I thought I remember reading that running a boat with bent/dinged prop blades can cause transmission issues. Is this right?

yes, it can mess up quite a few things

not to mention poor gas mileage

yes, it can casuse some serious problems. get it fixed or get a new prop.

micro vibrations will cause bolts/nuts/screws to come loose eventually. it should be less than $100 to get a prop fixed.

I am guessin you are asking because of that x-star you found with a bent prop. <BR> <BR>A bent prop will screw up your transmission, engine alignment, shaft, cause the boat to vibrate, and many others.

Not good dude. Worn bearings, wear on the shaft and transmission. Like jonfo said, $100 maybe $125 and you're back in business.

if you run with a bent prop you are in danger of bending the shaft which can break the strut and blow out the tranny. Its all bad news!! get it fixed ASAP

like leo said, I was asking because I found a used boat that had a bent up prop. It was being used that way, for how long, I have no idea. Is there any easy way to determine if damage had been done?

Drive it and see if there is any vibrations, not all dinged up props will vibrate. Hopefully this is one of the ones that doesnt. If it vibrates you should ask the seller to let you take it to a local MC dealer and have it checked out. You can probably use it as a negotiating tool to get the seller to lower price.

if its been run for a long time, like a long time, the strut bushing will be hammered out and need to be replaced. If it's been abused extensivly, the next bearing to go will be the rear output bearing of the transmission. You will be able to tell if its bad, simply open the engine box and try to shake the driveshaft up and down. If it feels like it is moving in your hands and makes a small click sound, I would take it to a dealer and have them measure the runout on the shaft with a dial indicator. That will tell you exactly how worn the output bearing is. Worn bearing = iron filings in the oil. I would follow the dealers recommendations at that point. OR, you could call them and get the spec, and measure it yourself. If the shaft deflection is within spec, you should be fine. It will only move 0.001" to 0.003" or so, a very small amount, verify that specification prior to measuring. Measure carefully. <BR> <BR>The harmonics generated by bent props and drive shafts vibrate all the way thru the transmission and into the engine crankshaft, If it shakes the whole boat, just imagine the sideloads placed on all the intrenal bearings, it can be upwards of hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds force when its out of balance. They should be repaired immediately, even if you have to stop using your boat for awhile.