Raising the outboard

[Uncle Jim]

Went to replace the throttle and shifter cable today and noticed that when the outboard (Honda 50) is in the raised position or out of the water the cables are blocked by the rudder linkage bar causing a tighter bend then recommended for the cables maybe that’s why they broke.

Question is this, how much do you raise the outboard when under sail? Do you leave it in the water or what? I’m not talking about disconnecting from the linkage as this will not improve the angle of the cables. Anyone have an idea for a mod?

[March]

I raise mine just for the heck of it--the "see, mom, no hands" approach. I suspect that keeping it in place under sail would reduce the speed some, but not significantly so. I would guess half a knot, maybe? The advantage of keeping it down would be, the engine is ready to power up in case of emergency. I used to misjudge the speed at first and often found myself in irons.

You will still have to raise the outboard all the way when pulling the boat out of the water and while trailering

[waltpm]

When I first got my boat the cables were already kinked by the Honda. When I installed the new cables I ran them under the rudder bar. This stopped the kinking but caused the cables to rub on the bar. I put a length of tubing over the cables in the area where they rubbed and haven't had any problems in the last 6 years.

[Gerry the fish]

I raise mine and disconnect linkage when sailing, I agree not a huge drag when its down - more a psychological advantage when raised.

[delevi]

I always disconnect the linkage and tilt all the way up while sailing. You go a bit faster and the helm is much lighter, not having the weight on the engine on it. Not exactly sure about your setup with cables, etc. Mine has no cables exposed.

[Uncle Jim]

I raise mine just for the heck of it--the "see, mom, no hands" approach. I suspect that keeping it in place under sail would reduce the speed some, but not significantly so. I would guess half a knot, maybe? The advantage of keeping it down would be, the engine is ready to power up in case of emergency. I used to misjudge the speed at first and often found myself in irons.

You will still have to raise the outboard all the way when pulling the boat out of the water and while trailering

Thanks March,

I guess I should have been a littler clearer, I'm not trying to revive the pros and cons of disconnecting the OBM or of raising it for sailing but the angle of the cables are my concern. Also guessing that the M has a different setup to the steering linkage. The X everthing is exposed in the well in front of the motor and when tilting the motor up the cables make a 2" radius bend as they are tilted below the steering linkage. Most cables have a 6" min and if I route them below the bar then I have the same issue when the motor is lowered.

When I first got my boat the cables were already kinked by the Honda. When I installed the new cables I ran them under the rudder bar. This stopped the kinking but caused the cables to rub on the bar. I put a length of tubing over the cables in the area where they rubbed and haven't had any problems in the last 6 years.

Walt, what year is you mac? I have seen a different version of the rudder linkage that has only one bend in it. Does anyone know the reason for the change to the straight bar and would the older one work on the newer (2002) X?

Jim

[waltpm]

Jim, I have a 97. It has the v shaped rudder bar with a flat bar welded to it parallel to the transom. This problem is peculiar to the Honda because it has the projection where the cables attach.

[Frank C]

Walt's correct. This issue has been discussed regarding the Honda 50 for the entire ten years I've been reading here. I don't recall the answer, but I think someone suggested a solution ... it's somewhere in the archives, but that won't be an easy search.

!

Frank C:

Search Hint There's a handy feature in the new Search engine. You can search on Honda cables (yields 86 posts). Next, use the "Search these results" feature, which runs another search, only against the results of that first search. Second search, maybe try bent or kink. The latter filters the first list down to only 4 posts, the last of which is from a pretty good thread, though not a complete answer. Keep trying other search terms, you'll find it.

[Uncle Jim]

In reguards to the Search feature, DUH! I searched for three days and three nights with no positive results. Just a bunch of threads concerning sailing with the motor in the raised or lowered position or else sailing with the motor disconected. Believe it or not MODs most people do know how to use a search engine. As far as 86 post most of the searches I did resulted in 89 pages before narrowing them down a second, third or fourth time.