2020 270SDX w/ Verado 300 - steering fluid/power trim fluid

320 hours on engine. Steering has been getting pretty tight so I went to add fluid, which I assumed was under the helm as some boats like this have a pump on the backside of the wheel.

If there is, it is certainly nothing accessible, so I found the manual which said to add fluid to the cylinder located essentially under the engine. I got that cap off and added fluid. Stupid hard to do. Had a large syringe and a hose to get fluid in it. Still, I am not 100% sure if that is a tank for only the power trim, or also steering.

Are they the same system?

Is there another location, on this boat w/ this engine, that I need to add fluid?

The mercury manual does not really talk about steering systems and the sea ray manual kind of refers to mercury. Neither seems to take ownership (at an owners manual level) for how this system works on this specific boat.

Any ideas/help would be appreciated.

Ok, so the engine tilt/trim is the yellow cap under the motor. Exercise caution filling that, it does not need filled to top while tilted up because when it comes down it will pressurize and blow the cap off.

The power steering fluid (Merc 0w30 synthetic only) is hidden. In the larger rear trunk on the starboard side is an access panel on the side wall up against the walkthrough side of the trunk. Four screws removes that panel and the power steering pump is in there. You can fill it from that access point.

if you have trim tabs, well then, you need to remove the entire walkthrough cooler liner at the stern walkway to get to the trim tab pump which is in the rearmost section of that hidden area.

then there is the water separating fuel filter…. The entire shelf system in the larger rear trunk gets unscrewed and removed to access the spin on filter under there. You will need to climb in the trunk to get to that thing…

Thank you so much!

Ok - so learned the overfill of the tilt pump problem the hard way - blew cap right off and I spent a bunch of time cleaning up fluid... This would be so much easier to just explain this in the manual... and is that really the only place they could put the fill? Wow.

Anyway - found the power steering pump actually in the same compartment as the trim tab pump - under the cooler liner at the stern walk through. Fluid was low and once filled problem solved.

Now I need to take apart the rear trunk and see if there is an external water separating fuel filter (or not). Gotta say, for a boat that had an inboard in its design, how they have no accessible mechanical spaces using an outboard is just beyond me. I mean, not a single system, or tank, or pump seems accessible except by unscrewing multiple panels.

Again, many thanks - great assist here!