Re: Connecting a teleflex splashwell mount to a 'rude without tilt tube
If you are talking about one of these, your fix really isn't all that difficult.
http://www.westmarine.com/1/1/11609--splashwell-mounting-kits-90-straight-splashwell.html
(Sorry iboats, could find an example here at the store)
What you must do, is to build a mounting pad that is as much in thickness, as the distance that you must move the mounting point towards the engine. If you can shape it in a way that it fits into the corner of the splash well, at the intersection of the transom, that would be good.
I would laminate plywood to do this. You can build up the laminations as much as you need to, in order move the Teleflex adapter as far inward needed. Using laminated ply will also allow you to use a hole saw on each piece before gluing them together. This way you will not end up fighting with the saw, trying to drill a hole that is several inches thick.
Cut your pieces of plywood with a bit more height and width than you think you need. When laminating, line the holes that you pre-drilled up exactly and then apply the glue and clamps. Once the piece is cured, you can go back and shape the dimensions as needed. I would make the piece large enough to cover enough of the sidewall on the slashwell, to insure adequate strength.
When you mount the piece, you can either fiberglass in in place, using both the surrounding splashwell and transom for overlap, or you can bolt the piece in. For the fiberglass method, I would coat the side that will be under the mount with resin, place a cut piece of mat on that, coat the inner surface of the pad and then put it in place. In order to insure a tight bond, you can cut a couple of boards to an appropriate length and use them to jam the piece in place, by running them across the splashwell to the other sidewall. Once that step is done (cured in place), you can do the outer glassing.
If you decide to bolt your adapter on, be sure to use a large backing plate (wood is OK, if you use large washers under the nuts). The backing plate needs to be able to fit behing the well and you obviously will need some "wiggle room" to get your hands into the space where it will be located.
All of this will take some time, but if you can't find a steering cable with a longer end piece, you probably don't have a better alternative. I really don't recommend trying to trying to make some sort of home-made extension piece - its just an accident waiting to happen.
PS: One more thought - when you drill the holes in the laminations for the adapter to pass through, make the holes progressively larger, from the outer point to the inner point. This will allow the adapter to move with enough range to allow tilting of the motor. If you don't do this, the ball swivel will be useless, because the tube will have nowhere to go, when trying to move up/down/fore/aft.
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