On 7/13/2004 10:34 AM, sue wrote:

I have an old boat that was working just fine till a pulley pulled off
it's anchor the other day. I was able to find another little anchor
thing and repair that but also found that when the steering cable
went slack it had unwound from the thing that turns when you turn the
steering wheel..don't know what you call it but the steering cable is
wound around it.

Anything you wind rope or cable around can usually safely be called a
drum, so that's what I've always called it.

I tried un-hooking one side of the steering cable
rewinding it but I didn't do it right I guess because it won't steer
all the way to the left and it's too slack on the right and keeps
coming off the pulley,

That probably means that A) you don't have enough wraps for the left
side of the cable and B) that you didn't get enough tension in the line
when you reattached it to the spring in the stern.

Does anyone know how this is supposed to be
rewound? It's easily accessable below the steering wheel but I don't
know how to rewind it correctly..Help..please.

It can be a little tricky to get those old "tiller rope" systems right.
I just had to re-do mine, and I still haven't gotten the steering wheel
perfectly centered. Straight ahead is roughly 20° to starboard.

Essentially, you unhook both ends at the stern, wrap two or three turns
around the drum in each direction making sure to keep some tension on
the loose ends so they won't unwrap from the drum. As you might have
guessed, all this is easiest to do with two people.

Assuming the cable has already been fed through all the pulleys and
guides that it needs, have your helper tightly hold one loose end at the
stern and make sure your motor and wheel is centered while you clamp the
other side to the tensioning spring as tightly as possible. Then, do the
same for the other side.

It may take several attempts to get it right, but the concept isn't too
difficult once you have done it a couple times.

If you like, I can try and get some pictures when I get home this evening.


--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows