Steering pulls right...

Underwaterwelder

New Member
Aug 27, 2018
19
Boat Info
2001 245 sea ray weekender, trailered on a loadright dual axel trailer by a 2009 Chevy Silverado
Engines
383 stroker , bravo III drive
we were out cruising around today and at higher speeds/rpm. The boat has a tendency to pull to starboard. I don’t ever remember this happened at all. If you are cruising at speed, set the steering wheel straight and let go it will immediately “wander” about a quarter steering wheel to the right and the boat will head off towards the starboard several degrees (enough to clearly be a new direction/bearing) It’s a clam day, no wind, current etc. it happens in both directions up or down the lake. I slow down to 1200 rpm and under and it did not appear to happen. Just sitting idle nothing wrong. Trim tabs are both set to full up. The boat is not loaded any differently than normal. Power steering fluid is full (I just checked after the ride)

Is this a sign that something’s about to break? Steering cable, power steering is going bad? Nothing grinds or makes bad noises or feels off. It just pulls right and I never had it happen in the past (or maybe never noticed but I would think in the last ten years I’d have noticed)

Any thoughts or suggestions of what to look at or keep an eye on?

Thanks!!

SeaRay 245 Weekender, 2001, bravo 3, 383 mag stroker.
 
Did you visually inspect the trim tabs to make sure they are fully articulating? It sure sounds like one of them could be stuck.
 
Did you visually inspect the trim tabs to make sure they are fully articulating? It sure sounds like one of them could be stuck.

They are both all the way up for sure. They both work fully, and I typically run with them in the full up position until I need otherwise, then adjust accordingly.
 
Does your outdrive have play in it left and right that's more then usual?

The outdrive (just by hand doesn’t appear to have a lot of play left or right, however I’ve never felt it otherwise to know if that is more than normal.

And the steering has the normal feel and play, just if you let go of the wheel it veers and steers itself to the right
 
Shot in the dark for me, I've never handled a boat your size, so just throwing this out there...

Is the boat sitting level in the water at rest? If the load is not balanced and is slightly listing, I can see the boat pulling to starboard if the tabs up are not actively leveling the boat.
 
It’s loaded “normally” for us. Nothing different than 99% of the time we are out cruising around and I never noticed this.
 
Has it been sitting in the water for a while? There might be bottom growth on it, however slight, than can cause this.
 
Has it been sitting in the water for a while? There might be bottom growth on it, however slight, than can cause this.

Nope. Been on a trailer for the last few weeks.

Maybe I’m being a hypochondriac. I was afraid someone was gonna say “your power steering pump is about to fail” or something like that.
 
Nah, if you lose power steering you just wouldn't have, well, power ;) It would just be hard to turn.

As has been suggested, I would just go through the sytem and check for looseness/worn parts.

While this doesn't happen all the time, the other thing that comes into play is 'prop steer' - effectively, as the prop spins, it tries to "walk" sideways and can sometimes pull the drive to the side slightly. The B3 is pretty good at countering this, given it's design, but it's not to say it never happens. Power steering also helps counter this, but not always completely.

If it happens again, try changing the drive trim as you're going along and see if the problem goes away.

Too much "in" trim can also cause this... from too much hull in the water at a particular speed.
 
I would double check the fin as mentioned above. It may have fallen off, the faster you go, the more the prop spin affects the pull.
 
My alpha one shows an adjustment under a dust cap.
 

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