Heavy steering

[bob]

Evening folks just got my rib in the water today it is a 580 ocean with a115 optimal and seastar hydraulic steering my problem is once over 20 knots the steering becomes very heavy!Any ideas?

[willk]

Are you trimming out once on the plane? Being trimmed fully in can make steering stiff...

[bob]

Thanks will try that tomorrow as it's been hissing down here all day _ strange thing is I have never noticed it on any of my previous boats?

[simonl]

post a photo of your trim tab

[bob]

She's in the marina, would that not make the steering heavy n one direction?Thanks Bob

[simonl]

Originally Posted by bob

She's in the marina, would that not make the steering heavy n one direction?Thanks Bob

An outboard will always try to pull in a certain direction. To counteract that you add a trim tab which applies a force to counteract that pull. For any one trim setting it will only be balanced at a certain speed. Hydraulic steering normally has 'no feedback' so you can't feel any pull from the outboard - you just notice that it's tighter to turn one way than the other.
Suggest that you adjust it so that you get evenly balanced steering in each direction at a chosen speed.

[bob]

Thanks folks sorted! Just trimmed out a bit more!