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Hi all this is my first post, I'm looking at getting a new SS130 this spring, while looking at a couple of brand new boats a 13 and a 15' there was a whole lot of play in the steering wheel, more in the 13 than in the 15. I had a whaler as a kid back in the 60's and they had cable steering with no play. One would think in this day and age that the teleflex steering would be up to par. Question is do you have excessive steering play and does it take any of the fun out of the driving and handling?
Thanks

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no... you need to adjust the steering under the helm if there is play. There should be none in a properly adjusted system. So many of them often are out of adjustment. Honestly, if you are not going over 50 mph it's not a problem that needs attention right away, but have your mechanic adjust it when you get the chance. He can do it in 5 minutes.

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Thanks for the reply but teleflex says there is no adjustment on the no feedback system that can be adjusted, are we talking about the same system?
Thx

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There are no adjustments on either the NFB systems or the non-NFB systems. I've had both types on a 13 and 16 foot Whaler, and each had some play in it, but nothing that worried me. I don't have enough experience to say how common play is.

John K.

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In a mechanical steering system there is a slight amount of play. This is due to the various connections between the cable and the steering arm.

There are several different Teleflex NFB helm units. It is possible the 130 SuperSport had a different unit than the 150 SuperSport since they have different sized motors. Typically the larger the horsepower the more turns "lock-to-lock.

Did you turn the wheel while looking directly at the motor to see the delay? How far did the wheel turn before the motor turned?

I would suggest there is no excess play, rather the boat you sat in had either a loose linkage and/or lack of grease in the steering tube.

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With my hand at 12 o'clock the 13' had about 6" of free play, 3" to the left and 3" to the right for about a total of 6" of play and the 15' had a total of about 4" of play. These were 2 brand new boats in the showroom and yes I did look back at the motor while turning the wheel. I talked to a guy at the boston whaler factory and he seemed very defensive like I was lying or something when I brought this to his attention, he went out on the line and checked some boats and emailed me later that all the boats were in speck.
I was told by a guy at teleflex that they should have a little play or the boat would be too hard to turn but 6", give me a break.

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I have had two classic models (Montauk, Outrage) with the Teleflex cable steering and both had play. From your description, it reads like what my boats had.

If you are adamant that the play is not to your liking, upgrading to hydraulic steering would reduce the amount of play. While overkill for a low powered boat, it would meet your requirements.

Note that the helm steering unit and cable is a Teleflex design and not Boston Whaler.

Another option is to consider replacing the Teleflex helm/cable with a system from U-Flex. They are now the OEM supplier to whaler for (non-boosted) hydraulic steering systems.

See their catalog:

http://uflexusa.ultraflexgroup.com/pu...12_USA.pdf