Has anyone ever heard of Edson pedestal steering gear chains breaking? I
ordered new steering cables from them a couple days ago and they talked me
into a new chain which they say should be replaced every 5 years. He made a
good case, crevice corrosion, etc., so I went along. I know Edson would
like to sell chain but I wonder how often the actually happens. My chain
appears to be original from 1980. It looks fine but I would have to clean
it up and dye test it to be sure. Quicker, and probably not much more
expensive, to just buy a new chain.

--
Roger Long

* Roger Long wrote, On 3/28/2007 12:12 PM:
Has anyone ever heard of Edson pedestal steering gear chains breaking? I
ordered new steering cables from them a couple days ago and they talked me
into a new chain which they say should be replaced every 5 years. He made a
good case, crevice corrosion, etc., so I went along. I know Edson would
like to sell chain but I wonder how often the actually happens. My chain
appears to be original from 1980. It looks fine but I would have to clean
it up and dye test it to be sure. Quicker, and probably not much more
expensive, to just buy a new chain.

I never had a chain problem, but in a similar vein, I had both the
throttle cable and the shift cable break on the same day when 16 years
old. The shift cable broke when leaving P'town, but we forged on to
Boston regardless. The throttle cable broke as we pulled into the
slip - my wife shifted to reverse at the transmission, burning her
hand, I goosed the throttle to stop the boat, but the cable broke
leaving us with full throttle, backing out of the slip. And, there
was a 2 knot current leading to a dead end in the fairway, and it was
just after sunset. Fortunately, it was a liveaboard marina, and our
calls attracted a large crowd which saved the day.

That was our last trip in the boat; we had a delivery captain take it
to the selling broker, and we bought a new boat.

In article ,
Jeff wrote:
I never had a chain problem, but in a similar vein, I had both the
throttle cable and the shift cable break on the same day when 16 years
old. The shift cable broke when leaving P'town, but we forged on to
Boston regardless. The throttle cable broke as we pulled into the
slip - my wife shifted to reverse at the transmission, burning her
hand, I goosed the throttle to stop the boat, but the cable broke
leaving us with full throttle, backing out of the slip. And, there
was a 2 knot current leading to a dead end in the fairway, and it was
just after sunset. Fortunately, it was a liveaboard marina, and our
calls attracted a large crowd which saved the day.

We had that happen on a Moorings charter in BVI years ago. I sent one
of the crew below with an oven mit. g


--
Capt. JG @@
www.sailnow.com

On 28 Mar 2007 11:31:11 -0700, lid (Jonathan Ganz)
wrote:

We had that happen on a Moorings charter in BVI years ago. I sent one
of the crew below with an oven mit. g

I had it happen on a friends boat many years ago. We wire tied a mop
handle to the shift lever and sent his wife below with detailed
instructions.

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:
On 28 Mar 2007 11:31:11 -0700, lid (Jonathan Ganz)
wrote:

We had that happen on a Moorings charter in BVI years ago. I sent one
of the crew below with an oven mit. g

I had it happen on a friends boat many years ago. We wire tied a mop
handle to the shift lever and sent his wife below with detailed
instructions.

Step 1. Don't puke on the engine. g



--
Capt. JG @@
www.sailnow.com

I don't know if it was an Edson (tm) chain, but I had a steering chain
break in a narrow fairway while taking an unfamiliar boat into the
yard. Inspection showed that one of the pins in the breakable link
had wasted away. I'd be the chain was 20 years old and had never been
inspected.

-- Tom.

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
Has anyone ever heard of Edson pedestal steering gear chains breaking? I
ordered new steering cables from them a couple days ago and they talked me
into a new chain which they say should be replaced every 5 years. He made
a good case, crevice corrosion, etc., so I went along. I know Edson
would like to sell chain but I wonder how often the actually happens. My
chain appears to be original from 1980. It looks fine but I would have to
clean it up and dye test it to be sure. Quicker, and probably not much
more expensive, to just buy a new chain.

--
Roger Long

As it happens I was watching the series on "Wanderer" on the Knowledge
Network channel yesterday and they had their Edson chain break on them while
in the south pacific. Took 2 weeks to get a new one delivered. Nothing
lasts forever and steering is pretty important. I'd probably change mine if
going offshore but for local I'd just rely on my emergency tiller (which the
folks on Wanderer didn't seem to have).

I lost the last link of my 5/8" SS chain to crevice corosion.
It was about 25 years old and the last links never made it to the gear
teeth, so they did not get any grease on them. The rest of the chain
looks fine and it is very hard to see the last links without pulling
the chain out of the pedestal.
I found the best price for SS chain at a farm implement website, but I
can't remember the name.



On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:28:08 GMT, "Gordon Wedman"
wrote:


"Roger Long" wrote in message
.. .
Has anyone ever heard of Edson pedestal steering gear chains breaking? I
ordered new steering cables from them a couple days ago and they talked me
into a new chain which they say should be replaced every 5 years. He made
a good case, crevice corrosion, etc., so I went along. I know Edson
would like to sell chain but I wonder how often the actually happens. My
chain appears to be original from 1980. It looks fine but I would have to
clean it up and dye test it to be sure. Quicker, and probably not much
more expensive, to just buy a new chain.

--
Roger Long

As it happens I was watching the series on "Wanderer" on the Knowledge
Network channel yesterday and they had their Edson chain break on them while
in the south pacific. Took 2 weeks to get a new one delivered. Nothing
lasts forever and steering is pretty important. I'd probably change mine if
going offshore but for local I'd just rely on my emergency tiller (which the
folks on Wanderer didn't seem to have).