You know the adage about approaching a dock no faster...

[M. R. Bober]

than you might want to hit it? STARVIEW caught a break this afternoon as I was coming into the slip at dead slow in neutral, just to see how far she would coast (useful information). Anyway I shifted into reverse and nothing happened. I was single handing at the time, and I pleased to report that I can still do the 36 foot dash in reasonable time.

The shift cable appears to have snapped at the transmission link end. I suspect a sore back is on the horizon. Has anyone performed this task?

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (Home of at least one shiftless boat owner) VA

[Steve Laume]

My dad used to have a wooden, single engine, gas powered, inboard fishing boat. It would sometimes or often times, stall when shifting. I still cringe whenever I idle down and shift. That was about 40 years ago and I wasn't even in charge of the boat. Maybe it was the outboard he had before that. The memory is not so clear but the fear still remains.

Glad to hear you were not hot doggin into your slip like a sport fish captain. Your problem might be as simple as replacing the little ball and socket connector on the end of the shift cable. They are mild steel and screw onto the end of the stainless shift cable. You still have to get to the back of the transmission but at least you wouldn't have to tear the binnacle apart and replace the entire cable.

When I had Raven's engine out I welded up a new bracket to hold the end of the cable, replaced the steel clap that holds the cable and the little socket end. all of the originals didn't look too good. The cable itself seemed just fine, Steve.

[Michael Heintz]

I have.....

My son & I were just leaving Block Island when I decided to gas & water up......

When done ...shove off from dock.....OMG.....no control.....VERY crowded harba....I had him go below and shift manually by my voice commands...

Very crowded mooring field, just want to grab first one I could see....

Got it Thank Gawd.....

The repair through the Edison Pedistal pain in the ass repair....

[John Danicic]

Mitchell:

Very similar thing happened to me but my shift cable broke after I successfully entered the dock, stopped all forward progress and then shifted into neutral. That's when my cable snapped. It showed that Mariah was looking out for me.

The job to replace the cable is onerous only at the Edson pedestal. 18 inch long forceps are a handy tool to have on hand. Edson has instructions on its website that I would follow to the letter.

As far as cable replacement, I would highly recommend the HI-LEX CONTROL CABLE 8FT NIS-HC49J96-08. It is a blue jacket cable and really is very very slick. Much better then the red jacket brand. The least resistance the better and the longer the cable will last.

You can order it from Blue Water Ships Store in Kemah, TX. www.bluewatershipsstore.com They offer CDSOA members a 10% discount to CDSOA members. You could and probably should replace the throttle cable at the same time. Throttle: HI-LEX CONTROL CABLE 10FT NIS-HC49J96-10

Mike Payne of Dragonfly - CD36 let me know about Hi-Lex and I am eternally grateful to him for relaying that info.

[GeorgeV]

It sounds like this might have been the summer of problems at the Binnacle . . .

This summer I was about 4 miles out of Rockland harbor in Maine in 20+ knots of wind having a wonderful sail down from Camden, ME when we tacked the boat, the cable on the steering quardrant broke and all of a sudden we had no steerage.

Thank god for the emergency tiller which took some getting use to, having not used a tiller in 10 years. The good folks at Journeys End marina had a very skinny young man who was able to get underneath and replace the cable as well as a rebuilt stop bracket for the quardrant which was no longer be doing its job.

They did the work quickly and for what I thought was a very reasonable price. The next day my wife arrived and we continued our trip sailing on to Portland and eventually back to Connecticut with no further problems.

Fair Winds

[Tom Keevil]

I was recently reading an article about the Easthope one-cylinder gasoline engines that were the first engines used by fishermen on the coast of British Columbia in the early 20th century. They didn't have any reverse gear. To put it in reverse you cut the ignition on the compression stroke, and just before the piston turned over, you turned the ignition back on to run the engine in reverse. If you were too late, however, it would jump forward instead.

Here's a quote from Peck Easthope:

"I remember we sold one to some Japs. It was a great big boat they had. Well they came in to our wharf, there was four or five of 'em on the boat - ennaway, they headed 'er straight into the wharf, straight into the wharf - you should never do that with a two cycle you see, well the fella on the bow, he's giving the orders. Go stern, go stern Easthope! Go stern! And he kept hollering and yelling and waving go stern, go stern, go stern Easthope! But then, instead of stoppin' she speeds up and crash, omigosh, these fellas on the bow fly through the air right onto the wharf. Oh damn Easthope, damn Easthope, damn Easthope! It was quite a tricky business y'see."

[RIKanaka]

FYI, the use of the short-hand term for someone of Japanese ancestry is nowadays considered a slur. While I realize that you are quoting someone else from "back in the day" when the use of such terms was more accepted, others may still consider it offensive at the use of such a term, even in a quote.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one's point of view), even quoting Mark Twain's greatest work usually requires a disclaimer of some sort these days.

[Tom Keevil]

Bob,

I apologize for any offense caused by the quote. I thought a long time about whether or not to include it, but decided in the end that it would be alright in its historical context. A disclaimer would have been a good idea, but I'm definitely opposed to editing other people's writings in the interest of good taste (Mark Twain, for example). I'm fully aware of the pejorative nature of the term. Over the years we have had four Japanese exchange students live with us in our home, and I have great admiration for the people and their culture.

Tom

[RIKanaka]

Tom,

One era's moniker becomes another era's slur as one's enemy becomes one's ally, trading partner or trade competitor, and people, attitudes and language evolve usually in the direction of improvement. The term you quoted is commonly used on other forums in the UK and its former colonies without hesitation. I always cringe a little when I see it there but just chalk it up two cultures being separated by a common language. I appreciate your clarification, as knowing where someone is "coming from" does provide some contextual understanding.

The "Kanaka" part of my ID on this forum reflects a part of my ethnic heritage and a label of pride in the land of my birth, but is considered a slur in Australia against anyone of South Pacific Island heritage. Go figure. I use it anyway, assuming there aren't many Australian Pacific Islanders on this forum.

Anyway, reservations aside, yours was an interesting post and I wonder if any more modern outboards can be coaxed into the same behavior, say a British Seagull (for which the term "modern" may be a bit of a stretch).

[bottomscraper]

Some of the Mercury outboards of the 1960's had 2 starters. For reverse the engine was stopped and restarted in the other direction. My Dad had one. Some people even call them "Dock Busters".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Ma ... ough_1970s

From Wikipedia:

Mercury's first 6-cylinder engines featured "direct reversing". Instead of a lower unit with forward, neutral and reverse gears, its lower units were more compact, with only drive and driven gears, and no submerged shift mechanism required. Reverse was selected by turning off the engine and restarting it in opposite rotation, and neutral by simply switching off.

[river-rat]

Luck vs Skill

When about 9, (71 years ago) we had a small powerboat with a one cylinder engine directly connected to the prop. The engine was started by kneeling in front of the heavy flywheel and "spinning" it through compression. Once started, without clutch or transmission, away you went.

Sometimes the engine would bounce against compression and start in reverse. Normally you stopped by shorting out the spark plug. My brother and I found that with good timing we could reverse the engine by briefly shorting the spark and releasing at just the right moment to start in reverse.

We showed our Dad this skill by coming to dock at a good clip and reversing to stop at just the right spot. He was not impressed and disallowed that trick. Picky, Picky, Picky.

Now I am more conservative. I guess old farts are no fun.

[Steve Laume]

Good story, River Rat. I think only wise men tend to grow old or maybe older men grow wiser

Your dad sounds like he showed a fair amount of wisdom at the time. Sooner or later you youngsters would have come flying into the dock and messed up. For all you innovation and cleverness one small error could have made for a major crunch.

At least with many of these very old engines you knew what to expect. It is those last minuet surprises that will really mess you up, Steve.

[M. R. Bober]

Mitchell:

Very similar thing happened to me but my shift cable broke after I successfully entered the dock, stopped all forward progress and then shifted into neutral. That's when my cable snapped. It showed that Mariah was looking out for me.

The job to replace the cable is onerous only at the Edson pedestal. 18 inch long forceps are a handy tool to have on hand. Edson has instructions on its website that I would follow to the letter.

As far as cable replacement, I would highly recommend the HI-LEX CONTROL CABLE 8FT NIS-HC49J96-08. It is a blue jacket cable and really is very very slick. Much better then the red jacket brand. The least resistance the better and the longer the cable will last.

You can order it from Blue Water Ships Store in Kemah, TX. www.bluewatershipsstore.com] They offer CDSOA members a 10% discount to CDSOA members. You could and probably should replace the throttle cable at the same time. Throttle: HI-LEX CONTROL CABLE 10FT NIS-HC49J96-10

Mike Payne of Dragonfly - CD36 let me know about Hi-Lex and I am eternally grateful to him for relaying that info.

Any handy tips? Feed the cable down or up the pedestal? OBTW: the link to bluewatershipsstore is odd.

TIA
Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (Where bad luck is a temporary thing.) VA

[John Danicic]

You want to draw the new cable up from below.

Take off the compass first, check the situation inside the pedestal and then go below and check out how both cables enter the pedestal. There are several clamps that need to be loosened from the engine to the base.

More then likely, your cable is broken off at the very top end about a half inch from where it is connected to the shift lever.

Tape securely, a line to the tranny end of the old cable. When you figure out how to remove the cables, draw that up and then use the line to draw up the new cable. Not a large amount of space to work with here so don't loose the cable. It helps to have two people as well. One above and one below feeding the cable up.


The long forceps are used to hold and reinsert this nasty bolt way down in the pedestal that secures both the throttle and the shift cable to a bracket which comes out with both cables. No way to describe how to do it as it was a diabolical design by Edson to drive later boat owners insane. They were quite successful. There are different Edson models so find yours at their web site and read their instructions.

But if you can get the cable out, you should be able to get the cable back in. Take it easy and don't drop anything down the pedestal. Give yourself a morning with the option of finishing it up in the afternoon.

Here is a better link to Blue Waters Store. There was an errant bracket at the end of the name in the one above.

http://ww34.bluewatershipsstore.com/

Good luck.

[M. R. Bober]

The transmission cable gave it up at the transmission side (at the swage).

I appreciate the tips.
Every best wish,

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (Where good work is always appreciated.) VA