Al
I find that my hydraulic steering to be a very smooth in operation. It will stay on coarse if the boat is trim and no one is walking around, what I am trying to say is that the motor can't turn because of the positive pressure. Therefore where you set your coarse the boat tends to stay on that coarse rather than drifting to port or starboard. What make of system did you put on? The hyd system should work very smooth, is what I'm trying to say. It sounds like you are dissatisfied with the new system. I sure like mine. And I use the pilot a lot more than I thought I would, like checking the lines while trolling.
BTW: I am waiting for a dealer in ( LA, ca.) to get in a 19 & 16 foot models to go look at but that will not be for a couple of months.The 22 cruiser seems to be the model choice, but if I go to a boat that big it will be a Parker or Shamrock some thing along that line.
Guts