mercury 5 hp outboard locking to steer strait

[troutydiego]

Hello,

pretty new to sailing and was wondering how I can keep my outboard motor set to strait so I can just utilize the tiller for steering. I could not find any obvious setting on the motor. It is a 5 hp mercury longshaft.

Thank you

[thomm225]

There's a little screw "tensioner thingy" with a cover/handle on it in the back.

You can see it in the link below.

https://www.boatspecialists.com/merc...hoCaq0QAvD_BwE

I have found though it isn't strong enough so I use a line to keep my Mercury 5 HP 4 stroke outboard straight along with the outboard's tiller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNl2tPRC-Tw&t=41s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpZhq35etcw

[rslifkin]

Assuming it's the rebadged Tohatsu 4 stroke like Thomm shows in his videos, there should be holes in the forward handle near the kill switch, etc. You could make a bracket that attaches there to hold the outboard straight. As Thomm found, the friction adjustment isn't meant to entirely prevent it from turning.