Broken transmission cable

[Tom Green]

I just experienced a broken transmission cable while coming into a marina slip. The following may be of interest. When this happens and the engine is in gear the control works the throttle normally but will not shift the transmission to neutral or reverse direction from where it was when the cable broke. The natural reaction is to shift to reverse direction and increase power. This has the opposite of the desired effect an only increases any mis direction - it acellerates you in the direction you probably don't want to go and in the opposite direction to what you normally expect from your controls. Further you cannot get the engine out of gear even when the control is in neutral. You must shut the engine down if you want it to stop powering you. You don't have the usual rotational control that is so nice with these boats at slow speeds. Additionally you cannot restart the engine when the transmission is not in neutral.

A couple of other things. The cable broke a short distance from its connection to the transmission. It appeared to have an acute bend at the break. I suspect something or someone bent it during service work on the boat. Something to be careful of when working in the engine compartment.

Replacing the cable is a bit of a chore. The main things are finding its route and avoiding any acute bends in pulling it into position. On the port side, From the engine it comes forward to the bulkhead in front of the engine. It the runs through a race towards and under the storage cabinets to starboard. There is a race under the storage cabinets into a space behind the access panel on the forward side of the storage cabinets. It then passes through a race under the floor in front of the fuel tank into the helm station compartment where it connects to the controls.

May you never have to deal with this when under way in tight quarters. Hopefully this information is of interest and help.