my boat has duel ram imco hyd POWER steering from the helm.it has the power steering pump hooked up i see some boats dont have the power steering pump hooked up or its just there with no belt.im wondering if its still easy to steer like that since i can gain a few hp without running the pump CAN I JUST REMOVE THE PUMP AND LINES AND CAP WHERE THEY GO?.also is the fluid in the pump the same as what runs through the rams in other words without the power steering pump how would i check and fill fluid in the system.

I wouldnt want to be runnin a HP boat w/o power steering. Docking would be a major problem. Ive lost my PS belt a coulple times and its tough to handle. And unsafe, especially at high speeds.

The boats with out boost change the helm capacity to make up for it. This results in really slow steering. You know, where you have to turn the wheel 20 times to go from lock to lock. Well, maybe not 20 times, but you get the idea. There will also be quite a bit of torque feedback too.

Sleeker,
Maybe the boats that you have seen with the ps pump disconnected had twins. In that application only one engine would have the pump connected to the system, the other would not be used.