Has your throttle cable ever broken

[Habebty]

Its not just breaking that causes problems - The clip on Beta gearboxes that holds the outer gear/throttle cable in place can come undone meaning you still have throttle control but no gear change.

This can be disconcerting.

Especially when reversing into a tight berth and finding out that putting the lever in ahead only speeds the boat up in reverse. the following moments were sphincter tightening - involving a dead stop from about 1.5kts to 0 against the pontoon.

Incredibly, not even a scratch!

Check your throttle cable clip if you have a Beta Engine - it should be on the saildrive or gearbox end, and put an additional cable tie on it.

 

[pelissima]

Happened once on a charter boat when entering port.
Had my mate below to control the gear box following instructions from above. Approach was easy. Since then I always have spare.

 

[nimbusgb]

Gear cable parted as we nosed onto a finger once. I was on the helm and it just happened to be my RYA offshore practical exam! The fact that I was just trickling in to the marina and just gliding up to the berth being hyper careful allowed the crew to step off and stop us with a spring. I didn't even tell anyone till it was all over. The examiner was impressed. Sheer fluke let me tell you!

 

[Sybarite]

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

Yes. I temporarily connected the two ends with a mole grip.

 

[prv]

hit the pontoon at the end quite spectacularly, which unbelievably left not a scratch on the bow.

I've done similar, though due to the handle coming off the morse control rather than the cable snapping.

It was a chartered Sadler 32; likewise no damage to the bow, which I was most relieved by as I was a student and couldn't really have afforded to lose the deposit

Pete

 

[KellysEye]

To stop the throttle cable breaking we pour machine oil down it from the top about every 18 months.

 

[Grumpybear]

broke the throttle cable on a Leisure23 up the Helford many years ago. End result was that we drove onto the mud on a falling tide, so I had plenty of time to rig a rope replacement before we floated off. Given our very limited budget and the heinous price of a new one, we used the string OK for about a year. Boat was about 12 years old, so assume the cable was the same age.

 

[prv]

Given our very limited budget and the heinous price of a new one, we used the string OK for about a year.

And of course Dylan is still going strong with his red and blue strings

Pete

 

[Grumpybear]

And of course Dylan is still going strong with his red and blue strings

Pete

As always, an example to us all.

 

[bobgoode]

Parted as I was leaving Corpach loch to move along the Cally. Got by with crew operating throttle from below to mimic my hand movements on throttle. New one from Corpach Boat Builders took two days to arrive and self fit. Cable was 6 years old.

 

[GlennG]

So there I was a few years back going out on the first nice day of the year. Nothing too difficult, just one of those out of Newhaven and back trips on my own that I've done loads of times.

Coming back in the MV Oilly b'stard (Newhaven <--> Dieppe ferry) did it's usual stunt of turning up just as I was going back in, so I hung around the entrance on the donkey. Then the overheating alarm went off.

No problems; I'll just roll the gennie out and kill the engine. Fine. But the wind caught the sail as it rubbed past the mast and caught the luff-line on the radar reflector and cheesewired its way out of the sail. UV had done its worst on the luff.

Never mind, I'll haul it in.. where's the Oilly b'stard oh yes... and pull up the main. With the tide running I just managed to get out of the entrance into clear water.

Lets have a look at the engine to see what's what. Went down to find the water pump bearing had disintegrated.

So, no gennie, no engine, and the tide taking me nicely towards Brighton. I suppose I could chuck the hook down and wait for the engine to cool. No; lots of other boats around all heading back in, so I'll just call one of them and get a tow.

Went down to the radio and made the call on the local channel 12. Odd, I can still hear them chatting. Bugger. The radio's packed up.

Right then, I'll just use this here Icom handheld. What a bloody surprise, the battery's flat (off isn't off until the battery is flat in about 2 weeks on those). OK, swap the battery for the AA pack... screwdriver... damn this thing; contacts not working... grrr...

Sucks teeth. WD40 to the ready. Squirt up it's battery chuff. Sparks into life.

Make the call, get a fishing boat that's passing to tow me in. All fine.

So I order the water pump. Fix the sail. Order a new main radio. Buy a Standard Horizon handheld.

Two weeks later, all fitted (OK, not the radio, that's far too difficult for boat like her

Now for that first day out without grief. Go to start the engine; press the nipple on the throttle and move the handle. Flop. The bloody cable broke.

Life's like that and we love sailing

 

[david_bagshaw]

in 40 years

one occasion where the nut holding the ball on the injection pump lever fell off, while passing a barge.

Always loctite them on now!

2 throttle cables where the red outer started cracking every 15 cm, on the big engine room bends so replaced before there was a problem. They were about 10 years old.

 

[rotrax]

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

Yes, but not on a boat. I once borrowed an Ariel square four 1000cc motorbike to impress a girl I fancied. On the way home from our date the throttle cable broke at the twistgrip end. I pulled the outer cable off and tied the inner cable to the chinstrap of my old pudding basin crash hat. I controlled the revs by lifting my head up and down. I had a stiff neck for a couple of days after-it was a bloody long way home!

 

[lotusman]

In thirty years cruising in six different boats, five years of deliveries too many boats to count, I've had a throttle cable go once on one of my own boats, it was Yanmar 2gm. Broke just after I remarked how well the engine was going just out of Tobermory. Had enjoyable week around Skye and back though Crinan using home made pidgeon engineer speak instructions to better half in cabin who was connected to engine with a bit of string. Spectators on locks must have thought us exceedingly nautical or just plain pretentious. New cable took just over an hour to fit.

Once saw a charter boat take a bite out of Rothesay. Gear cable broke as he tried to go from ahead to astern. Not realising it was a gear problem, believing he was now in astern and thinking that he wasn't using enough throttle to slow the boat he tried more and accelerated into concrete. Since then I've allways checked gear action befor critical manoevre, and allways tried to use minimum of throttle.

A very long time ago drove my mini traveller home with broken accelerator cable by reconnecting it to the choke and using it as hand throttle.