Hi,
I have just recently noticed that my boat (1996 Regal inboard V-Hull Mercruiser Bravo 1) when in very low idle speeds tends to move left or right and I had not noticed that before. I'm not sure if when I put on a Stingray 3 on the stern drive had anything to do with it because it would never stay on correctly and ended up getting chewed up by the prop with this being the 2 new one. When I did not have this on before I did not have the same issues that I seem to have now with the play in the steering wheel and the boat wandering this bad to where I had any issues or noticed it acting up. When the boat is off I can turn the wheel almost halfway before I feel the stern drive move. I really need some input on what I should do or what to look for. Please any help would be much appreciated.

thats normal for a singel engine v bottom at slow [idling] speed.

I'd check for excessive play in the Gimbal. Move the drive left to right when its on the trailer. You don't want the drive to move excessively without it turning the tiller arm shaft (inside bilge).

There are two nuts on the top of the transom assembly. They clamp around the swivel pin. These nuts need to be checked and retorqued on a regular basis. If they are not, the swivel pin wears, and wears, and wears some more the looser it gets, to the point that replacement is the only option.

Some other things to check are the cable nut where it attaches to the steering actuator, and the rack at the helm. Both can work loose and cause the same play. Mike is correct about the "hunting" at idle every single I ever drove does it, worse with higher pitch props. Randy