First, let me say that I have visited this site many times, and got a ton of good info, but this is my first post.

I am looking to switch my '03 Outlaw 25 over to a full hydraulic steering, and wondering if anyone has any suggestions. What system is the best value? Any issues with running a used system? Anyone know of a system for sale?

Any feedback is appreciated.

I went full hyd on my 28' single. Best improvement I made on the boat period, though removing the k-planes was a close second.

It is an item that is expensive enough it can push you to step up into another boat with bigger power and Hydraulic steering already there.

Lathom, Imco, Marine machine, .... I had Imco on my 33 OL, very clean set up, the thing I liked about Imco was the ram and tie bar connections were on the replacement back cap of the drive itself, no big bulky stainless piece to span over the top of the drive, keep an eye out in the swap shop if you want used.

Where the kplanes mounted improperly? What was the issue? Just curious, have small old 110's that I seldom use.

Going from a boat without it to a boat with it will make sure that it's on every subsequent boat you buy.

I bought mine from Everett Performance, best price and came complete including mandrel for properly installing the fittings on the hose.

properly mounted but unsuited to this pad bottom boat, one touch too much could lead to violent chine walking, even in neutral position (parallel to hull) could cause issues when crossing wakes at shallow angle) without them the boat is very well behaved in all conditions.

Mayfair by Hardin is a pretty nice set up. But you are looking at around $5K for a new full system.


Worth every penny tho, if you feel that you need it.

I installed the Hardin setup from CP performance, great setup, NOT a easy install of the helm unit on my boat, boats deal, back side of dash needs to be perfectly flat and mine was very tight working and required a special length column to get it right..