Steering Arm Question For Outboard Kicker

[HOOKEM & COOKEM]

I have a new to me boat that I have had for a few years now. I have not got to play with all the gadgets and figure everything out yet. Sounds pretty pathetic don't it Anyway it has Honda 4 strokes on it, a 130 and 9.9 There is 2 different steering arms that came with it. One I think I have figured out but it does not seem to work right. It has a couple of quick connects that are bandclamped to the engine shafts. Problem is when you raise and lower the kicker motor the angle of the arm is too steep and the main motor wont steer plus it hits the side of the motor cover. I have tried to move the band clamps up or down but nothing really changes thus I don't think its right. The second steering arm I really like the idea of but can't seem to figure out how it works. It's all stainless and has to twist locks on each end that lock on a ball. The kicker motor has a mount that it hooks onto but I can not find anywhere that it might connect to the main motor. Don't know if that part is missing or what. I was also thinking about going to the boat show to ask around.

I really gotta get my sh*t together cause I would like to do some fishing this year and it's to nice of a boat to just let it sit in the garage. Thanks

[rolmops]

The one you can't figure out is called a "stearns".It is just a factory name .It is available for roughly $25 at Gander Mountain. Normally the kicker would be on the other side of the main engine and the bar would be connected to the end of the steering cable.I suspect that in your case somebody drilled a hole in the bottom cowling and bolted the ball lock in there.

The other one (on the back of the engines) is an EZsteer,which is a far better system to use. On the bar there is a small stud with a plastic cap on top of it. Remove the cap and inside you will find an Allen bolt. When you loosen that bolt just a tiny bit you will find that the inner and outer parts of the bar will slide and thereby adjust to whatever angle is needed for things to work out .My guess is that the previous owner first bought a stearns and then changed to an EZsteer and you ended up with both when you bought the boat. Just stick to the EZsteer and you will be alright.

[Sean Youngblood]

On the EZsteer if you turn the bracket on the kicker motor the other way so it is going down the angle won't be so steep and it should work out for you.

[jimski2]

My upper steering is installed with the ball connectors vertical and the arm connectors bent down and connected to the balls so they swivel easier.

[HOOKEM & COOKEM]

Thanks for the input fella's. When I looked up the ez steer on Cabela's web site for some reason it said not for Honda's. I tried to locate the company on the web to ask if there was any reasoning to that statement but could not find them.

Sean, I tried that idea when I first hooked them up when I got the boat. I ran into the clearance issue of the coupler being to close to the fin above the prop and I couldn't get the rod end to snap in because of it being to close to the fin. But what I think I am going to do is make a spacer for the back part of the kicker motor so that the coupler will extend past the fin allowing me to be able to hook it up that way with the coupler facing down. I just have to get some longer worm drive clamps. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Thanks again guys.

[L&M]

H&C here's the link & contact info for EZ-Steer. Hope it help's you out:

http://ezsteer.com/pages/EZSteerHome/

http://marinetechproducts.com/pages/ContactUs

[HOOKEM & COOKEM]

Thanks for the info Hank. I sent them an e-mail with a couple of pics. We'll see if thay can come up with any other ideas.

[jimski2]

Wrap a bungee cord around the EZ Steer arms to keep them from coming apart in heavy weather. Hanging out over the stern in rough water causes arms to fall to the deep six and a $120 replacement part to be obtained. Tie a piece of line to the arm for safety also.

Been there and have had to buy new arms twice.