Does anyone have hydraulic steering on their SONIC mounted on outside of drives?
 

I see alot of twin engine sonics with actuators mounted on the inside (center of stern) rather than outside of the drives. Does anyone have an outer mounted system on their Sonic and if so do u have some photos to show. Does anyone know why or why not Sonic doesn't go to the outside? YES i'm in the middle of a full hydraulic upgrade as this should have been on here from day one according to Mercs policy, lol.

I mounted mine inside because the trim tab mount on the transome was in the way

Mine's on the outside. Don't know if it's factory, but I think it was an option in 87. Anyway, seems to work fine (it'll work a he!! of a lot better when it actually goes into the water):D

Donziinator, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. Doing alot of research now and talking to alot of manufactuers to decide what will be best for me. I have IMCO caps with tie bar on inside mounts leaving outside mounts free; so that's why outside mounts would work better for me as I could utilize current set up.

That would definately be cheaper. Why re-invent the wheel if you don't have to? I was looking at their wing plates which is what I'm using right now and all I saw was a set for a SM3 or 5 @ $700.00 ea.!:eek: That's not just a hole in the water to throw your money.......That's a freak'in black hole!! But what the heck, gotta spend it on something.

Mounting hyd steering
 

I put full hyd steering in my 31 2 years ago. I also wanted to place the cyls on the outside. I was imformed that the cyl mount has to be in line with the pivot point of the drive so that when you raise or lower the drive the cyls do not extend or compress reason being that they are locked at the helm. The way to over come this is to jiggle the wheel when you raise or lower the drive. I thought that sooner or later i would forget to do that and mounted them inside. I believe older hyd systems did not lock the drives.

Donson2231 what system did you end up using? (IMCO, LATHAM, MM, Mayfair, etc?) I'm steering towards just buying the inside mounts kit and being done with it. Good info on the lock up on helm. More of a reason for me to go inside mount. Thank you.

i sent you a private message

donson2231 I never got that PM. When you get a chance please send it again. Thanks.

Jim

Just bought an 88 35se....any insight you can give me?