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Houseboat very hard to steer.

D

dgross

New member
My 1987 Waterhouse cruiser is very hard to steer. The boat has sat for a long time. This was it's first trip out this year. It has a Mercury outboard motor. I see some grease fittings near the steering wheel. Can I add new grease, lubricate the cables, or just try and replace them? Any suggestions?
 
My experience with adding grease has been poor. The fittings are for greasing the tilt tube. I tried filling it up and working the steering to pull it into the cable with low success. Most likely your steering cable is corroded and the lining is swelling which is causing extra friction. The first time this happened on my boat I had a shop replace the cable and it was good for another 6-8 years. On my boat you have to lift the outboard to get the cable out of the tilt tube. When it happened the second time I cut the cables off with a hack saw and installed hydraulic steering. It was more expensive up front but the shop labour I saved helped pay for the hydraulic steering.

I would look into hydraulic if I was you. My boat is WAY more fun to drive and can easily be steered with one finger now. In the past it wanted to turn one way and was a fight to turn the other.

Best of luck with it!
 
Agree, steering cable is probably seized.

Just don't have a heart attack when a dealer tells you the price of a replacement :)
 
Dis connect cable from engine to make sure it's not engine that is not binding,but more than likely it's the cable and or helm binding!
 
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