MacGregorSailors.com

As the title says, I'm about to replace my cracked cables with new ones. I've deduced that I can get away with anything between 10 and 14' for the cable length, but is everyone still happy with their Teleflex or Uflex cables? In my searching, those were the names that kept coming up in other threads.

Thanks in advance!

I just finisehd yesterday.

So it depends on the product lines they have.

They have standart and better quality.

So as we have outboards that have this very small angle when tilted up, buy best quality.

I bought for my merc uflex mach36 cable. looks good.

When I bought the motor new they installed a cheap one and a good cable. The cheap one broke when the other seems still perfect.

But teleflex also has these qualities I guess.

I can't tell you from experience as I have still yet to install a pair of Uflex (blue conduit) 13 ft on my new BF50. But from doing a search like you
on these forums and others I kept hearing praise for the Uflex. The bend radius seemed to get high marks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Uflex-Unive ... my&vxp=mtr

My Honda BF50 cables hit the BWY steering before I clear the water. Wish there was a 90 degree cable entering the motor. Anyone else have this problem?

WindWager

I think I passed mine under the tube, so they bend down a little when the OB is fully down, and bend upward less when the OB is tilted. I can take a peak under the tarp and snap a photo tomorrow, if you're interested.

Thanks I would appreciate a picture. Makes sense.

Wind Wager

Here ya go. Yes, the cables pass under the steering link. They look like they're touching the steering cable end, but the cross bar actually bends them down enough that they don't touch the end of the telescopic part of the steering cable end. With the engine all the way up, they bend the other way, about the same amount, so the difference is split. I also use the steering quick disconnect, so they're no dragging around when sailing.

There's too much cable in the engine well area, but that's because they're too long. This spring I'll pull some of that excess down below to make the loops smaller (trip hazard when boarding) and secure them and the wiring in the stern berth in a more tidy manner.

But I agree - a 45 degree turn upward where they first exit the engine would be nice.

Sorry for the crummy pics, but I had to stick my phone into the tarp and just shoot what I could and hope for the best.



A close-up of the same pic:

Related tip, While in the box changing the cables if you want a smoother motion shifting gears try adjusting the box internally.

Even when tested without cables I thought all three boxes (honda, suzuki, and yamaha) I had on my were stiff and notchy. There is no reason for them not to be as smooth as the throttle on a motorcycle or car. Once adjusted its an easy 2 finger operation when docking.

The adjustment is what looks like a leafspring pack that holds a ball to keep the lever from being accidentally bumped in and out of gear and adds pressure to the lever. You can add/remove leafs until you reach the resistance to your liking. (unrelated to the external friction adjustment)

The springs are the arched plates on the left side of this pic.

Since the weather was actually sunny and a bit warm, I opened the tarp and went into the boat to see if the mothballs I put in there were keeping the rodents out. I can't imagine they aren't, as I had to get back out of there after only a few seconds.

But here's one more shot, which I couldn't have gotten without opening the back of the tarp.



You can see how much extra cable is in there. But I'll take some of that into the stern berth during spring prep.

Good luck with it.

Seapup wrote:Related tip, While in the box changing the cables if you want a smoother motion shifting gears try adjusting the box internally.

Even when tested without cables I thought all three boxes (honda, suzuki, and yamaha) I had on my were stiff and notchy. There is no reason for them not to be as smooth as the throttle on a motorcycle or car. Once adjusted its an easy 2 finger operation when docking.

The adjustment is what looks like a leafspring pack that holds a ball to keep the lever from being accidentally bumped in and out of gear and adds pressure to the lever. You can add/remove leafs until you reach the resistance to your liking. (unrelated to the external friction adjustment)

The springs are the arched plates on the left side of this pic.

Thanks for the tip Seapup! I'll definitely be looking at this when I'm doing mine on Thursday. I'm not quite sure where the springs are in that pic, but hopefully it'll make sense once mine's apart.

Thanks for the pictures. I need to rerun mine. The flowers are blooming and it's time to make a splash

Tom
Wind Wager

What you can't see in the pics is the sequence of zip ties I have on those two cables near where they enter the side to go below, several on each with a little space between them, to act as drip inducers. Rain water hits them and drips off rather than running into the opening. The rubber bellows is a mess, and individual cables would carry water between them anyway, so the zip ties force any water to drip off before getting to the opening. With the soft loop in the cables, they're going down hill by the time they get to that opening.

Just something to keep in mind.

Oh, and March is a snow month up here. The whole month. Usually, some of April, too. And we get the large snowfall storms in March, too. We're likely not done yet. I'm envious of your climate.

A few other observations I had form swapping mine,

I bought the Teleflex xtreme for my since the price online was abut the same, cant say I noticed an improvement, I think it may be more noticeable on the really long cables.

I also made a deck covering the cockpit floor & ran the cables straight from the base of the console to the motor between the exterior cockpit floor and deck. This got them completely out of the aft berth and left only one bend coming out of the console vs multiple and made a bit of a difference.