For sure - without the board down she just skates around and doesn't track, and if there's any cross breeze it gets real fun - at least someboard is a must. Linking the outboard to the tiller - again, the problem with the F-27 is that the well leaves little room for turning the outboard at all, and if you replace it with a modern four-stroke it's even tighter.

The offset engine does indeed mean you turn better to one side than the other - also, if the boat is moving you can cut the throttle and turn on almost on a dime.

I have found that for real low speed maneuverability, if I raise the rudder up some it has more authority over the boat. Once moving it needs to go back fully down, but for backing out of the slip at low speed 3/4 down gives the best steerage.