Looking at buying a 2001 SAN with a slight vibration above 30mph

[FLY6584]

So I've been searching for a 2001-2003 SAN for quite some time now. I have looked at a lot of them. I found a super nice one that is mint inside and out, but when I went on the water test it had a slight vibration when opening up the throttle wide open and running 30+mph. The seller thought it was a normal vibration and never noticed it because he never ran the boat that fast, but having owned a 99 SAN that I would run fast quite often I felt it should be a lot smoother on top.

We pulled the boat and the prop had a of couple dings to it and he said he remembers hitting something at idle, but never really thought much of it because the boat ran fine afterwards. Two of the 4 blades had a decent bend to them so I told him he would need to have the prop re-worked and water tested before I would buy it. He had it re-worked and went for the water test yesterday and he reported back to me that he didn't really notice a change and still feels as though the vibration is normal.

What should I do? I've thought about taking it to a dealer and having the driveshaft alignment checked and see if they could throw a different prop on there and see if that smooths it out. I have read that even a re-worked prop does not correct a vibration while a new one will. Let me also mention that the prop spins freely using one finger to spin it.

I hate to pass on the boat because it is by far the cleanest, nicest looking, and most well taken care of boat I have looked at to date, but I also don't want to be looking at a huge driveline repair bill to get it running smoothly.

[NautiqueJeff]

Yeah, a reworked prop may not eliminate all of the vibration. I think your ideas are right on. Test with a different prop and check alignment and whether the shaft is true.

[swc5150]

Even slight prop dings can bring about substantial vibrations. I'd bet a reworked prop and aligned shaft would solve it.

[FLY6584]

Even slight prop dings can bring about substantial vibrations. I'd bet a reworked prop and aligned shaft would solve it.

Yeah that's what I was saying... he already re-worked the prop and it still has that vibration.

[SkiTower]

A correctly reworked prop is fine but not all reworked props ae correct. I had one reworked and it looked fine but still had a vibration. A second rework by a 'better' shop fixed the vibration. This is why I laugh when people talk about fixing props themselves. These things are insanely critical.

Ask him what he did to rework it? He may have pulled out a hammer and pounded it back into shape.

Is it possible to borrow a good prop from a local dealer just to verify the fix?

[FLY6584]

A correctly reworked prop is fine but not all reworked props ae correct. I had one reworked and it looked fine but still had a vibration. A second rework by a 'better' shop fixed the vibration. This is why I laugh when people talk about fixing props themselves. These things are insanely critical.

Ask him what he did to rework it? He may have pulled out a hammer and pounded it back into shape.

Is it possible to borrow a good prop from a local dealer just to verify the fix?

I'm sorry I should have been a little more clear on that... he took the prop to a professional shop and had it re-worked.

The only issue I am running into is that the boat is about 4 hours from me and it's not the easiest thing to get down there to coordinate these things. There is also another buyer that will take the boat as-is if he can come up with the financing so I'm not sure the seller is super wild about sinking anymore money into the boat if he has someone that will buy it as-is. Definitely can't blame him for that, but I'm probably going to have to pass unless I get the vibration figured out.

I'm just curious as to what is the worst possible scenario? I mean like I said the prop spins freely using a finger or two, but what is the worst possible case here and how much would it cost to address?

[H2O]

Borrow or rent a known vibration-free prop and try it. If that eliminates the vibration a new prop is the only expense needed. If the vibration persists then a new shaft is needed and maybe a new strut if it is bent too. If a dealer does the work it will be rather expensive (look up the part costs at NautiqueParts.com) and figure $100/hr labor. It is not a fun job on a VDrive.

[perry386]

When I purchased my boat my prop was bent badly and we had to get it reworked before we took it out. Got it reworked and the FIRST weekend out we hit a stump at like 3MPH and had to rework the prop yet again AND had to take out all of the screws on the strut, reseal it with marine epoxy, and screw it back down. The point is that it's VERY hard to knock a shaft out; even with all of that nonsense the shaft stayed perfectly aligned, and the boat is now vibration-free.