Performance boats that use standard steering are prone to experience gimbal ring wear. This is when the steering shaft wears out, and it leads to a certain amount of wandering when the boat is at high speeds. Fixing this malady is not cheap; you can expect to pay somewhere around $1,500 for a rebuild.

Now if you’re running a performance boat with standard steering and it has worn out, it’s time to make an intelligent decision. MerCruiser recommends that any boat that is going to be driven over 70 mph has an external hydraulic steering system, and it is not being conservative. MerCruiser’s exact words (taken from a 2000 installation manual) are that “it is virtually impossible to give a specific recommendation as to when external power steering should be used, as this varies from boat design to boat design. Mercury MerCruiser recommends using external power steering on boats that operate in excess of 70 mph. There are boats which operate at 60 mph that would benefit from the use of external power steering.” In our minds, if it’s time to rebuild a standard steering system, it’s really time to upgrade to an external hydraulic steering system, which costs approximately $3,500 (parts and labor). The bottom line is that the improvement in high-speed stability can be dramatic on some boats, and it’s worth every penny it costs to have it installed.

IMCO’s Stern Advantage is the perfect example of a retrofit kit that will bail a boat owner out of a bad situation and allow him to end up with a safer, better performing boat. Maveric Marine invited us to watch its crew install a Stern Advantage on a Nordic 28 that was in the shop for repairs, and we jumped at the chance. This Nordic has a 496 Mag HO with a Bravo One X in it, and the owner understood that the worn out steering problem wasn’t going to go away, so the external hydraulic steering system made a lot of sense.

IMCO’s kit includes everything you need, including the hydraulic steering arms, mounts, hoses, fittings, hardware and rear cover (for the driveshaft housing) with provisions for mounting the steering arms.