Fix to throttle morse cable

First things first.  Must get that throttle cable fixed despite the other 101 things on the growing list.

PROBLEM:  How does one work 10 inches down inside the binnacle shaft with access blocked by the steering shaft and chain?

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Morse cable on left. Attachment down in the dark.

 

ANSWER:  Carefully and with lots of patience.  Also, don’t forget to tie string to anything that can possibly drop down that hole …. and Murphy says that everything will!  Thats means 10 minutes lost to crawl into the aft lazerette to retrieve each item.

 

 

With some gyrations the errant fitting was retrieved.  Yep, as suspected, the saddle clamp was not designed to grab the neck of the morse cable.  Here is the fix I devised:

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Firstly, weld the nut onto the bracket.  That way there is one less “thing” that needs to be gripped down that small black shaft!

Secondly, cut the washer in half and weld one half into a longitudinal cut made in the hump of the saddle clamp.  It grips the groove on the morse cable perfectly!

 

These modifications all carefully engineered by Karl down at Hidden Harbour.  We are so glad to have met him … he has a super workshop nicely rigged up in a 20ft shipping container.

 

Now all we have to do in put it all together again.  Cut a slot across the top of the bolt to take a flat screwdriver bit.

Assembly ready to be lowered
Assembly ready to be lowered

 

Note the hole, under which the nut has been welded!

The half washer inside the saddle clamp provided a positive permanant grip to the collar of the morse cable.

I never want to do this job again!  A one hour job takes almost an entite day!  Am I glad my shop rate is not $105hr!!

 

 

Lower that bolt carefully!
Lower that bolt carefully!

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