Yard replaced cable and shafted me

[Vince Thomas]

At the end of last season the gear cable snapped. I put the boat into the yard for laying up and asked them to give me a quote for fixing the cable. I did say if it was less than two hours work they could go ahead and do it. The next thing I know I get a bill for $1082.They said the bolts were seized. They are charging me for 14 hours labor at $54. They said it took two people a day to fix it. I find this difficult to believe.What can I do given they have my boat? How much would this normally cost?Thanks for your help

 

[Paul Akers]

I have the same question

I just had the throttle and shift cable replaced on my L37. The bill showed 13.5 hours labor. I have an appt with the yard manager in the morning to discuss this. The saga will continue.BTW, I had the throttle cable replaced 5 years ago in an emergency situation ad the mechanic did it in 1.5 hours with some of my help. He dropped the pedestal flat to work on it (made it easier) and I came out of that one for $150.Also, in your case, they should have called you for authorization to do the job when they realized that they may be encountering problems.

 

[Guest]

Same Problem

I had the same problem two years ago on my 37.5 while I was preparing to drop anchor out in the Marquesas. Fortunately, we had a full boat of people and were able to work out a signaling system to the guy who had to be down in the engine compartment manually shifting the transmission. This made for an interesting time docking when we got back to port. Having a yard do the work was not an option on this trip, so we had to do the replacement ourselves.  First, the pedestal did have to be removed and the bolts were seized big-time. For this, we can thank Edson and their use of stainless in contact with aluminum without any "protection".  (By the way, this same problem exists on the steering quadrant, where the carbon-steel stop is secured with stainless bolts onto the aluminum quadrant. The bolts seize and the stop rusts and drips down on the swim platform.) But back to our story. On my boat, the problem appeared to be due to the cable running through a space between the pedestal and a ~spacer plate that was too narrow for the cable. This caused excessive friction and ultimate failure.  In order to not have to deal with this big job again, I did two things. First, I got two "Morse 33 Supreme 16" cables. These are reportedly the best cables on the market and are usually used in aviation. Second I installed these two cables in parallel through one of the larger spacer plate holes, with the spare secured at each end of the run. This way, if another break happens, I'll just have to connect the new ends. Things have gone well ever since, with much easier shifting. Overall, this job took many hours.  But, I agree. The yard should have contacted you. Hope this helps for any others who want to do pm on this area of the boat. Robert Pancza

 

[Paul Sealock]

Difficult DIY Job

Three years ago, while easing into a slip, my shift cable broke as I was shifting into reverse to bring the forward motion off the boat. Needless to say, I hit the dock hard in order to come to a halt. The wood around the dock was soft and the bow of a Legend 37.5 is strong enough to take the blow. Fortunately, I had another boat travelling with us and the skipper and his crewman helped me replace the cable. We were new to the task and it probably took us eighteen/twentyone man hours to take the pedestal apart, remove the old cable and reinstall the new. We also performed other minor repair jobs while waiting twenty four hours for the cable to come from a neighboring island marine supply house.I think you were shafted since professionals should be much faster. The next time you have problems like that, try to make the repair yourself. I know much more about my remote fuel and transmission cable and the steering gear. I feel more comfortable working on the boat each time I must suffer through performing a new repair.Good Luck PaulS/V Zephyr

 

[Rick Harvey]

Why remove the Pedestal?

I replaced the steering and the throttle/ gearbox cables alone in just over a couple of hours. The engine cables were quite easy. Hanging upside down in the rear locker attaching the dog clamps to the steering cables was the only difficult part. The only bolt that I concider a problem is the one that holds the retaining block. That was indeed u/s, so I made a new one from 316 s/s.