Boat pulling hard to right - too high or crooked?? not the trim tab..

[redr2redr2]

Morning folks. I have been searching and reading posts and need some expert advice. Lots of threads on boats pulling to one direction, trim tabs, etc but this one may be unique.....My boat wants to pull hard to the right:

My boat is a Malibu 162 (16 foot runabout). I have a '98 Honda 75 outboard. I bought it was a nearly seized up pivot and last year I installed a new pivot and a standard new cable/helm. I did not go with one of the torque lock helms (should have) as quite frankly I wanted buttery smooth steering after fighting with it all seized up so bad

Anyway, pulled the motor off to do the install and got it all back on. Boat bulls very hard to the right now if I let go of wheel. Dangerously so. It may have been like that with the seized pivot but there would have been no way to tell. I have adjusted the trim tab in the right direction (rear facing the right) all the way to one side (far as it goes) to no effect. The boat drives straight but if I let go of the wheel it dangerous.

2 Q's: If its 'crooked' in the transom mounting holes would it cause this? (ie. not sitting a 180 degrees pararllel with the ground/water?)

Is it mounted too high??? In the photo its trimmed all the way down. This is the way I nearly always use it in the water. I can trim it up slight;y but more than a little causes the front end to bounce a bit too much....so I run it trimmed right down 98% of the time.

thanks!!

 

[redr2redr2]

nobody?

 

[GA_Boater]

Turn the tab the other way to the left. The way it is set now will make the boat turn more to the right.

 

[redr2redr2]

No. You are wrong. If it pull s to the right you want the rear of the tab facing to the right. As per most forums and the OEM service manual. Next... ?

 

[Alumarine]

Just for fun why not try it the other way.

 

[pvanv]

And YES, the motor appears to be a bit high. Running at speed would verify that. But that would not give you torque steer.

 

[redr2redr2]

Just for fun why not try it the other way.

I did, but it was bad!

 

[redr2redr2]

And YES, the motor appears to be a bit high. Running at speed would verify that. But that would not give you torque steer.

Thanks. I was out the other day and did trim it up slightly. The torque steer went away nearly completely but it was just starting to pourpoise in minor waves so prefer to trim it down

 

[Sea Rider]

A friend of mine had same issue, what was found and corrected :

1-The engine was not sitting at right middle transom, was repositioned to middle transom with a measurement tape.

2-Engine was sitting too low, water flow at speed was hitting the upper non edged lower leg portion contrubuting to side pulling. Engine was raised accordingly with wooden shim for water flow to skim right under small upper water deflector plate, right under the front lip border as illustrated, which is the sweet height for any given outboard.




3-Correctly propped to run full wot revs as loaded, with deck weight well distributed, had no need to play with trim positions, remains at neutral position and combo jumps on plane real fast at 3/4 throttle while Trim tab remains factory adjusted to run parallel to lower leg fin. A night/day boating difference.

Need to match an OB height for water flow to skim right under upper plate, run combo with deck aft/bow weight well distibuted and OB trimmed to neutral once on plane, check if bettered or managed to cancel the side pulliing. Post whatever was found, corrected & final end results...

Happy Boating

 

[redr2redr2]

Thanks all. I have to pull a motor in a car so once I set up the engine hoist I will drop this motor a bit and give it a try. Will update in the next few weeks once done.

 

[Sea Rider]

Forgot to mention, asside from what's been suggested, if engine happens to have a bolt on middle leg to adjust the steering load, probably is way loose. Remove the steering end cable from engine, rotate engine sideways, if found darn loose, adjust bolt CW till a medium resistance is felt. Steering load works along with was mentioned on previous post. Post results.

Happy Boating

 

[redr2redr2]

Thanks, from what I read and see this one does not have that, just on the smaller Honda outboards.

 

[redr2redr2]

Well 2 years later and I finally got around to this. Dropped the motor 2 holes in the end (about an 1-1.5"). Night and day difference. Steering is spot on to the point I can let go of wheel. It will very very slowly work its way to the right but nothing major and if I trim it up ever slow slightly its spot on center. Even the motor sounds quieter now and a smoother wake out back. I left the trim tab in same position as it was before. If I trim up too much it will porpoise as before but no reason to trim it up that much anyway.

Wish I would have done it sooner instead of living with it over the years.

Too late tonight but will grab some photos of how it sits now. With it trimmed right down at the resting point the anti cavitation plate is about even with bottom of boat (when running a straight edge from center of hull just under stern to the plate)