How to adjust throttle and direction levers?

[Viper]

I hear ya but that's pretty typical for a boat after a few years/owners. I too removed miles of wires that were going nowhere. Looks way cleaner and more organized under the helm now, and there's more room in the raceways to run new wiring that's actually needed.

[Phrancus]

fixed the winch. Had a quick look at the handles. The lower is the final, so the upper is being held back by the lower. Pushing and pulling all the way at the lower make awkward sounds en route to the upper and on to the engine room.

So next step is to disconnect the lower and open up the upper to see what's going (wrong) on there. I don't mind a heavy throttle, I set it and let it run anyway. But the gear has my focus: I'd lke that to 'click' in and out of gear in a predicable manner, with as little play as possible.

And the the electrics... and then... and then...

[Phrancus]

Sometimes things work out:

Took the levers apart with some fidgeting. Normally one could unscrew from the front after removing the bezel. In this case, I had to tilt the panel as a whole and found out that they used whatever they had at hand so way too long screws and two different sizes nuts.
Nevertheless: got it out and found:

On bottom right of the picture you see a metal piece in white plastic. This is the problem:

1655730014886.jpg

That white plastic piece is supposed to look like the one on the top. It contains a rocker made of metal, pushed against by that metal rod which in turn is screwed in our out from the front next to the levers. By doing so, the rocker pushes a plastic rod against a slide. More pressure = more friction. No pressure = lever drops as much as the cables allow.

What happened: friction got less, screw was turned, not enough happened, screw turned more and more untill the plastic bottom broke, fell apart and dropped into the cable salad. Probably the slide got greasy (or even greased) so tightening the screw had no effect anyway.

All in all not a very smart design as the forces push the bottom of the plastic outward, there's no limiter before that happens. With a small metal stud - like casted in on the sides inside the plastic piece - this would have been prevented at no extra cost.

Got the part out, took it home and then discovered the rocker thingy. Glued the white piece back together with an enforcement clamp using 2K glue.

1655730014862.jpg

1655730014873.jpg

Couldn't accept not having that rocker thingy though, so went back to the boat and....... found it way down in a little corner!

Waiting for the glue to harden and then put it all back together tomorrow.

pushing/pulling the cables went quite smooth so I suspect that they were mounted to the wrong holes and thus not having enough leverage to move the other control on the same cable. But that's for tomorrow to figure out.

[Viper]

Hans can 3d print one

[Phrancus]

Thought of 3D but I missed that boat, no idea how to get this piece measured/scanned/3Dmensioned for printing. And I don't have a spare one to send somewhere. Nevertheless: If this fails soon, it's time to get such a piece printed. Redesigned (bit thicker at the bottom )

A hold for the foot of the bench in the cockpit was done by a fellow boat owner in the marina but that was like a disc, simple dimensions.

Although, I think it may be more effective to redesign the friction part. Next person having this issue likely lost the little rocker too and without it, this solution does not work. This is designed to adjust from the front, but popping the whole thing out is not such a big problem so adjusting from behind may be a stronger solution (leave out the 180degree turn in the action)

[Phrancus]

Throttle is reasonably fixed. There turned out to be diference in 'pull back to idle' power at the engine side. So I tightened a nut there and that seems to have done some good.

Connecting the lower helm (end of the line) was strange: all runs well and smooth untill I connect the two. Then the lower helm is very stiff while up top it's OK. disconnect the lower and the lower moves fine... No center indents used up top.

The cable adjusing is a pain though, got it all together and only then noticed a slight difference in position.... no big deal to fix, just annoying to find out when the rest went well.

So today took a look at the gearshift side. Well that was a dissappointment: same broken piece but now no remains anywhere. Someone overtightened this side too and broke it. Reason? nothing that would be solved doing that. The center indent ball turned out to be gone and the spring torn into the slide area for the ball! ( HOW??) no ball to be seen anywhere.

Took the whole thing apart, removed the friction parts, removed the remains of springs and ball (other side). Now the upper helm moves freely and the only indent you feel is the gear and a lot of play. The lower helm also moves nicely (unconnected).
So connect the two as per the manual (inner hole for the connection to the last station) and again: very tough movement below, same up on top (quite loose but better than before when it randomly got stuck (due to the torn spring turned and snagging in the holes for the center ball).
Perhaps it helps to connect to the outer hole, to increase momentum a bit. As moving the lever downstairs is moving the cable, momentum to the other cable through the handle upstairs and then on to the engine. Individually they move ok, together the below does not.

The indent would be nice to have if it worked, it's the only thing that could make a position (R - N - F) positively felt. Now it has the play of the cable flexing, the gear itself clicks in and out (checked that over winter).

[bud37]

I truly admire you for trying to resurrect these parts,...but sometimes the mechanisms are just too worn out and need serious restoration work to get them back to useable tolerances......new arms, slides, some welding, new holes cables etc. I believe you need those detents to be working properly, in a rough see you don't want to go from forward to reverse too easily when there is little balance afoot.

A thought here....can you make one good set from the upper and lower pieces and abandon one of the helms altogether ?

[Phrancus]

Thank you. The helms are not the same type. And on the throttle ones, there are no detents at all. However, when I can find an (almost) same size ball, I can make it work. I think that the cable should be (or perhaps was) more supported along the way to reduce flexing too much. Can't see how else the play comes into play.

Once in gear it's in gear, doesn't slide down / out of gear (yet). It's more that a positive feedback in your hand to know the position makes it easier to switch positions (and action of the boat)

This Carver is in the last part of its life: a kind and calm life on river and small lake. Short burst of plane to shake the weeds off and clean the turbos is pretty much all it has to do. I'm just making work what broke and will sell her in due time. Next one is less fast but more living area and better at low speeds.

[Phrancus]

had a trip with the renovated handles and it has improved. The upside-down-mounting helps as they're not in the way of knees.

Port throttle still a little too loose. This is friction at the engine that is much less than the SB engine. Either tighten the screw even more (unlike) or add something to the cable to add friction.

Direction needs work, hoping to get the ball and spring this week. Hopefully the indent is not too worn to work. And then see to loose some of the slack.

Port engine in idle is just on the edge of an alarm (temp ok, oil amount ok, pressure dunno for sure) which is annoying when manouvering.

enough to do.

First just got the toilet pump replaced as some overtightened every screw (metal in plastic) and thus destroying any grip it had.

must check the discharge piping as any leaks on the plastic around the bowl/pump seems to drain into somewhere I can't reach..... stupid design as the area can also be used to shower.....