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Help for a friend


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One of my friends just took his boat out for the first time this year. This is where it get's strange. When he parked the boat it was fine. When he got it out on the water yesterday he said it started pulling to the left. I asked him if it was bad or not and he said if he would just try and go straight and let go of the wheel it was pretty bad and would move to the left pretty significantly.

He has a 2008 malibu wakesetter VLX with around 250 hours on it. Anyway, I had not idea and thought I would ask the crew before he takes it in.

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I would have him check the rudder. Once it is on the lift or trailer, have someone spin the wheel while he watches the rudder. The rudder has an adjustment on it that may help tune it to keep it from pulling a direction.

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My family and I have had our fair share of inboard boats and they all do this. I have never been able to take my hands off the wheel without the boat pulling to the side.

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The boat pulling to one side slightly is typical of inboard boats, specifically the old school slalom boats that went up & down the course all day. The point being that if the driver could hold the boat to the right, he wouldn't zig zag down the course. Obviously this isn't as necessary on the newer wake sport boats, but it's still not uncommon.

Malibu has an adjustable rudder on a lot of boats over the last 10 yrs or more. There is a small tab on the back of the rudder, and a screw on top to loosen it & adjust how much the boat pulls. Too much isn't a good thing. But I'll tell you from a rider's perspective, a boat that can't keep a straight line is a drag too.

rudder.jpg

The old way of "tuning your rudder" involved filing down the rear edge of one side or the other of the rudder. Kind of like tuning your foil. It's a trial & error thing, a small amount effects the boat a lot.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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Just a guess but in addition to the boat pulling to the left naturally he may be running into an issue with corrosion in the steering cable. For example, last year when mine was in the process of going bad (gradual) I'd notice it was stiff first thing in the day then by the end of the day it spun pretty freely. The pull to the left was nonexistent in the a.m. but in the afternoon I noticed it pulling. I wonder if your friend had some corrosion in the line and the first day out it overcame the natural pull to the left while the second day he'd broken up the corrosion a bit and spun more freely. Either way, definitely have a look at the rudder while someone is turning the wheel to verify that it's not another issue that is visual. It sounds like sometime in the near future there is a steering cable replacement in his/your future.

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Just a guess but in addition to the boat pulling to the left naturally he may be running into an issue with corrosion in the steering cable. For example, last year when mine was in the process of going bad (gradual) I'd notice it was stiff first thing in the day then by the end of the day it spun pretty freely. The pull to the left was nonexistent in the a.m. but in the afternoon I noticed it pulling. I wonder if your friend had some corrosion in the line and the first day out it overcame the natural pull to the left while the second day he'd broken up the corrosion a bit and spun more freely. Either way, definitely have a look at the rudder while someone is turning the wheel to verify that it's not another issue that is visual. It sounds like sometime in the near future there is a steering cable replacement in his/your future.

:plus1:

Would think his steering cable is more than likely about to go out. Is it hard to turn at slow speeds too?

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It's easy to steer, no problem. However, when he let's go of the wheel it pulls hard to the left. Never done it before.

If something changed, maybe he's hit something with the rudder. Has he looked at the rudder at all?

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Check to make sure rudder is straight. Then check gorilla fins. I had a loose tracking fin on a 2004. I had to pull fuel tank to re-tighten it. One other thing to test would be to have someone hold rudder really tight while someone else tries to turn steering wheel to see if there is any play. This could be issue too.

Edited by bunji169
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Left hand rotation propped boats will tend to pull to the right. Pulling to the left on a LH rotation boat would indicate something is amiss. Rudder or rudder tab would be the primary culprit, fins secondary.

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