Westerly Falcon - Edson Radial Steering System

[Tiercel]

I am in the process of servicing the Edson steering on Tiercel, my 1986 Falcon. It is the Edson radial drive system. I noticed that the wire cable is showing signs of fraying. Clearly it needs replacing. It seems sensible to me to also replace the chain that attaches to the cable.

I contacted Edson in the US and I saw they had a cable/chain as a spare part. However they have no record of what Westerly fitted to the Falcon. They said that if I sent them the measurements and photos they could probably send me a suitable part.

Alternatively I could acquire the correct chain and cable and make the part myself.

Has anyone else tackled this job? If so I'd love to hear from you.

I and the Boat are situated in Tarbert, Loch Fyne.

 

[Bilgediver]

I am in the process of servicing the Edson steering on Tiercel, my 1986 Falcon. It is the Edson radial drive system. I noticed that the wire cable is showing signs of fraying. Clearly it needs replacing. It seems sensible to me to also replace the chain that attaches to the cable.

I contacted Edson in the US and I saw they had a cable/chain as a spare part. However they have no record of what Westerly fitted to the Falcon. They said that if I sent them the measurements and photos they could probably send me a suitable part.

Alternatively I could acquire the correct chain and cable and make the part myself.

Has anyone else tackled this job? If so I'd love to hear from you.

I and the Boat are situated in Tarbert, Loch Fyne.

I have seen this system on boats over the years and to me it looks like a combination of ordinary link chain as used on bikes or motor bikes and flexible stainless steel wire. The chain can be bought from most bearing suppliers as in your Yellow Pages or Google and the wire can be assembled by a local rigging company. You will need to measure the total length of the old system. and make sure the assembled new system is the same length. The chain will probably be an imperial size and not metric, and you measure the pitch to order by length or number of pitches.


Typical Chain source :- Chain Drives from the Fenner Brand

 

[Bodach na mara]

In reply to Bilgediver's post, I doubt that the local rigger could help. Westerly linked the wheel unit to the quadrant with two Bowden type cables with grease nipples halfway along each. That is the arrangement on the Seahawk (the original of which the Falcon is a variant) and was on my Renown until I knackered it and replaced with a hydraulic system. It may be possible to draw the inner wire cables and get replacements made up but I didn't find anyone who knew where I could get this done when I needed a new cable. Hopefully you'll get a more helpful response.

 

[pvb]

In reply to Bilgediver's post, I doubt that the local rigger could help. Westerly linked the wheel unit to the quadrant with two Bowden type cables with grease nipples halfway along each. That is the arrangement on the Seahawk (the original of which the Falcon is a variant) and was on my Renown until I knackered it and replaced with a hydraulic system. It may be possible to draw the inner wire cables and get replacements made up but I didn't find anyone who knew where I could get this done when I needed a new cable. Hopefully you'll get a more helpful response.

The wire cable will be standard 7x19 stainless steel. It will run in conduits as a pull-pull system, not as a Bowden system. Any rigger can supply the cable.

The chain used on most Edson systems is standard roller chain with a 5/8" pitch. This is readily available from, eg, bearing suppliers, or you can buy it with end fittings from www.jefa.com