Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Art Bernard

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May 4, 2011
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We all know Murphy's law right? Well, for the last 3 days I've been re-wiring, replacing gages, total fuel system work-up, etc... Finally finished yesterday evening and was feeling very proud of myself after a sucessful dry land op test so I figured I'd show off my superb skills to my family by inviting them to come and look at what I'd done. My daughter and her friend asked if they could get in the boat and I smiled and said sure, basking in the glow of sucess I didn't mind. So in they go and they start playing with everything, knobs, switches, the revolving captians chair was a big hit:) I stood there and watched feeling good about myself UNTILL my daughter starts turning the stearing wheel back and forth and I hear this strange poping noise and than a THUNK as part of the stearing mechanism hits the deck:( My girl looks at me and says "uhm dad?". At that time it struck me that Murphy had been getting ready to hit me with a major whammy as I had planed on taking the boat out today for a wet test and that thanks to my daughters intervention I was spared being stranded and probibly paying a heafty tow bill. Kids have this remarkable ability to break things, I think they come by it naturally but it occurs to me that turning a kid or two loose in your boat is a good way to find things that are broken, or about to break thus circumventing the deamon murphy. If you don't have any kids, borrow someone else's, most parents won't mind getting them out from underfoot for a bit and the kids will be providing a valuable public service:) Now, the real moral of this story is to BE THOROUGH when going through your boat checking the mechanicals. I'd had no problems with the stearing so I didn't give it a closer look, Thank god for daughters:)

Art
 

Art Bernard

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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Whew, fixed the stearing, man that was a bear! Not sure what the part is called but it's teleflex stearing and the part that fell off is a 2 pice connection where the steering cable meets up with the steering box. This is a poor design as the piece is press fit together, you'd think they'd put it together using some bolts so it dosen't pop apart like mine did. With judicial use of a c-clamp and some hose clamps, I don't think it's comming apart again any time soon. Making me thing about going to hydraulic steering though, there's allot of tension on that steering cable and no practical way to ease it.

Art
 

DuckHunterJon

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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Not sure of the setup, but wondering if you could drill the two pieces and put a roll/spring pin in there?
 

dingbat

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Nov 20, 2001
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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

I'd had no problems with the stearing so I didn't give it a closer look, Thank god for daughters:)Art

Being the anal Engineer type, I have the opposite philosophy. Everything is suspect until proven otherwise :D:D

Do yourself a favor before you learn a lesson the hard way, buy a new steering cable.
The cable is crimped on the steering rod with a couple of thousand pounds of force. There is no way the two would separate unless the integrity of connection has been somehow compromised. Corrosion inside the joint is a common cause of failure.
You think it was a pain to put back together? Imagine what would happen when it lets loose when you?re running down the lake at 40 mph?
 

heyyou325

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Feb 17, 2011
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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

At times like that you realize Murphy was an optimist. You just finish, job looks great, double and triple check things, and then someone else inspects is here , and wham.
 

Art Bernard

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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Well, no corrosion was present, I compresed it with a c-clamp and it mated together completly, than I have 2 SS hose clamps backed up with zip ties to make sure it dosent come apart again, but you are right, I'm looking into a replacement though I believe this will be good for awhile. I still wonder why they didn't use bolts in the design.

Art
 

dockwrecker

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Mar 10, 2006
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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Kids have this remarkable ability to break things, I think they come by it naturally but it occurs to me that turning a kid or two loose in your boat is a good way to find things that are broken, or about to break thus circumventing the deamon murphy. If you don't have any kids, borrow someone else's, most parents won't mind getting them out from underfoot for a bit and the kids will be providing a valuable public service:) Now, the real moral of this story is to BE THOROUGH when going through your boat checking the mechanicals. I'd had no problems with the stearing so I didn't give it a closer look, Thank god for daughters:)

Art

I have a brother in law that can f' up an anvil if I really want to fail test something. I avoid using his services as much as possible by giving everything an additional once over the next day. It's suprising what you've missed in the heat of the battle when focused on a repair. A step back and a second sober look usually sets my mind at ease.
 

dingbat

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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

I still wonder why they didn't use bolts in the design.Art
A crimped connection many times stronger than a bolted connection. We're talking #1000's psi over the entire surface of the joint as compared to a couple of hundred psi, if that, over a very small percentage of the joint.
 

roscoe

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Oct 30, 2002
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21,657
Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

You don't say exactly what part came undone.

The older cables use a threaded connection.
THe newer cables use a pinned connection.

THe steering housing is/was riveted together to prevent people from opening it, or having the bolt loosen.

It it is the cable that came apart, you can get a new cable (pinned) that can be used with the older threaded housing, via a conversion fitting that is included with the cable ( teleflex QC II , $100).

Otherwise you can get an entire new steering mechanism and cable, for about $130.

I wouldn't trust any rigged up steering connection. Imagine going 35 mph and having the steering fail, throwing the boat into a full on turn that you can't get out of. A lot of injuries could happen in 10 seconds as people are thrown to the floor, even worse if you hit something.
 

Art Bernard

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May 4, 2011
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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

Hehe, well, I hope he dosen't decide to slap me. The part in question is a 2 piece screw on type with a spring and 2 washers inside it held together by 4 prongs that are press fit into it's opposite half. Nothing was actually broken, it just came apart and went back together really well. The problem as I see it is that the console it's mounted in is small and dosen't give allot of room for the cable to turn down and run under the deck so there is allot of pressure on the assembly. I looked for a way to ease the pressure some but there really isn't any due to the design of the boat. I spent 15 years as an HT in the navy (welder, pipefitter, sheetmetal, jack of all trades) and got really good at fixing stuff so I'm confident it will hold with the heavuduty hose clamps I put on it, but you guys are right, it should and will be replaced soon as I can save up a few bucks for something else. Looking at the space I have to work with I'm leaning toward a hydraulic system. Can anyone recomend a good type and brand?

Art
 

Art Bernard

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Re: Found a way to get around Murphy:)

By the way, this is on my deck boat (1977 Viking), not the boat in my avatar.

Art
 
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