Steering on ‘98 xl1200

I am very new to jet skis. I bought a ‘98 xl1200 and had a brand new engine put in it. I rode it briefly yesterday for the first time and felt that the steering was very loose. It moved right and left as the handlebars were moved in those directions but just felt the overall response was not as tight as it should be.
Note that I told the mechanic to get it running and he did a great job considering the state of the engine. I should have thought about the steering. After all it is still a ‘98. Any ideas on what I should do?