Steering Issues With a 2015 AR210

[Roughnecks83]

Ok Jetboaters, Ol' Roughnecks83 here with a few Newbie questions. I'm looking for a little help here with regards to "Steering". Recently purchased a 2015 AR210 (My first boat). Going in, I knew that there would be some challenges with getting the hang of steering it. after two trips, I decided to add the "Thrust Vectors" and seemed to have improved the low power/No power handling.

Now, here lies my problem. When the boat is under power and running along a 30mph, I can turn the wheel from the 12:00 position to 11:00 and back to 13:00 with zero response. Is this normal or does there need to be some adjustment made in the steering mechanism?

Secondly, Say that I'm running in the "No Wake" mode, I can be holding the wheel straight and the boat wants to veer to the right and it's like I am constant wrestling with the wheel to keep the boat straight. Is this a common occurrence? ??

 

[Speedling]

Well, from the picture, it looks like the pumps are straight, so that's good.
Is the boat listing to the same side it wants to turn? I notice if I have a good bit of weight on one side it steers that direction pretty hard sometimes.

 

[Bill D]

My boat has the same steering lag while cruising. I can turn the wheel either way about 10* without any change in direction. I've never messed with adjusting the cables or anything. I just figured it was common.

Are the newer boats still the same where you only have about 1/2 turn of the wheel either direction?

 

[jcyamaharider]

Welcome to Jetboating!!! LOL

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

You have the wrong system on that boat if you want improved steering at any speed even with the engines off being towed you should have installed the COBRA VENOM ULTIMATE system
I even give a 30 day money back guarantee, if you try it and you don't like it You can return it. And you get a refund " not a store credit". and they are on sale for a few more days.
https://jetboaters.net/threads/preseason-sale-details-for-cobra-ultimate-steering-systems.8332/

 

[tdonoughue]

If you grab a hold of one of the nozzles in the back, push it port to starboard and back. Both jets should move, as should the steering wheel. Also, both jets should point in the same direction (which it looks like generally they do from your pic, but easier to tell when you are aft-on). If all that checks out, you are probably seeing the effect of weight distribution (which is more noticeable than I would have thought) (and as someone previously commented), wind (again, far greater effect than I would have thought--we have a lot of freeboard), or your RPM on your engines is not matched.

If all the mechanics check out, you can correct for the weight obviously by redistributing. For the wind or engines, you can trim by bumping the speed of one of the engines so that she holds more steady on course.

 

[RightStuff]

I don't remember a lack of steering change at that speed, but you won't get an immediate response either at times since the jets don't have a large rudder in the water like an I/O would to make a immediate change. Jets just move a little different because of the physics of the thrust mechanism. But in the end if you turn the wheel you should feel some sort of movement of the boat to that direction, might be pretty slight at that speed and that small of change...

In no wake mode the boat will want to wander, just the nature of the beast. Steering fins will help with this, but I still constantly are doing small corrections at no wake speeds. On an I/O you can take your hand off the wheel at this speed and not really change direction, when driving my boat I always keep my hand on the wheel knowing it will "spin out" if I don't, just another small learning curve.

One thing that hasn't been brought up is the possibility of the boat having the same impellers. I remember someone on the forum noticing a similar problem and coming to find out that they had the same impellers for both the port and starboard engines. That caused the boat to behave awkwardly as well from what I remembered. Do some searching here for that, it might be something to investigate as well.

 

[Britboater]

I would say a few degrees of slack either way is normal, just the nature of the beast. As for your no wake handling, are your buckets in TDE position? I notice a big difference going form TDE to buckets fully open at no wake speed.

 

[Speedling]

My boat has the same 14/20 Solas impellers and drives straight. Either it isn't an issue or I ha e ignored it.

 

[robert843]

I have both a jet boat and I/O both wander a little at true idle speed. I find with both try and correctly early if you even remotely feel it starting to wander. usually if if feel the jet boat start to wander through a no wake zone I tap the no wake button up one notch and this usually straightens it right out. I don't have any fins and after a little practice I see no need for them at this time.

 

[RightStuff]

Here's the post I saw regarding the same impellers being installed, it's just mentioned in here, but there is some more info/details that might be worth reading... No idea if that would be an issue, but something to think about.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/boat-pulls-left.1428/

 

[Matt Phillips]

When on a plane, it can be a number of things causing the slack in your steering. If there's any wind/chop, I've found that I must constantly correct the wheel to maintain a straight course...it's the nature of the beast. I've also learned that if there's a cross wind, then it's not uncommon to have to hold the wheel off-center into the direction of the wind to maintain a straight course. It is what it is. Like others have said, there's a lot of small changes to be made most of the time.

As for TVs vs. Cobra's, I've had both on the TV Els and the Cobra Ultimates my boat. Although I liked the TVs, for some reason I found they would almost bind the steering to starboard up when circling around to pick up a downed wakeboarder. The only way to stop this was to completely cut the thrust, let the TVs drop all the way down, and then I could turn to port. I haven't noticed this with the Cobras. sorry, I digress. To the point of this thread though, these boats do tend to wanter at no wake speeds...it's the nature of the beast. I find that even with fins, there are still small correction that have to be made when idling. Give it some time and you'll get used to it and it'll become second nature to you.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

On plane at any speed if you have the ultimates set to provide steering all the time the response to the helm is instantaneous, no lag at all. 24 foot and he went to off power at the end of the run in the last turn