pulling to starboard under power

[billdc]

I have a '89 ski brendella , but they do not have a forum so I'm hoping someone here can help. I got the boat last year after it sat uncovered under trees for 2-3 years, and needed some TLC. LOL. A friend who knows boats better than I do went with me for the sea trial and loved the boat but noticed it pulled to starboard when we got up on plane. He said to pull the prop and send it to a prop shop for tuning. Will this be enough???? I would love it if that fixed the pull, it just seems like a few dings in the prop would not cause the pulling. Now this is my first Direct drive, I have an I/O now and have only had that 4 years. thanks for any input.

[Hagman]

If your boats last owner used it to go through a ski course he may have tuned in more torque by filling the back edge of the rudder slightly. More torque makes it easer to stay on track going through a course. You can try tuning out the torque by filing the rudder. If you try this only strike the rudder NO more than twice at a time a little dose a lot .
If you file the right side of the back of the rudder will get pull to the right & versa. A note, the faster you go the more the more torque you should have so check your tune @ the same speed every time. I like to cruse at 28 mph so I have mine is tuned to neutral at that speed. @ 34mph there is a slight pull to the right @ below 28 there is a slight pull to the left. Most boat are set up with some torque to compensate for the slack it the steering system. Take a file with you next time out and get wet.

[billdc]

Thanks Hagman, I know the original owner was a slalom skier and they had a course on the river at that time. It felt like what you are describing, at slower speeds up to 25 or so it felt neutral above that the pull got stronger as speed increased. As long as it's not something that damaged, I will run it and try to fine tune through out the summer. Now I can enjoy the boat without worry that something is broken and just waiting to leave me stranded on the water.

[Zim]

Run it at is. Chances are you'll get used to the loaded rudder and will wonder why you never had one before. It will give you very straight tracking lines on your sets. A couple more times out on the boat and it'll probably feel normal to you and you won't even think about it.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk.

[CornRickey]

I wouldn't do anything with it till you confirm the rudder isn't bent in the wrong places. Since the prop was rocked its possible the rudder was also. Fixing the prop will have no effect on its tracking.

[DAFF]

In time I would take the prop off and send it out for repair, having a slightly unbalanced prop is not the best case scenario. Its a cheap fix and not worth leaving unattended. As for the pulling I too would suspect a sight tweak in the rudders alignment. Good luck with the new boat and have fun.