How to fix boat throttle?

Having trouble with boat leaning?

• I have a 93 18 foot marada bowrider with an omc 3.0. It rides great until it plains out. But once it plains out, it leans badly. Most of the times it goes left. My cousin would sit on the left side of the bow and it leans left. When he sat on the right side it leaned right. Once it leans, it starts to steer that way and I have to get out of the throttle. I've only had two people on the boat but there's not that much weight in the boat. At the bottom of the foot, below the prop, has a chunk that has been broken off and it is bent to the left. I really want to fix this before boating season is over. Thanks.

• Answer:

  Here are a few of the problems but there are solutions too. Fist off, the boat is small and light with little counterweight to steady and right itself. Two people can easily disrupt the balance of the boat by moving from one side to another. The second thing is it sounds like you have a broken/bent skeg on the outdrive. that little fin adds a stabilization at speed to the boat. When this is is damaged or broken off, it affects the way the boat runs at speed and the way it turns. That last thing affecting the boat is Torque Steer. This is influenced with the prop and the way it draws water into the prop and the directional "Leakage" during the rotation. Usually noticed more with small boats with an outdrive, and not as much with a larger boat or at all with the newer "Dual Prop" outdrives. The first fix is to repair the Skeg on the outdrive. There are plenty of replacement parts for this. Here's a link for those parts and should take about an hour when the part arrives. http://search.overtons.com/?vno=40&Ne=1000&N=2174&cname=Engine-Parts%27&s_kwcid=adwords_skeg_guard The second fix. Be sure to evenly distribute ALL weight evenly as possible in the boat. All non-living objects should be stored in the centerline hold in the floor between the helm and passenger seats. Nobody should be sitting on the bow area during at speed runs. This influences the way the boat runs and also contribute to the way the boat "Leans", especially when on plane. Keep the fuel cell as full as possible to add "Counter-balance weight" to the boat. The more unsecured weight that can be stored centerline, the less problems you'll have. That goes for ice coolers too. I usually secure those to the stern swim platform and not inboard of the boat.