A few weeks ago the propeller and strut on my 1999 Toyota Epic 22 were damaged because they were hit by something underwater. I think we might have beached the boat on shore too fast and the underwater mechanics got bent. We were getting a strong vibration that shook the entire hull from the back of the boat. My boat shop in Orlando has replaced the strut with a new one and realigned the propeller. The drive shaft checked out okay. Now the vibration is gone.
I test drove the boat today to make sure everything was alright before taking the boat home. Now the boat is pulling to the left. Is this normal?
Basically the boat drives like a car with bad alignment. When going from 0-15 mph, there's a strong pull to the left, about 20 degrees to the left. When going 21 mph, there's less of a pull, about 7 degrees. The service rep at the shop is telling me that this is normal and all ski boats pull a little.
Now when I pull a wakeboarder out of the water, I have to hold the steering crooked till the boat gets to 20 mph, then slightly straighten it out a bit.
I remember I used to have no pull on my Epic 22 before the repair. There might have been a tiny amount of pull one way, but it was unnoticeable unless I was going backwards.
Do you guys have a pull to the left on your boats? On my Epic, the pull is very noticable at under 15 mph, and goes away at about 35 mph.
What do you guys recommend I do?