steering

[jason1969]

I have been skiing for the past year behind my buddies Nautique 196. Nice boat. I recently bought a 07 outback, which I love. I took it out in the course last weekend for the first time and it tracked really poorly. The steering felt really "loose". While pulling a skier it was very difficult to hold the center line. I have been driving and skiing for a long time, so I have ruled out user error. :-)

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[JUST-IN-TIME]

he needs to check from rudder forward
could be a loose pin, nut, bolt on the system

[jason1969]

Thank you for the feedback. I spoke to the dealer at length and I am dropping the boat off today. He said that we may need to adjust the pull on the rudder. They are going to give a good once over though before they make any determination of the cause.

[kaneboats]

Please let us know what you find out.

[zegm]

I often see post on this board about replacing steering cables. I never could understand this as I had a 33 year old MC and it had the original steering cable on it and it was fine. I then met a Master Inboard Mechanic who happened to work at Correct Craft for over 20 years. Turns out that (according to him) Morris/Teleflex designed a new "cheaper" flimsy steering cable that is now installed on most boats. In other words it is now a consumable item. However! He stated that CC still uses the old heavy duty made to last cable. Just my two pennies!

[jason1969]

So I got the boat back and they "tournament tuned" the rudder. Nothing else was wrong. This is what I got from Skier Choice.

At SKIER’ S CHOICE we try to send boats out with neutral steering. That means that the boat does not pull to the right or left. Some drivers, especially hard core slalom people, want the boat to pull slightly to the right. This “preloads” the steering system and allows for quicker steering response.

“Tournament” Tuning the Rudder:
- Grind the back trailing edge on the Right side (Starboard). Use a bastard file and only remove
enough so that the weight of your left hand on the steering wheel is enough to hold it from
turning.


The result is amazing. We skied Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and was thrilled with the handling of the boat.

[kaneboats]

Zegm, do you want to ask our friend Jody about this process. I have noticed I get a little strange movement at very low speeds. At higher speeds it seems fine though. I couldn't find anything wrong.