Boat pulls to the left
 

Hi

I have a 24 foot Baja Force with bravo drive and a right spinning prop. When at cruise the boat pulls to the left. I would have thought that the right hand prop would pull to the drive to the right and hence made the boat pull to the right???Any thoughts?

Mats,

I have the same hull. What prop do you have and at what speed are you observing this pull? What speeds were you running prior to engine swap? What shape is your gimbal ring in? Do you have tabs?

If your zink has a fin on it then make sure it is aimed in the correct direction.

Jon

Well, the pull is present at basically all speeds. If I advance the throttle the pull will increase, if I go back on the throttle the pull decreases and I have to compensate with the steering not to turn right. The prop is a 23 inch mirage plus, same thing with the previous prop a 21 inch turbo. The drive is old(1988) but I changed the gimbal ring 1999. The pull was there also before the change. Same thing with the engine, the pull was there both before and after the change from a 7.4L to a 502. I also changed the steering to a IMCO single ram tie in system, no change.The only things that have not changed are, apart from the hull, the drive and the powersteering control valve(saginaw type). The zink on the drive is without a tab. The boat has trimtabs but the pull is there irrespective of their deployment. Do you agree that it should pull to the right or have I misunderstood ??

There should not be a noticeable pull, sounds like the steering valve may be out of balance. Someone here can describe how to check and adjust it. One method is to watch the drive while at rest in the water, rev it up and if the drive starts to turn itself you need to adjust it. I replaced the steering cable and helm unit on mine. If you let go of the wheel at speed it would turn on you, the friction detent at the helm was worn out.

When you say pull do you mean you have to fight it all the time or it will just naturally go that way? I think it would be normal to have a tendency to go one way or another without a detent? Is the boat crabwalking?

By the way how did your WOT speeds with the 502 turn out?

If I let go of the wheel it will slowly turn left. It is not a big problem but annoying. I will have a look at the control valve.
As regards the speed ,I have not tried it at WOT yet but will do this weekend. I´ll keep you posted on the result. With the 1988 7.4 L and a 21 inch turbo it made 55 mph on the GPS. By the way, you mentioned something about hooks in the hull. Could you elaborate a little on that, where exactly are they located?

Mats

sounds like normal condition for a deep vee with single engine my boat falls over on the V depending on crosswinds and prop torque.

Listen to Jon..... it's the zinc

If you have a flat one (right above the prop) you need to replace it with one with a fin.

G

OK, I will try one with a fin. Thanks.

Mats

There are two differend ones with the fin.

One has the fin coming straight down from the zinc, the other has the fin extended out towards the rear. The extended one needs to be used if you are running a Bravo 4-blade ... it a clearance issue.

:cool: