165 ID Pulling Left

[Fastjew]

Had a really great weekend with the 165. Go her all broke in and a huge smile on my face when she hit 60mph! Up until now I had noticed that the boat seemed to pull to the left at low speed (<35) and just wrote it off as a new propulsion I was unfamiliar with and/or wind and waves. I got out Sunday early with almost zero wind and very few others on the lake which allowed for some testing that clearly indicates a significant pull to the left that dissipates as speed increases.

Here are my results:
Over 40 mph she is straight as a arrow. Wheel is at about 12:30 (needs slight adjustment).

Docking speed requires about a 2 o'clock position to go straight

30mph after settling the boat to go straight with wheel about 1 o'clock still results in steady left pull. Requires considerable constant pressure right to go straight that at 20-25mph wears you down after a while.

Same thing headed opposite direction to rule out conditions

At lastly when slowing the 3 o'clock position is need to stay straight

So after poking around the and looking for the obvious drag I noticed that is does not appear the reverse bucket is all the way "up" in the forward position. There is a latch on the port side that looks to be where the bucket's resting place should be in full up/forward position. And to top it off the latch is missing a screw...




It looks like the bucket is just barely out of the water flow when up/forward, but if you push it further to engage the latch is has much more clearance.



My question is should the bucket engage this latch when full forward? And then could this be causing the drag that is pulling me left? Lastly is this an easy adjustment for someone mechanically inclined or does it have to go back to dealer?

Any other thoughts on pulling left?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[anmut]

Could it be because the impeller is torquing the water in a circular direction that it naturally drives a boat to one side? I know that's the reason that helms are put on the starboard side of prop boats - not sure if the same applies with jets, especially at that speed. Nice looking boat though!

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Hey, own a 165. So yeah, that pulling left is not normal. Mine doesn't do that... at least never to what I just saw in your videos (especially the 5mph one, wow). Something is definitely wrong somewhere. Now what.... really hard to tell from those pics.

As you mentioned, any excess drag could do this... everything look symmetrical? How does your water intake grate look? Properly bolted down, levelled, etc. No way it's the hull... that would be a HUGE issue. Otherwise, the bucket wouldn't do this in my opinion. If the bucket doesn't go high enough, the jet will touch the bottom of it and would cause a huge loss of propulsion... it would feel like you've got the brakes on as soon as you would accelerate.

The fact that you have to apply actual pressure seems to rule out a steering wheel alignment issue (which would have been easy to adjust).

So besides drag, could your nozzle be crooked in some way? Bent? How does your ride plate look? Symmetrical as well?

 

[Fastjew]

@Luc Lafreniere Yeah, thanks I have already been using some of your tips on the 165.

I haven't seen anything else that seems out of alignment or asymmetrical. I have read on here and another forum that when things are out of alignment the pull will get worse as speed increases which would make sense and that is the opposite of what I am experiencing. I am wondering if the bucket is slightly off could it be catching just enough water to pull the boat to the left? It does seem to have a little more reverse movement in the neutral position than you would expect as well.

Can you tell me if your bucket fully engages the latch on the port side when you shift into full forward at the helm?

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Attached photo of my latch in the full forward position. Luckily my boat is still here in the garage waiting on hibernation to end and for the covid-19 to pass.

What I find interesting is that little "hammer" shaped grey piece for me is sitting lower than yours.

 

[Fastjew]

Attached photo of my latch in the full forward position. Luckily my boat is still here in the garage waiting on hibernation to end and for the covid-19 to pass.

What I find interesting is that little "hammer" shaped grey piece for me is sitting lower than yours.

Yeah, here in Dallas area they just opened the parks last weekend. The pent up demand for the lake was crazy at the boat ramps!

I think the hammer is sitting lower on yours since it is being pulled forward by the shift linkage where as on mine I had pushed the bucket into this position by hand so the linkage was actually pushing against the hammer a little therefore raising it or closing the gap between it and the latch.

Could I get you to take one more pick of the same area/condition but "zoomed" out a bit? I am trying to see the position of the bucket in relation to it's mount similar to this pic:


Thanks for the help!!

 

[ALAN MANN SR.]

How many people are in the boat? Just you? Sit in the middle and see the difference or have another person on the left. And when you are slowing down you have no steering. You have to be under power to steer.

 

[Fastjew]

How many people are in the boat? Just you? Sit in the middle and see the difference or have another person on the left. And when you are slowing down you have no steering. You have to be under power to steer.

It handles the exact same with the wife in the passenger seat and if you listen to the video I never cut power all the way so there is still enough steering to easily turn left at the end of the video. The boat should not start turning just because I cut power.

Got an appointment with the dealer tomorrow. They watched the videos and agree that something is not right.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

A few photos. But yeah, something is wrong. Even alone in my boat it doesn't do this and I'm a hefty guy. Something is up.

 

[ALAN MANN SR.]

Good Deal.

 

[Fastjew]

Thanks for the input guys! I will be sure and post whatever the dealership finds out.

@Luc Lafreniere the bucket position on both our boats is similar so I think you were right and that is not the problem. Wishful thinking on my part...

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Please make sure to report back once the problem is resolved. I'd love to know the cause and I'm sure others could learn something.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

@Fastjew Did you ever get a resolution to this? Another member @Ralph195 is experiencing a similar problem.

 

[Fastjew]

@Luc Lafreniere Not yet...ended up just living with it for the first season. Should be taking it back to the dealer soon for another look.

 

[Torkrench]

I didn't have the pulling problem with mine, but when I first got it I had the bucket problem. Without that latch locked in place, water can pull the bucket down into neutral or worse, reverse. It happened a couple of times to me when I was playing a little rough with the boat.

I couldn't adjust the cable from the back on mine, so I took the shifter assembly screws out, lifted the shifter assembly, and adjusted it there. It also fixed the issue I had with the boat drifting backwards when in neutral. I still shove the shifter into forward with authority to hear the "clunk" to make sure the latch completely locks in place and it's never happened again.

 

[Torkrench]

Also, you should not be able to pull the bucket down manually when it's in forward. I could with mine until I adjusted the cable.

 

[ScarabMike]

You can adjust your nozzle to compensate for this, but it's a give and take. What ever you do, dont install thrust vector fins. Its a dangerous bandaid to the issue. This is even common on the PWCs.

 

[Fastjew]

Well after 1.5 years I decided to call it quits with the 165 and Scarab. No scathing reviews as I actually loved the boat, but my dealer stopped selling and servicing Scarab earlier this year. The pulling left was more of a nuisance so no major deal, but with 3.5 years left on the warranty and no where to take it for service it just didn't make me sleep well. With all the craziness in the world I was able to sell it for what I paid, so no harm done.

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Lack of dealers nearby can definitely be an issue. I hear ya. Good luck to ya!