Broken Clutch Cable

[u079721]

Just returned from a month long cruise in the North Channel. Everything was GREAT (the warmest and dryest August on record) except that as we were scouting around the final anchorage, looking for the best spot to drop the anchor, my wife put the gear shift lever in forward and felt somthing snap. She looked up and said she couldn't get the engine in gear - drop the anchor, now!

Well it took a bit of work to learn that, thankfully, the transmission was OK, but the gear shift lever (or clutch) cable was broken inside the sheath. Now I carry a lot of spares, but a spare control cable isn't one of them. Using a dowel rod I had on board (though I've no idea why I had it) I was able to fashion a jury rig that I could use to shift the gear box from the front of the engine at the base of the companionway steps (with the engine cover removed of course). We left for home three days later, right on schedule, and managed to get into our home slip with no incident.

Anybody else have this happen? Any advice on how to go about changing the cable? I assume it would be a good idea to also replace the throttle cable at the same time, just in case.

 

[Martin King]

Steve,
Morse cables are usually pretty reliable if installed correctly.
Can you give us more information like where exactly it
broke? Was the cable kinked at all ?
Martin

 

[u079721]

I don't think the cable was kinked, and I haven't figured out where exactly it broke. But I did notice that where the cable exits the bottom of the binacle, just forward of the radial steering, that they found it necessary to use a retaining strap to hold the cable up to the underside of the deck so that the cables don't hang down onto the top edge of the steering mechanism as they are led aft. In the process the cables undergo a really tight radius turn, which I suspect was the problem.

Anybody with a late model E-38 might want to check theirs to see if they have the same tight radius turn. I'm not sure if I can figure a way around this set up, but I'm going to try and find a better way to route the cable.

 

[Loren Beach]

Thanks for the heads-up, Steve.
My cables have a similar strap arrangement where they have to turn rather sharply aft because of the nearness of the frp molded cover that conceals the steering stuff and keeps it off the sleeper in the berth in the aft cabin.
There is a lot of friction in our cables, and maybe that's one of the reasons.
It looks like I need to move the cable replacement project up to this winter's to-do list...

Loren
1988 Olson 34, PDX, OR