Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I have a new 210 and a question about the steering.

I have an 18 foot 210hp I/O. It has power steering and the wheel turns very easy.

On my Harris (performance Package 2), Iv'e got to pull to get the wheel around. It has hydraulic steering, which I guess is not power assist.

I asked the dealer and he said it sounds normal.

How easy does your Harris steer?

My new Harris has a 200 verado and the steering is hydrolic and it SUCKS.....Dealer added a special trim anode thinking that would help....NOPE....
Guess its just the way it is.

Mine with a 90 Suzuki and a Baystar system steers hard. Much harder than my old Suzuki 115 with Seastar.

Other than test drives last fall my experience is limited with hydraulic steering. The boat I just sold had a Yamaha 90 with "armstrong" steering lol. The cable steering was fine unless at higher speed trying to whip the tube around. I got a good work out with that for sure.

I drove a few brands of boats both Yamaha and Mercury powered with 150's and basic hydraulic steering. While easier than what I was used to it did require extra effort with 2 hands to "whip" the boat around at higher speeds. My wife mentioned that she thought it would be easier when she took her turn during the test drive. I had the opportunity to test drive a few Bennington's with power assist. Wow is all I could say! Unfortunately my wife wasn't able to drive these I knew she would want it. I drove a 200, 250 , and twin 300 set up. they all turned like butter. The biggest difference was the ratio to turn lock to lock. It was like driving a car 200-600 h.p. was the same.
Fast forward to our new boat and I knew we would want the power assist. That said I haven't driven my new boat. We drove a Tahoe" same hull" with a 150 and seastar. I sure hope the power assist on the verado 175 is similar to the Yamaha powered Bennington's I drove.

Well I guess I'm not far off from you folks.

I just assumed it would be like a power assist and never really thought more about it.

I guess it is what it is. Not a true problem but I sure wish it was an easier steer.

Hydraulic steering is a big difference from power assisted steering. For goodness sakes, anyone deciding on a boat to buy, I hope you test drive different models and feel the difference. The difference in price won't sting as bad. I backed off my expectation of a Verado 200 to a 150 and used the difference in price to cover the power-assist upgrade. It's worth the one-finger steering around the fuel dock.

Zoom650,

What is the estimate for the upgrade?

ksks

The upgrade from hydraulic to power assisted hydraulic is about $2k to $2.5k.

For the benefit of others who may be viewing this thread, there are 3 basic types of steering for a "normal" outboard. I say normal because some outboards (I believe the Evinrude E-Tecs) have power steering built into the engine mount. But for a traditional outboard, you have cable steering, which is simply a cable between the helm and the motor. depending on which way you turn the wheel, the cable wraps around the steering wheel shaft and essentially pulls the motor one way or the other. The sheer weight of the larger engines limits the size of motor that can get by with cable steering. I think 90 HP is about the limit.

Next up is hydraulic steering. Instead of cables, it uses a closed hydraulic loop system with a hydraulic cylinder at the motor that pushes or pulls the motor one way or the other. It is strictly a manual system and uses the steering wheel to push the fluid one way or the other.

Power assisted steering is exactly the same as basic hydraulic steering except there is an electric pump inline that keeps the fluid under higher pressure and uses the power of the pump to move the fluid around so you can have one finger steering.

Hopefully that makes sense. It's not meant to be a complete technical explanation, but it should help with the basics.

Thanks for the info Steve.