Hi Erik
Mate,what mount do you have?look at your Dec balance....you need to balance Dec in vertical position as well as horizontal....can you imagine the leverage produced from even a slightly unbalanced Dec? you know....all those things hanging off one side of the scope.
If you Dec is balanced well It will be balanced in any position It points!
I cringe when I hear people saying unbalance your Dec to take up backlash
Yes,try and get you polar alignment as tight as you can....the further It's out the more problematic Dec cross talk becomes....and It's easy to see why.
Cables dude....has an impact....tidy those suckers.
Also,when the seeing is bad It becomes more difficult to diagnose....cause that means you spend your one night a year of good seeing stuffing around instead of imaging
Good luck and I'm sure you'll sought It.