I bought a Mako 171 a couple of weeks ago. Took the boat out and found the steering to be strange. The guy I bought the boat from told me it had hydraulic steering. I didn't completely understand what he was talking about because the last boat I owned was a Cobia and the steering was I guess direct linkage. Anyway , when I took the boat I had to continously turn to the left to keep the boat going straight. Which was weird to me because the steering wheel never hit a stop when I turned it to the left. The steering system is a BayStar system and I get the idea behind it but never have I ever steered something where the steering wheel never hit a stop.
I talked to the previous owner who hinted that I needed to use the trim tabs to help with the " drift" or the system may be low on oil, hyd fluid. Haven't checked that out yet but I would like to hear other folks opinion on this. I will check the fluid level and I may try to bleed the system to see if there is any air trapped.
But I would appreciate any feedback as to why I would have to keep turning the steering wheel left to keep the boat straight would be appreciated. One side note I did notice when I was trailering the boat that I had to allow for the drift when I moved onto the trailer.
I talked to the previous owner who hinted that I needed to use the trim tabs to help with the " drift" or the system may be low on oil, hyd fluid. Haven't checked that out yet but I would like to hear other folks opinion on this. I will check the fluid level and I may try to bleed the system to see if there is any air trapped.
But I would appreciate any feedback as to why I would have to keep turning the steering wheel left to keep the boat straight would be appreciated. One side note I did notice when I was trailering the boat that I had to allow for the drift when I moved onto the trailer.