We were getting ready to back out of our slip on April 21, 2024 (Sunday morning), warming up our Beta 38hp engine and I was turning the wheel. Debbie and I were hearing a clunking sound as we turned the wheel to port. That, we decided,,was not good and needed further investigation. So scrap plans for going cruising in the Sea of Cortez for a couple months or so and instead take apart the binnical for investigating the issue.
Come to find out it is part of the cable linkage on the shifter cable not clearing the chain that the wheel turns to steer the boat. The chain was clipping the cast arm that holds the cable.April 2024 - ⛵ Chip & Debbie 💑 Currently in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Mexico
The next days were spent finding this out and re-routing the shifter cable to a more favorable position inside the quadrant. This did not help so we ended up putting a space washer between the the cast arm and the housing that holds the shifter lever and throttle lever. This made the cast arm clear the chain but it did not clear the top of the housing so a bit of filing took care of that. This is a result of replacing our shifter cable and throttle cables that Debbie and I did. We did not think to spin the wheel much as there was never a problem with the old cables and the clearance with the chain. This does not make much sense as changing the cables should not affect this but it did. The part that was rubbing is cast aluminum so it does not bend.
The Yacht Specialties quadrant is not made anymore. We do have a schematic of it and all looks good. So after a bunch of time in and out of the lazerett for Debbie pulling and pushing cables and moving around the quadrant pieces we found and fixed the issue. We did get help from Cross Marine as we had Rob come out while he was on another job in the outer Marina. He said we were on the right track to fix it and helped with the project and also adjusted the cables and did the filing etc. It was nice to have a professional opinion on the situation and he had no problem letting me help him do some of the work. Rob was thorough and easy to work with and has a lot more knowledge on these things than I do. We are glad we called Cross Marine for the piece of mind and good work he did.
After we were finished cleaning, we took a taxi to town (since the car is put away for our time cruising) to reprovision to replace the food we ate this week. Of course, we had to have lunch - at El Azteca - and ice cream cones at Thrifty's.
Now we are ready to go again but the weather is not favorable to us for a couple days so, it looks like pool time and R&R for a couple days here at the marina. Gee, we can take it!
Here is where we inserted the space washer.
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