n00b question about fin alignment

Hi Folks
At long last, I am a pedaling kayaker. I just recently picked up an Adventure and couldn't be happier about it. However, during my last pedal/paddle, I made what is probably a very common noob mistake-- I lifted up the front of the boat to pull it up on shore without attaching the pedal-retainer bungee thing to one of the drive pedals. I lifted the boat up and the fins flopped down and so when I tried to put the boat back down I was in trouble. After much flailing I got things sorted out, but I'm afraid I may have damaged the drive. (And I now understand the purpose of that bungee and hook-- having the fins flop down when lifting the boat was not a problem on the mirage kayaks I had rented previously, no doubt due to resistance in those drive units due to being abused rentals.)
When I got home and inspected the drive, it now appears that both fins are off center. That is, when the pedals are right next to each other in the middle of their travel, the fins are right next to each other too, but they are not pointing straight down, they are pointing a little bit off to the right. Seems like an obvious case of bent masts, right? It appears not-- both masts appear to line up perfectly with the centerline casting marks on the sprocket pieces they screw into and have no visible bend in them. It looks like both sprockets "slipped" a little bit, making the "center" of their travel a little bit off to the right relative to the drive spine and the pedals. Given how the whole thing is put together, this seems unlikely or even impossible to me, but that's sure what it looks like. Anybody want to help a noob get this sorted out?

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'09 Adventure (getting AI kit soon!)

Eecher welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Adventure!

This doesn't sound too serious. The sprockets don't slip and a chain skip is almost impossible; but you can double check by making sure the sprocket's center cog is in the 4th (or center) link. To get a precise feel for how far off center your masts are, make sure your pedals are in the same adjustment hole and are pushed forward to remove any slack and then see how they line up. There can be 2 or 3 degrees of factory variance and that may be all you see here. Nevertheless, there is a way to bring them into perfect alignment.

In the picture below you see that each cable attaches to the drum on each side. These are adjustable by turning their Nyloc nuts.


To center a fin, simply loosen the nut on one side and tighten it's counterpart on the other side. It doesn't take much. Operate the Drive by hand after each adjustment before re-checking your reading.

If any of your cables are too tight the Drive will start to bind; if too loose, the fins will lag a bit. You want to be able to squeeze the idler cable and front chain/cable about 1/8" and the rear chain/cable about 3/16" or thereabouts. The order of adjustment should be front to back, as the idler cable influences the other cables as well.

A note here on the Locnuts -- after a few adjustments they may start to loose their grip. If this happens you can double-nut them or use Locktite (blue) to stablize them.

You'll find more info on lubing, adjustment, mast straightening and other topics by using the search feature or looking at the FAQ section here.

I always remove the drive before beaching. It makes life a lots easier and prevents any chance of damage. Have it tethered tho.