Broken Steering Cable

[BDOne]

When we had the boat out Monday, my wife told me that the boat seems to want to make a circle when she came off plane to idle. Sure enough, as we arrived at our intended cove and came off plane, the boat wanted to make a turn to port. I had to give it some throttle and steer hard to starboard to make it straighten out.

After we got it tied up, I hopped in to check out what was going on. I expected there to be something dragging on the port side jet. Instead what I found was the steering cable on the starboard jet had broken.


So yesterday I got the Teleflex part numbers off the cable and started searching for a replacement. We are at the lake through the weekend, so I really hoped to get a replacement ASAP. The best I could find on the internet was getting the part by Monday (paying $73 for shipping!!).

So I called a local shop - hoping they might have the part, but expecting they probably didn't. He was able to find the part at one of his supply houses, and "the system" said he would have the part in 2 days. His price was a little high at $150 + tax, but that was no worse than the higher prices I had seen on the internet. Plus, there is no shipping charge. So I pulled the trigger on it. If their shipping forecast is correct, I should have the cable tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed that it arrives by Friday.

Once I have the part, my plan is to borrow my buddy's boat lift to get my boat out of the water to do the work. The lift is a front-load, so it will be a little challenging to do the work outside of the hull. I'm thinking of hanging a bucket under the jet so I don't drop a $70 connector in the lake.

Wish me luck!

 

[14SX190]

Sometimes it works to call around and paying extra.
Make like a dipper with sheet jik something does fall

I lost my reverse cable coming to a plane and couldn't go forward. OEM cables suck

 

[Beachbummer]

get you a canoe or boat, or get ready to jump in the water. It's going to be really really hard to do from above,

 

[BDOne]

get you a canoe or boat, or get ready to jump in the water. It's going to be really really hard to do from above,

I was planning to get under the back of the boat on the lift. That's how I changed out the prop on my old direct drive ski boat. Hopefully, I can get a good angle to work on the cable from there. I think I'll float a raft underneath just in case I drop something.

Standing in the water is not an option. The bottom is about 80' down.

 

[Julian]

I was planning to get under the back of the boat on the lift. That's how I changed out the prop on my old direct drive ski boat. Hopefully, I can get a good angle to work on the cable from there. I think I'll float a raft underneath just in case I drop something.

Standing in the water is not an option. The bottom is about 80' down.

Hopefully the lift has something to stand on. I'd plan on getting a paddle boat or something like that to sit in under the boat. A paddle boat would be really stable and have lots of "catch" space for things that drop, and lots of tool space to allow you to have tools with you. I'd tie the paddle boat into place as firmly as you can and then begin from there. The next best option would be a really big tube (like my bandwagon 2+2). Its like a small boat!