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The steering on my montauk 150 is very hard to turn to port at 3500 rpm and above, while it turns more freely to starboard. I haven't adjusted the trim tab yet but am wondering if anyone has had a similar experience?
When you say trim tab, are you referring to the annode that is above the prop on the lower unit?
After transitioning to a plane, do you trim the engine out? Typically one would bump the trim button on the throttle until you see the boat start to loose speed with more trim. The steering should become light on both port and starboard turns.
An indicator of too much trim is the bow starts to porpoise.
Try trimming out before changing the trim annode.
The typical position for the tab is, when standing behind the boat facing forward and looking down, for the tab to be pointing to the 5:30 ish position.
I'll try trimming out first. Yes, i am referring to the small skeg above the prop, it is completely straight, no angle at all. So 5:30 would be pointing slightly starboard.
Yes the between 5:30 is SB but with with the NFS (No Feedback Steering) on our model you shouldn't really feel that much of a difference. Yes no matter what the skeg is set at the torque of your CW rotating prop will make a SB turn easier even with the NFB steering.
There are 2 ways to adjust the motors trim tab for proper adjustment.
1. When at your normal cruising speed and motor trimmed, you should be able to take your hands off the wheel and the boat should go straight.
This is from the Boston Whaler Owners Manual.
Of course the above does not work if you have no feedback steering. NFS or Hydraulic steering.
So, you would then need to use method #2.
2. At your normal cruising speed and motor trimmed, the force to turn to wheel to Port or Starboard should be the same.
Adjust the trim tab accordingly to obtain this setting.
