225 Promax on Challenger that's hard to steer - Seastar Hydraulic

[tripower]

My boat's a 1980 Challenger and it runs great, with one exception. If I jack the motor up high or trim it out quite a bit, the steering gets very tight. Is that normal with Seastar hydraulic steering? When the boats sitting still there's no binding in any jackplate or trim position, everything is easy. The boats effortless to steer with the jack plate down and trimmed in at any speed, and the clamp and pivot pin are well greased. With the motor 2" above the pad the boat runs over 70 but the steering is so tight it feels like I'm going to break something.

The boat has a 5.5" setback, 6" vertical CMC hydraulic jack plate. Can post pics if that will help. Just not sure if this is normal or not. Maybe transom flex?

[vnemous]

normal

[tux974]

^^X2^^.....That 2" hard steer spot is where probably the motor/LU has the most torque.
When you go up with motor and it starts to get loose stop or be very careful, or you could swap ends.
70 with a 225PM is pretty good......:thumbsup:

[tripower]

Thanks guys. It's good to know that's just the nature of the beast and not a steering issue.

The boat does chine walk a bit around 60 mph or so, but after that it's pretty stable even with the jack plate all the way up once on plane. That puts the Sportmaster bullet 2" above the pad. The hull is notched and stepped, so I guess 2" above on this boat isn't as really comparable to flat hulls. This week, after some weight reduction, it ran a best of 72.2 on GPS with the 225 Promax at 6400 - Trophy Plus 24 prop. Raised the motor one bolt hole, tossed the extra battery, anchor and lines, fenders, cover, etc. Maybe it's time to loose the extra seats and try for 73! My previous best was 69 but I'm not sure if the weight reduction or higher motor height were the bigger factor.