1996 Mercury 150HP

[mr300z87]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this question but will start here. I am looking into purchasing a 1996 19ft Maxum bow rider with a 150 HP 2 stroke Merc ob. I drove the boat yesterday it had plenty of power ran great and jumped out of the hole much quicker than my 18ft Stingray 3.0L IO. (I always liked outboards). One of the things I noticed that concerned me was at speed the boat felt like it was fighting me and would pull to the right (i think) hard if I let go of the wheel. I have no experience with OBs of this size but I can not believe this is normal what would cause this? I also noticed the steering seemed a l little stiff. Mine is power steering so again I do not have a comparison. For the price I would not mind some minor repairs which I could most likely do myself and it is a boat so I expect to make repairs. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Mike

 

[ufm82]

Re: 1996 Mercury 150HP

If the boat is not equipped with an NFB steering system you will get the torque steer issue. Some of that can be alleviated with the anode fin behind the prop and the appropriate adjustements. However, to completely eliminate the torque steer the NFB system will be the fix. Since you no longer have power steering the effort will be higher; no helping that. Hydraulic steering systems will minimize the effort even more but nothing will give you same "feel" as the steering on the I/O. I've been in many boats over the years and even those with high-dollar hydraulic systems coupled to outboards don't steer as easily as a basic I/O with power steering. However, you do get a "better" feel than the power steering systems IMHO. Bass boats that run 70+mph will use the hydraulic systems and steering at those speeds is critical. Even tiny inputs make big differences at 70 mph.

 

[mr300z87]

Re: 1996 Mercury 150HP

Thanks for the quick reply. As you stated I would expect a little bit of torque steer but this seem like way more than it should be. The boat was in the water at the a Marina so I could not inspect the anode fin since that was my first thought also plus my wife and daughter were with me and they wanted to go shopping . I am going to go back a look at it again and will check the anode a little closer. The owner says the boat will go 50+ mph and any boat that goes that fast need to be right. I did love the power the outboard made and the way it jumped out of the water and on plane.