KompetentKrew
Well-Known Member
Hello again,
My boat has a Seastar SL-3 throttle control - photos below.
The throttle is the red cable at the bottom, the gear cable is the brown one to the left (to aft).
Engaging either forward or reverse pulls on the throttle cable (forwards and up in forward gear, backwards and up in reverse), but forwards pushes the core of the gear cable, and it is pulled on for reverse.
Am I right in assuming that this is what is generically called a "morse" control? Having both gear and throttle on the same single lever?
I think the same unit is also sold under the Teleflex brand, and one supplier describes it as a "Teleflex Morse SL-3 Control" for example.
The survey says, "Throttle already comes in when one is shifting the gear box, adjust/repair" and, indeed, the boat seems to pull forward slightly when the lever is centred.
I thought that fixing this would be as simple as adjusting a cable but, finding two of them on the mechanism, I'm a little confused and full of self-doubt.
I think the culprit must be the gear lever, because too much tension on the throttle cable alone wouldn't do this - it couldn't drive the boat forwards if the gearbox wasn't engaged.
Also, at the dock (can't remember about under sail) the engine takes several seconds of turning over before starting - it's a bit alarming waiting so long for it to do so, in fact. I think this symptom is also consistent with the gearbox being engaged while the lever is in "neutral", as it would mean that the starter motor is labouring against the weight and friction of the prop; it starts eventually once enough momentum is achieved.
It's not clear to me how to determine that the gearbox actuator arm is in the neutral position, so as to adjust the gearbox cable.
The action of the lever seems very smooth, but jiggling both cables yesterday I thought to replace the gearbox cable. I can't now say why I came to that conclusion - I guess it just felt wrong in some way.
The engine is a Nanni (Kubota?) 4150HE, the gearbox a Hürth HBW100.
I hope this makes sense, and I appreciate any thoughts you may have on the subject.
My boat has a Seastar SL-3 throttle control - photos below.
The throttle is the red cable at the bottom, the gear cable is the brown one to the left (to aft).
Engaging either forward or reverse pulls on the throttle cable (forwards and up in forward gear, backwards and up in reverse), but forwards pushes the core of the gear cable, and it is pulled on for reverse.
Am I right in assuming that this is what is generically called a "morse" control? Having both gear and throttle on the same single lever?
I think the same unit is also sold under the Teleflex brand, and one supplier describes it as a "Teleflex Morse SL-3 Control" for example.
The survey says, "Throttle already comes in when one is shifting the gear box, adjust/repair" and, indeed, the boat seems to pull forward slightly when the lever is centred.
I thought that fixing this would be as simple as adjusting a cable but, finding two of them on the mechanism, I'm a little confused and full of self-doubt.
I think the culprit must be the gear lever, because too much tension on the throttle cable alone wouldn't do this - it couldn't drive the boat forwards if the gearbox wasn't engaged.
Also, at the dock (can't remember about under sail) the engine takes several seconds of turning over before starting - it's a bit alarming waiting so long for it to do so, in fact. I think this symptom is also consistent with the gearbox being engaged while the lever is in "neutral", as it would mean that the starter motor is labouring against the weight and friction of the prop; it starts eventually once enough momentum is achieved.
It's not clear to me how to determine that the gearbox actuator arm is in the neutral position, so as to adjust the gearbox cable.
The action of the lever seems very smooth, but jiggling both cables yesterday I thought to replace the gearbox cable. I can't now say why I came to that conclusion - I guess it just felt wrong in some way.
The engine is a Nanni (Kubota?) 4150HE, the gearbox a Hürth HBW100.
I hope this makes sense, and I appreciate any thoughts you may have on the subject.
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