Has your throttle cable ever broken

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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I have heard mention that the throttle cable on yachts can fail. I was wondering if I should replace the throttle cable now that the yacht is 11 years old. I have a Lewmar pedestal and morse handle for the Yanmar engine.

How common is cable failure? If not incredibly rare I guess it would be better to replace at leisure before it breaks, rather than waiting for it to break at some inconvenient moment

I have posted on PBO forum about practicalities of replacement but thought I would get a better feel for frequency of failure from Scuttlebug!

Thanks

TudorSailor
 
My throttle cable broke after 29 years. I replaced it and also switched out the gear cable, of similar age. Then the replacement throttle broke last summer, after just two years.
Both failures were at the same spot, close to the lever mechanism.
If this happens again at least I will not be surprised. It is pretty simple to jury rig a piece of string to operate the throttle from the cockpit.
 
My gear cable parted last summer, after 11 years, and resulted in some damage which I have reported here. The response by the Dutch people where it occurred was "it happens all the time". I suspect that a change of cables after ten years might be a good idea.
 
Morse and Yanmar 7yo boat. Broke as approaching pontoons (10m off) at Fort Augustus, sharp comment to wife on bow to attache first time as no going round!!

Broke Saturday 4.00pm, replacement cable delivered from Calley Marine in Inverness by 6.00pm, fitted by 7.00pm, beer in hand 7.01pm.

Just know the length for re-ordering, otherwise leave it untill it breaks or doesn't.
 
Happened to me in a charter yacht. I was doing less than a knot when it happened in a tight spot in a marina but it was blowing a gale so the boat accelerated pretty quickly. Managed to avoid hitting any other boats, which involved going between one and the outer boat on a raft with about 6" to spare either side, but hit the pontoon at the end quite spectacularly, which unbelievably left not a scratch on the bow.

Mechanic said it happened quite often but I've also been told that it has a lot to do with how tight the corners are that the throttle cable is led around on its way from the control lever to the engine.
 
Parted whilst going from reverse to forward in process of negotiating exit from moorings with wind and tide fully active.
Urgent action by crew with fenders saved the day whilst playing un-powered dodgems with the other boats.
Replacement arrived and fitted by very competent yard in Terneuzen in the Netherlands. Now have a spare at the bottom of a locker against the day it happens again and I am not so lucky finding a spare.
 
Twice in 12 years. Was told that trickling a little oil down the casing from the pedestal end from time to time and particularly if the boat hasn't been used for a while can extend life considerably....
 
tudorsailor said:
I have heard mention that the throttle cable on yachts can fail. I was wondering if I should replace the throttle cable now that the yacht is 11 years old. I have a Lewmar pedestal and morse handle for the Yanmar engine.

How common is cable failure? If not incredibly rare I guess it would be better to replace at leisure before it breaks, rather than waiting for it to break at some inconvenient moment

I have posted on PBO forum about practicalities of replacement but thought I would get a better feel for frequency of failure from Scuttlebug!

Thanks

TudorSailor
Click to expand...

As you can see it's not so rare after all. And considering gear/throttle could be considered 'mission critical' it's worth taking an aviation approach (replace before it breaks) rather than a nautical approach (replace when it breaks). I lost mine on day 1 of my summer cruise. I lashed up a jury rig using a thin line of spectra which got me home but we lost a couple of days before restarting the holiday.

NewYearsail1019.jpg


NewYearsail1021.jpg
 
tudorsailor said:
...How common is cable failure? ...
Click to expand...

Our Gear cable broke approaching a lock entrance in France. Cable was about 12 years old.

THey fail very very rarely. I've sailed and deliveres boats all over the worls and this sort of failure is not very common. Save your money there are plenty of other things thta will need replacing more urgently. You can always rig up a bit of 'string' as a get you home them replace later....:rolleyes:
 
Rob_Webb said:
As you can see it's not so rare after all. And considering gear/throttle could be considered 'mission critical' it's worth taking an aviation approach (replace before it breaks) rather than a nautical approach (replace when it breaks). I lost mine on day 1 of my summer cruise. I lashed up a jury rig using a thin line of spectra which got me home but we lost a couple of days before restarting the holiday.

NewYearsail1019.jpg


NewYearsail1021.jpg
Click to expand...

This control is damaged at the cable location point and has been bodged up! Don't Blair the cable.
 
Gerry said:
Twice in 12 years. Was told that trickling a little oil down the casing from the pedestal end from time to time and particularly if the boat hasn't been used for a while can extend life considerably....
Click to expand...

It's an old maintenance recommendation for bike brake cables, but I've also been told that where the sleeve is nylon (or other plastic) as opposed to steel lined, mineral oil will cause the plastic to swell and grip the cable, making it stiff. You can't win sometimes!

I assume both brake and throttle cable were replaced in 1983 on my boat when the engine was changed, and the gear cable broke once, I think it was about 20 years later. There isn't any such thing as a good time for that to happen, fortunately we hit the pontoon without breaking the boat, or any bystanders. :eek:
 
We had a gear cable break shortly before going into a marina. Don't know how old it was.
I took the engine cover off, sat SWMBO down beside the engine and when going into the marina and parking she moved the gear lever by hand, according to what I said from the cockpit. Parking went well!

Now I always carry a spare cable.
 
micha571 said:
We had a gear cable break shortly before going into a marina. Don't know how old it was.
I took the engine cover off, sat SWMBO down beside the engine and when going into the marina and parking she moved the gear lever by hand, according to what I said from the cockpit. Parking went well!

Now I always carry a spare cable.
Click to expand...

That was lucky, mine went as I put the engine into reverse approaching the pontoon.:o
 
Saw 2 go within the space of a week in the Ionian on separate boats. On both occasions it involved reversing onto the quayside, on at least one of the occasions the skipper was a little energetic with the throttle, putting it into forward and then into reverse very quickly a couple of times. Fortunately on both we managed to get them secured without any damage.
Uptil then had never seen one break and not seen one break since.
 
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