Hard to steer my old mercury 115? Cable steering.

General Sea

Recruit
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
2
I bought an old boat and it has a 115 mercury outboard. My steering cable is free and so is the motor. When I have the motor out of the water it all steers fine. But when the motor is running it is crazy hard to steer left and it steers right almost to easy. I have played with the zinc steering tab above the prop. But nothing seams to help. Any sugestions?
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Re: Hard to steer my old mercury 115? Cable steering.

Need to change for a modern No Feed Back mechanical steering system...yours is obsolete, check Telfex Marine kits at Iboats.

Happy Boating
 

mr 88

Commander
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
2,115
Re: Hard to steer my old mercury 115? Cable steering.

I agree with SR.If funds are low you may invest in a new cable as the old one may have some kinky spots in it,which MAY be causing your problem along with lack of grease in the swivel ftgs.Most of the time they pull left,prop torque,at least mine does a bit with the Telfex setup.That why I think you may have some sort of kink or cable overlap going on somewhere , have you checked the steering wheel drum and all pulleys for flat spots etc.
 

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: Hard to steer my old mercury 115? Cable steering.

Actually, all you have is the trim tab on the motor is not adjusted right. When the motor is running through the water, the propeller develops a strong torque against the steering. The trim tab compensates for that. NFB steering won't lessen your steering effort, it'll just hold whatever rudder you have it at. The engine won't drive the helm because of fancy clutching in the helm.

I believe there's a FAQ on this site about adjusting the trim tab. My boat doesn't have one, as a high performance boat doesn't have enough engine in the water to get the trim tab wet. We either just wrestle it, or have the prop shop put a little correction into the skeg.

You haven't disclosed what boat this engine is on. maybe you also need a torque tamer added to the skeg.
 

General Sea

Recruit
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
2
Re: Hard to steer my old mercury 115? Cable steering.

The boat is a 19' safe-t-mate tri haul late 70's
 
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