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99 90HP MERC

1K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Nuclear Bill 
#1 ·
Okay so I purchased a 1999 Bass cat it has a 90 horsepower motor on it. On the test drive it was listing to the left. I found it odd the guy said that it's always done that. I got the boat at the price I wanted so I've made the purchase. Now if I'm going no more than 30 miles an hour everything is hunky-dory the boat list a very small amount to the left but nothing that would make anybody uncomfortable however once you go over 35 miles an hour and much less 45 miles an hour at 45 miles an hour the left side of the boat is level with the water! you literally have to manhandle the steering wheel and hold it to the left if you turn loose of the steering wheel the boat will literally do donuts and a right hand circle so it's certainly not NASCAR approved! No it does not have a whale tail yes I will be putting one on this week. Any suggestions on what could or is the problem?
 
#3 ·
Bill,
I would suggest you do not put a whale tail or another device on it until the listing issue is addressed. Something is definitely not right and a tail device could possibly make it worse and put you in a bad situation.
Have you checked to see if there are any signs that the hull may have been damaged or modified?
As said, check the distribution of the heavy stuff like batteries and anchors. Also, check that the motor is mounted on the center line of the transom and that it is mounted vertical. Something else I would do is raise the front of the trailer as high as you can, put blocks under the jockey wheel if necessary and get the boat at the highest, nose up you can. Make sure the drain plug is out and watch for water for a couple of days. It's a long shot but there could be water trapped in the left side of the hull that cannot get out when level.
There are other things too but I would start with the ones mentioned.

...W
 
#5 ·
Yes so I'm not sure about if there is anything waterlogged in the boat. But as far as weight distribution the boat is completely unloaded no anchors only life jackets those are in the center of the boat me and my wife well actually girlfriend or almost the same way. So I am literally scratching my head here. The boat has been on a lift underneath a boat house. So I honestly can't imagine that it would be something like waterlogged. And trust me when I went to go pick the boat up it was covered in spiders and spider webs. The boat had not been used in a quite a while. The only thing I failed to mention is whenever I lowered the motor on to the transom saver the motor stopped in the mount for the trim moved not excessive excessive but more than I would have expected. I'm not sure if there's a bearing at the bottom of that and I have no idea what that part of the motor or bracket is called. but it is the pivot point where the motor turns and twists on for steering
 
#6 ·
I honestly have never indexed what you're calling the sundial device. I know how to do it. I know what it does. But this is way past that little sundial tale. I also should have said that no matter what rate of speed I'm at you have to hold the steering wheel to the left no matter what speed I'm going whether it's five miles an hour or 45 miles an hour if you turn loose of the steering wheel the steering wheel automatically turns itself and the boat does right-hand donuts. No I'm not really doing donuts on the river I'm on the Mississippi. But if I turn loose of it it would.
 
#8 ·
Bill,
It’s sounding like you have two things going on which may or may not be connected.
The boat has a list at rest that gets worse with speed. That suggests a weight issue. Did you measure the motor position?
That in itself wouldn’t make the steering loose but if the pivot is misaligned because there’s a bearing or bushing bad at one end, that could explain the worsening list.
The steering controls could have insufficient preload and the motor is torque steering but that wouldn’t explain the list.
That’s a head scratcher; if I lived closer I’d pay you a visit!

...W
 
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