Swallow Yachts Forum > Technical

BC26 Motor Control Cable Routing

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Keith P:
Hi Nick,

Thank you for your guidance, I am humbled by the level of help and support Jane and I have received from the fleet.

I too discussed the issue with Matt at the Boat Show on Wednesday, he was unaware of how to resolve our problem but offered to get back to me.

I will most certainly run through all that you have suggested, again thank you.

Regards
Keith

Jonathan Stuart:
The flexible control cables Nick found look a very good and worthwhile improvement. The root causes of these issues seem to be the tight radius on the cables and lack of space for them to move. More flexible cables can only help. The tight radius caused one of our cable outers to break at the engine end after 3.5 years so we replaced the cables (which was the original trigger for this thread). With hindsight I would have used the cable Nick found. We didn't experience the throttle issues you mentioned but I always made sure the cables were as free as possible to move. If the cables aren't pulled up, as Nick does, then make sure they are free to move under the wooden transom as the boat is turned to starboard, i.e. engine turns to port.

On an only very vaguely related point, there is a shackle under the tiller shaft that connects the tiller's movements to the warp that links the steering. Make sure this shackle  is moused. It wasn't on our boat and fell off one day when under sail so we lost steering. Trying to refit that shackle on a moving sea wasn't fun and it was a miracle I didn't lose the pin.

Nick Orchard:
More ramblings on cables - forewarned is forearmed as they say!

It would appear that cable breakages are quite common on 26's as they age. Mine went at about 5 years but others have happened much earlier, and it seems to happen without much warning. I inspected mine earlier this year and they looked fine, but I was deceived. What happens is that the individual wires that form the mid-layer of the cable construction gradually break one by one. This happens inside the outer plastic cover so you don't realise that it's happening. Once the last wire breaks then the only thing keeping the cable in place and functioning (particularly in selecting reverse) is the plastic cover. I suspect that the plastic was starting to break where it bends the most, i.e. out of sight on the under side, so when it finally gave up the ghost and parted completely it came as something of a surprise.

If this happens to you it shouldn't be a major disaster as you can still operate the gear lever manually (or with your foot come to that), but you do need to recognise what's happening fairly quickly so you can regain control. What may catch you out (I speak from experience unfortunately) is not realising that the engine has not gone into reverse gear when you pull the control handle backwards and increase the revs to get the boat going backwards. In fact the boat is still in forward gear (because the cable has parted and is no longer functional), and as you desperately increase the revs to stop the forward motion it takes a while for the penny to drop that, far from going backwards, you are actually accelerating forwards! Luckily I realised just in time to avoid an expensive collision.

Jonathan makes a good point about the shackles on the strings attached to the steering arms, make sure to put thread lock on them and/or mouse them, as they get a lot of vibration transmitted from the engine. Another improvement that I've made is to change the port side string for a much thinner dyneema string, as it's much easier to adjust the length than with the thick rope that's supplied. When you need to remove and replace the engine, e.g. for servicing, I always found it quite difficult to undo and re-tie the port side rope that has to come off in order to get the engine off (the starboard side can remain in place once you've extracted the end from the cleat). With the thicker rope I always ended up with a degree of slack/backlash in the system, whereas now I can get it nice and tight relatively easily (round turn and 2 half hitches on the engine end of the string).

Hope this helps.

Nick

 

Keith P:
All,

Many thanks for your advice and observations, we are back down with Floki Friday for a couple of weeks intend working through this issue. Force 4 still don't have 8m cable but will pursue.

Keith

BC26 - Floki 18

AndyB:
I have just had Bagpuss' engine serviced on the boat at Wicomarine. I particularly asked the engine servicers about the tilting of the engine when in the horizontal position ( ie when you are sailing) and also to examine the control cables.

I know that Jonathan had had the control cables replaced just before I purchased the boat.  The servicer said that the marrying up of Mercury controls to the Toshiba (actually a Tohatsu - modified later) gear box ( apparently the Mercury 9.9 is a badged Toshiba) never really worked and it is well known that there are issues here.  He said that the cables break, not because they are worn out but because the control box becomes stiff ( the cables stiffen up with age)  and when you have to work hard to push /pull it into gear then the cables just catastrophically break normally a little way into the cable housing.  So the thoughts are that if it becomes stiff/hard to put it into gear look at replacing the cables before you get caught out.  Mine is starting to stiffen up but should last this/next  season.

My outboard tilts to starboard ( the rope attaching to the rudder requires this). I was concerned that this tilt should be to port as the label says the starboard side should be upwards. However this is only an issue when the outboard is laid down completely on it side - usually when being transported and in our case the 30 degrees tilt is fine. Apparently the engine oil seeps into the carburettor and floods it resulting in the engine not starting/ failing to turn over. So , so long as this has not happened to you then all is ok.

I hope this is of interest to owners. Never too sure what is or isn't....

Best regards
Andy B

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