Scarey Cobra Steering

[blueoval1]

Got a 1988 17' shallow vee bowrider hull with a 1989 4.3l Cobra Drive setup.
It runs great and the drive is fine. My problem is that the boat corners fine to the starboard side , but it gets real weird cornering to the port side.
It feels like it wants to tip over to me. It doesn't really matter what speed I am going it feels the same.
It does pull to the starboard side when in gear and idling. Such as going thru a no wake zone.
It is bugging the heck out of me , (Don't really want to have the boat capsize and go to the bottom) , not to mention scarey as he__!!
It does have power steering , and as near as I can tell , it seems to turn in both directions the same amount.
Does anyone know if it is possible to compensate for this with the trim tab on the cavation plate? If not , any ideas?
Thanks for any help!!

 

[QC]

Re: Scarey Cobra Steering

What you're feeling is the torque of the propeller wanting to "help" it heel over to port. It is a scary feeling, but I would spend some more time experimenting to get the feel for it. I had two boats that were bad in this area, and I found that they wouldn't go over, but just felt that way. On the vertical steering trim tab, Mercs with power steering don't even have an adjustable tab anymore. Try playing with it and see if it makes a difference, but my guess is it will have minimal affect on what you describe.

Transom mounted trim tabs can help with this . . .

 

[blueoval1]

Re: Scarey Cobra Steering

Yeah , it seems like it is sitting on the port side gunnel when I turn. Feels like the back of the boat is going under the waterline , while the boat is "digging" into the turn.
I'll try messing with the trim tab a bit.
If that don't do it , guess I either gotta live with it , put on trim tabs , or get rid of the boat.

 

[ziggy]

Re: Scarey Cobra Steering

my dad had a glastron that'd do that. had it when i was a teenager. i didn't know about the torque of the prop back then. which would have possibly answered the question. i tried the trim tab adj thing on that boat to no avail. i always felt the ob motor on that boat was a bit off center to starboard. but never adj. it.
now, i have a old boat that is a shallow v too. my aristocraft noted below. it also does what yer discribing. both ways, port and starboard turns, though port is more pronounced. so far the only thing that keeps if from doing that is going faster.... i'm serious. my shallow v rides pretty far back with most of the boat out of the water. it turns much flater at a higher rate of speed. guess the v up front don't matter at that point as it aint in the water......i've thought about tabs and think they would most likely be benifical for this and other reasons for me. though, i aint doing it yet as i don't have one extra hole in my transom other than what the factory put there. just my 2 cent on this. hope ya can figure a satisfactory soulution out for you. me, i'm gonna live with it..........for now..........

 

[Danwec]

Re: Scarey Cobra Steering

It's "tourque steer".... The only solution to this is to get a duoprop!