Rudder veering to starboard when motoring

Thinking about this logically,

It's ok when under sail, so is unlikely to be the rudder or steering gear. Therefore it is likely to be that the drive from the propeller is unbalanced. This could be something caught up or damage to either the prop or the saildrive. Is it possible for the saildrive to get bent/twisted, so that the force is no linger in line with the centreline? If I notice my boat veering off under power it is always because the outboard has twisted.
 
stevebrassett said:
Thinking about this logically,

It's ok when under sail, so is unlikely to be the rudder or steering gear. Therefore it is likely to be that the drive from the propeller is unbalanced. This could be something caught up or damage to either the prop or the saildrive. Is it possible for the saildrive to get bent/twisted, so that the force is no linger in line with the centreline? If I notice my boat veering off under power it is always because the outboard has twisted.
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It would have to be some force that could bend it, surely?

I think I might have heard that happen.
 
I know nothing about sail drives, but it does seem logical that there is adjustment to set them up to drive the boat straight ahead "hands-off" in the same way as outboards have a little adjustable tab on the end of the cavitation plate.
If they do, then the leg make have become twisted.

(A bit of Googling shows nothing on this front. )
 
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I have a sail-drive and fixed prop just like the OPs. Sounds like either something on the prop (as everyone has said) giving a lumpy water flow over the rudder or perhaps somehow play between the rudder and the wheel? When I first got mine, the chains to the rudder had too much play in where the AP had been fitted and both had been incorrectly adjusted. This made the wheel shake under power. This disappeared as soon as the chains were correctly tightened.

Best thing is to have look - but I guess you know that :)
 
Gobes said:
Leaving Dartmouth under power on Sunday I noticed that the wheel wanted to steer to starboard. However, when the engine was turned off the steering was smooth and balanced.

I have a skeg rudder and a saildrive that causes a bit of vibration sometimes but I've not experienced having to fight against the wheel before.

I'm not aware of anything fouling the prop or the rudder.

Anyone have any ideas?
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Have not read the other replies so may have been said
You need a scrub. The engine is working harder to push the boat & propwash comes into play. You might notice that the stern sinks a little lower than it did when just launched
 
check that the engine mounts have not gone "Soft". If one has this may give the whole drive a bias to one side.
 
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It might be worth the OP motoring full ahead then engaging reverse (not so suddenly as to crash the gearbox) and then applying full reverse. I've cleared plastic bags and seaweed from my saildrive prop this way before I got a folding prop. You can see it floating behind the boat before the boat comes to a halt.
 
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