[DannyD]

The steering on my 1995 Talari 180 works smooth but it does seem to have too much play. i was checking it today wile on trailer and when steering from port to starboard or vice versa you need to turn wheel almost 1/4 turn before turning starts. is there a place to adjust this slack out?

[mikeyt]

Have a look here on the "How do I.... Mercstuff" site and you will find your answer along with instructions.

[GaryDoug]

If nothing in Mike's reference reveals any faults and you have a sheathed cable system, it will have a lot of play, maybe as much as 3" at the helm. Its usually unavoidable with a cable steering system. If you have a hydraulic steering system, ignore this post.

[DannyD]

Thanks Gary. It is a sheathed cable system and the wheel play is about 3 inches so I guess I am ok. It works smooth with no issues.
Only time it is a problem is going very slow in no wake areas or when easing toward trailer to load. Seems like I have to do a lot of back and forth steering to keep it straight.


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[GaryDoug]

The low speed steering wander is very typical of this type of boat. It's not the steering at fault. Most people just try to get used to it, The only thing that can fix that to some degree is to install some kind of trim tabs and keep them down when going very slowly. I first installed the less expensive Smart Tabs and that took care of most of the wander. Later, I decided to change to the more expensive regular electrically-operated tabs because I wanted to "park" the tabs up at times, especially when backing the boat onto the lift. Since I already had the metal "planes" installed, I opted for a conversion kit from Bennett.

[DannyD]

Looks like a nice set up. May consider for my Talari.

[GaryDoug]

If you decide to install Smart Tabs, I would recommend the 60 lb versions for your boat. I installed the 80 lb ones and I think they were too strong.

[mikeyt]

Agreed. For a 180, the 60# version is more than adequate and I had the same results as Gary did with my Smart Tabs. They cured most but not all of the low speed wander.