CONTINUOUSWAVE

I have an [1987-ALWAYS USE FOUR DIGITS FOR YEAR] MONTAUK-NEWPORT hybrid [“NewTauk”] with Teleflex NFB mechanical cable steering with a new 2020 E-TEC 90 mounted one-hole-up. The NewTauk is easy to steer out of the water and at idle, but it gets very hard to steer at engine speeds of 1500 to 5200 RPM.

Q1: what would cause this hard steering?

Q2: what can I check when the boat is out of the water?

Q3: should the engine mounting height be raised to rwo-holes-up?

ASIDE: For 20 years I had a MONTAUK 17 powered by two different E-TEC 90 engines mounted one-hole up. also with Teleflex NFB steering, and it was easy to steer at all speeds.

The engine should be mounted 2 or 3 holes up with the blind holes filled and the lower holes drilled.

bghaggar wrote:Q1: what would cause this hard steering?

Propeller torque and too much trim in. At the engine speeds you mention the boat is probably trying to climb onto plane. Steering force can increase at a high angle of the bow.

bghaggar wrote: Q2: what can I check when the boat is out of the water?

Nothing to check as you state the steering is easy when the boat is out of the water.

The hard steering is due to the engine propeller torque while accelerating onto plane and also when on plane.

Check the setting of the engine trim tab below the anti-ventilation plate. See this section of the Boston Whaler owner’s manual in the REFERENCE section of the website:

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/refer ... ml#trimTab

Also set the engine trim angle properly. This will have a big influence on the amount of steering force needed at the helm.

There is much more to the continuousWave website than just this forum section

https://continuouswave.com/whaler/