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Would a slightly bent prop shaft cause a loss of 8-10 mph? Mine has a very, very small bend to it. There is no vibration or other issues when running at WOT. Current top speed 39 mph.
Inboard or outboard? You are heading for all sorts of problems down the line if you are running a boat with a bent shaft. Bearings, seals, gears on an outboard or nboard/outboard. With an inboard--cutlass bearings, shaft log, coupler, transmission output shaft and engine mounts. The cost of replacing those are going to far exceed the repair/replacment of the shaft. Yes, it will cost you that much speed.
I say no it won't. I ran a set of 1995 200 Yamahas from 300 hours until 2400 hours with one having a slightly bent prop shaft. It never hurt anything. Seal never went bad or anything. This was on a 25 Contender and it would go 50 knots on demand any day of the week, even when the motors had 2400 hours on them. If your not cavitating or something and the rpms are the same then it obviously is not causing any problems. And I don't think you can straighten the shaft. Basically you need a new shaft which basically is almost the same as needing a new lower unit. Slapping a new shaft is is probably asking for a lower unit to explode unless you get both gear replaced and hopefully set correctly by the guy doing it. I used to joke that my bent prop shaft raised more fish!
__________________ AKA, The SKIMMER! No way am I reading all that crap!
I had snap off my wheel,shaft broke flush off after the seal on the outside.replaced the shaft with a used one with no problems to speak of after 6 years.Boat still rolls.When pulling the gears out and all still match with no heavy wear,they should be good to go!
I ran aground about a year ago and broke the skeg all the way off and bent the prop shaft. I am pretty sure that it is not as easy as bending the shaft back. I would imagine that is impossible. The cost of replacing the prop shaft and repairing the skeg was about $600 dollars less than replacing the entire lower unit. I decided that replacing the entire lower unit was the best option for me (resale value, aesthetics, etc.). Not an inexpensive procedure. I think the tab was around $3000. I also replaced the stainless prop with an aluminum one. Had I had the aluminum to begin with, the accident would have ripped the prop to shreds but also would probably not have bent the shaft. Anyway, good luck with whatever you do.
Bent prop shaft cause lost MPH? 
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