Is the power steering, on a 81 merc 260, a necessity?
can it be removed, or would it be too hard to steer.?
Just seems like one less thing to make a mess in the buildge, and one less thing to maintain.

hard to steer and the wheel wont return fast enough...thats if you just remove the pump and leave the steering cylinder..

and never hit the gas from a standstill with wheel turned. you won't be able to get it straight...i have run a couple of boats with broken P.S. no fun. use it.

and the torque steer is terrible on the old manual systems

Just take the belt off and try it,,,,,,no fun.