New 195 Sport Steering

[ncgbrown]

My granddad surprised our family by purchasing a new 2008 195 sport (been sitting at the dealer a while evidently.) Having only owned outboard boats, it took a little getting used to but I have grown to love it.

My grandad, however, cannot get used to the steering and has taken it back to the dealer for them to 'look at it'. I tried to explain that it just takes some getting used to but he wants it 'fixed'. We are around several canals that require slow movement and he can't keep the boat going in a straight line. It is indeed a little difficult for me as well but I'm getting better.

Evidently this is pretty normal - I have read this tread on wandering steering:
http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19266

Is there any other tips you can give me? Otherwise he really loves the boat.

Thanks,
Glenn

 

[cdefreit]

Try not to over compensate when it begins to wander. Minor adjustments and wait for it to straighten itself up. Sometimes no adjustment is necessary at all.

Smart Tabs helped reduced the effect in my boat and probably my best addon for the money.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Welcome aboard, Glenn!

Other than what you read in that thread (and possibly other threads that you may have searched for), there's really nothing else to say. It's a very normal thing and can happen with OB powered boats, as well. Fluid dynamics.

There is no special way to alleviate this. Sometimes a fin helps, sometimes changing the angle of drive helps. Not immensely, though. You'd need to eliminate prop walk and the flow of water around the hull to get rid of wandering.

 

[First Born]

Same answer from me:

Point the steering wheel where you want it to go and let it stay there. The boat will move a little to the right and then come back a little to the left but it will end up going straight where you want it....just don't move the steering wheel and give it time to correct itself. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Try it give yourself alot of space where nothing can go wrong and see if it works...once you get use to it you will not think about it again.

 

[billandamy]

As if you needed another opinion, but same here. Any runabout I ever drove in my life wandered. Like Wes said, you kind of just let it go and it will zig zag along a line to a destination point. However, being the impatient person I am, I cant hep but try to compensate resulting in a more erratic zig zag:smt021