Cruise Reports sunseeker portofino 21 XPS - Shifting cable

[TerryS]

Hi all - my first post!

I started to get interested in boats about 3 months ago, and since have not been able to stop thinking about them! I recently purchased my first boat after completing my RYA Advanced course down in Southampton. My current boat experience is 2 days on a course & have taken my boat out twice down out onto the solent - so probably a total of around 10 hours on the sea! Im also no mechanic but once i have a new hobby, i learn everything there is to know! (or at least try)

The boat is a sunseeker portofino 21 XPS with an AQ225 Petrol, with a volvo 280 outboard leg.

Anyway - First got the boat and it would not go into gear, the throttle wouldn't even move. I did some research and came to the conclusion the shifting cable was stuck. I removed the shift cover from the outboard leg and dismantled the throttle assembly, i managed to get the cable working by manually pulling it in and out with pliers and hitting it with WD40. put it back together and It works, all be it quite stiff. I believe what i am going to need is a new shifting cable 33c, however i have no idea of the length required without removing the old one measuring it then buying the replacement. I did check each end of the cable to see if if had the length printed on it to no avail. The problem i have is the boat is not near me and id like to go down one day and remove & replace the cable in one hit. So the question I have is- does anyone know the length of shifting cable i should get for the boat? again its a 21 ft sunseeker XPS. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Beamishken]

Cant help you with the length but 33c cables are extremely common and your quite likely to find several chandelers with various lengths in stock around the Southampton area so you could probably remove the cable go get one & return & fit it in the same day. Just remember to pull in a draw cord to help with reinstalation if its following a tortuous route.
I'd imagine someone local to the area could advise a local stockist you can try

 

[TerryS]

Hi, thanks for your reply, Think ill try that, I have been hunting and quite a few shops locally to the marina stock the cables. And thanks for the suggestion of the draw cord, nightmare avoided

 

[TerryS]

Update : I removed the shifting cable, it was 20ft long!!! for a 21ft boat! However force 4 only had 17ft cables, as the old one seemed to be too long anyway i thought i would risk it. The 17 ft worked fine. sooo smooth going into gear now

So - anyone who finds this in hope of finding the correct cable length - id say go with a 17ft-20ft cable and you will be fine!

Thanks

 

[Beamishken]

Good call, the shorter cable will have less friction anyway and probably less bends loosing the length which helps reduce friction too
Maybe worth checking the throttle cable too