Steering wheel position

Coz

Active Member
Oct 9, 2018
443
Boat Info
2008 Sundancer 310
Engines
Merc Mag 350 DTS w/Bravo III
Is there any way to realign my steering wheel?
What causes them to get out of alignment?
 
Sorta - most boat steering wheels are held tight on the steering hub with a key way and nut, similar to an inboard prop on the propshaft. The steering wheel has a couple of slots for the keyway, so you can remove the wheel and move it to a different slot to somewhat set the wheel straight. Most do not have splines that would allow a finer "tuning" of the wheel position. Drives me nuts in my car when the wheel is not perfectly straight after an alignment - I've taken it back more than once! Not going to get it that precise on a boat.
 
Is there any way to realign my steering wheel?
What causes them to get out of alignment?
If yours has hydraulic steering with autopilot (like mine), they can easily get out of alignment. When hydraulic autopilot is on the steering wheel does not move with the rudders and it just depends where the wheel is positioned when you cut off the autopilot.
 
A lot of wheels have 6 screws holding them to the hub, so there's 60* of movement there
 
If you have autopilot, turn it on and re-align your wheel. I do this as needed. If you don't sorry can't help.
 
If you have hydraulic steering there is no center it is floating all the time depending on the pressure of the hydraulic fluid coming in and out ,the wheel will always lose center
 
He has BIII sterndrives, so would guess it is a power steering setup.
 
Centered wheel on a boat is a nice thing in theory, but rarely happens. A non directional wheel is a good choice because of that.
 
My own OCD tendency of needing the T-bar steering wheel aligned while going straight is why I ended up changing mine out for one of the newer ones.
fullsizeoutput_7e0.jpeg
 
I have power steering. Took the searay center emblem off then nut behind but couldn’t get wheel off but while trying, the rubber moulding around the emblem came off and revealed the 6 screws that hold down the wheel. Of course that was before I read scoflaws reply!
 
boats shouldn't have steering wheels that indicate center...there really isn't one.
 

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