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I repowered my 20 Outrage 88 hull with a 300 hpdi about 10 years ago and didn't put new control cables on her. I noticed that the arm was giving me a little resistance about three months ago and used silicon spray, seemed to help. I ran the boat last week with no problem but went down yesterday to do some work on her and ran the engine (jet dock). I jumped on to throw her in gear which she went into fine. The problem is that I can't move it more than about an inch forward before it locks up (missing about 80% of forward motion). Same thing in reverse, goes into gear fine but locks up after about an inch. Could limp around just fine but can't even get the RPMs up. Any thoughts, I'm going to pull her out and get new cables but it's about a two week turnaround and had plans this weekend to run her...looking for a possible bandaid until I can get the work done. Thanks for taking the time
Band-aids for throttle/shift cable issues are just asking for trouble.
Replace them before going out again.
Why 2 weeks?
Look at existing cables and see if you can see the part #. This provides the length of the cable.
Purchase new cables
Disconnect old cables at shifter and tape new ones to the ends of old. Make sure there is a lot of overlapping tape.
Pull old cables from stern.
Reconnect at throttle and engine.
Adjust for neutral stop and WOT.
I'll head down there and see if I can find the part #. Wasn't sure if this was something I should try to take on or if I should leave it to the professionals. I priced the cables out at about 100 total but every mechanic was quoting me at about two hours labor which made me think it was a little more complex than the tape and chase, any common pitfalls I should be looking out for while I'm sleeves up?
Outlaw Charters wrote:
...snip... I jumped on to throw her in gear which she went into fine. The problem is that I can't move it more than about an inch forward before it locks up (missing about 80% of forward motion). Same thing in reverse, goes into gear fine but locks up after about an inch. ...can't even get the RPMs up.
From what you describe it looks like you have a problem with the throttle system (cable or linkage (control box and carbs)). Start by disconnecting the throttle cable at the engine and see how the control "arm" responds. If it is now easy full movement, the problem is the engine carb linkage. If still no go, disconnect the throttle cable at the control box, this will tell you if the problem is the control box or the cable.
