. Thats all by design! Have the observer sit closer to the centerline if it bothers you.

BuffaloBFN wrote: What do you see in your garage(offset)? If you goose that '90 in the water in neutral, does it twist the boat?

I dount that slight offset would change the attitude of the boat- the hull and prop rotation are the main forces at play here.

Wish I could tell you what my '90 looked like- but its on the lift... and 3 hours away. I think I can twist the boat a little in neutral- it'll rock the trailer a bit. Its easier to do on the narrower 16 footers though!

Greg - Have you considered (gasp) trim tabs?

This has gone some what off topic and as I haven't had a chance to but the boat back in the water I can't comment on the steering as yet.

But in relation to the above my 2001 has been re engined with a standard rotation 351 and this requires a lot of ballast on the passenger side to get the boat/wake to level out. It's only used for wakeboarding so it isn't an issue as it's sac'd out anyhow but it needs a good 400lbs more on one side to level out.