[conwayhunter]

I have a basstracker 18.5 with a 90hp when i am at full speed the steering pulls to the left really hard, I have adjusted the trim tab and it does not fix the problem. I have been told the motor might need to be rasied or lowered to correct this problem, but i don't know which way to go with it up or down. has anyone else ever had this problem and how did you correct it?

 

[John Stiles]

Maybe a different prop....the ones with a high[speed]pitch seem to have more side torque that the lower[power]pitched ones!

 

[TheBattman]

Raising or lowering the motor to correct steering issues? I have never heard that.

What generally causes serious steeering issues is torque steer (What John Stiles is referring too) and off-center engine mounting.

As you have tried to correct via moving the trim tab, you know about torque steering. You can only go so far with that tab before you cause more problems than help (and cut efficiency WAY down).

One thing to check - go out on the most calm water you can find. How hard is it to get the boat to track straight at trolling speed? Take it up a notch (but not enought to get up on plane) - still pulling?

And finally, get it up on plane, but not wide-open. Does the steering problem drastically increase as speed increases?

Could be a lot of things - I really would double check to be sure the motor is mounted square and dead center on the transom.

A change in prop may decrease the felt torque, but will be a sacrifice in other areas (top-end speed, RPMs on motor, etc.).

When you trim the motor (it does have power tilt/trim, doesn't it?), does that change how much it pulls to the left?

 

[John Stiles]

I'm thinking a "Basstracker" would be mounted exactly in ther center or the factory would be getting it back asap.....that little tab you're talking about is effective more at slow speed than high....maybe a twin alternating rotation lower unit...or a jet would sweeten it up!:thumb:

 

[adchunts]

I had a PT 185 with 90 Merc, as well. I swapped props to a 22 pitch Laser II and had wonderful results. Sounds like you don't have your trim set properly at WOT. Trim he motor all the way down for takeoff and when you get going, start trimming the motor up a little bit at a time. You should get to a point where the steering is neutral (no torque either direction). That is where you want to run at WOT.

My 185 would run 46 mph (GPS speed) with the Laser II.