Steering cable replacement (230) road block

[tdc_worm]

Hoping to lean on the knowledge/experience of some of the folks in this forum. I am replacing the steering ever so slightly stiff cable in my 230. Everything is straight forward (not my first rodeo with a steering cable) so far. The cables are run adjacent to the fuel tank, secured to the bilge wall with zip ties that have screw in anchors. Easy enough...except for the one zip tie point that is adjacent to the belly ballast tank. No way that I can reach that without pulling the belly tank. Easy enough....but to do that I have to pull the fuel tank. Easy enough...except the tank is winterized, with 51 gallons of Stabil treated fuel. Any thoughts on how to over come this lil conundrum? Seems like my only option at this point is to buy a transfer tank for one time use?

[NautiqueJeff]

That's a tough one. If you figure out a solution, please let us know what you did!

[vision]

How tight are the zip ties? Loose enough to use the old cable as a guide wire for the mew cable?

[Nautiquehunter]

I put one in my 08 210 had the same problem. I ended up removing the fuel tank to get access to the zip ties. There was one up under the floor next to the drivers side dash. The only way to get to it was a long screwdriver and breaking it . If you have a heater the hoses will need to be moved and the rear cover in the drivers side front seat storage compartment will have to be removed. I also had to remove the drivers side bow seat back to get access to the ballast tank hose. I am a pretty anal guy with my 210 winterizing every year includes removing the floor and cleaning the bilge. I couldn't believe the slimy crud under the tank. It took 2 days to complete the job but every hold down strap is back the way it was except the one I had to break.

[BT]

Pull off the return hose at the tank. Insert a hose barb into the return line with a hose cut to the length of your choice and put it on the other side of the barb. Jump the fuel pump relay and let the fuel pump do the work. I made my hose long enough so I could run it over the side of the boat and down to the floor into gas cans. I think it's 3/8 hose, but it's been a couple of years. Could be 5/16. I put a battery charger on the batteries while doing this so I didn't run them down.

[tdc_worm]

How tight are the zip ties? Loose enough to use the old cable as a guide wire for the mew cable?

Snug. No way to feed the cable through without cutting them. And the heater core hoses are piggy back zip tied on to the bundle that contains the comm wires, throttle, and steering cable. No way to cut them without pulling the tanks.

[tdc_worm]

I put one in my 08 210 had the same problem. I ended up removing the fuel tank to get access to the zip ties. There was one up under the floor next to the drivers side dash. The only way to get to it was a long screwdriver and breaking it . If you have a heater the hoses will need to be moved and the rear cover in the drivers side front seat storage compartment will have to be removed. I also had to remove the drivers side bow seat back to get access to the ballast tank hose. I am a pretty anal guy with my 210 winterizing every year includes removing the floor and cleaning the bilge. I couldn't believe the slimy crud under the tank. It took 2 days to complete the job but every hold down strap is back the way it was except the one I had to break.

yup. sounds familiar. once i got the belly ballast tank out, everything was smooth sailing. the amount of garbage in the bilge was pretty amazing, and I keep a tidy boat, haha.

[tdc_worm]

Pull off the return hose at the tank. Insert a hose barb into the return line with a hose cut to the length of your choice and put it on the other side of the barb. Jump the fuel pump relay and let the fuel pump do the work. I made my hose long enough so I could run it over the side of the boat and down to the floor into gas cans. I think it's 3/8 hose, but it's been a couple of years. Could be 5/16. I put a battery charger on the batteries while doing this so I didn't run them down.

way more work than just siphoning. i popped the fuel level sending unit and fed the hose through the drain hole in the bottom.

[tdc_worm]

That's a tough one. If you figure out a solution, please let us know what you did!

***I do not recommend putting fuel in containers that are not designed to hold/store fuel***

I siphoned the 51 gallons out through the sending unit hole, through a siphon hose passing through drain plug hole under the V Drive. I used two 30 gallon storage containers as my temporary catches. That allowed me to stand the tank up on its aft end (the hoses are pretty flexible). With the tank out of the way, I was able to slide the belly ballast back. Two of the anchoring zip ties were able to be accessed through the belly bilge access door. I was able to use new anchoring zip ties to put everything back as stock.

I then siphoned the fuel into a 5 gallon can and used that to return it to the tank. Only took 11 trips with the 5 gallon can, hahaha.

[hal2814]

Last time I had a similar experience I just ran a new cable along the same path as the old one, zip tied the new cable to the old cable where I could reach it, and clipped the ends of the old cable to not interfere with the new one. It’s a viable option if you can feed the cable by itself or with fish tape.

[swatguy]

So I did this on 08 210 not too long ago. You have couple different options. I did not remove my fuel tank or my belly tank. Hal mentions the first which is simply cut off both ends old cable and leave it in place run a new one. By far the quickest. I modified that however.


Let me preface this by saying my steering cable is not in the exact same spot as the original , but it is pretty close. I’ve replaced apprx 8-10 steering cables and I’ve almost no we been able to buy a new one back in the exact same location as it came from factory.

when you want to remove the old cable get bolt cutters or heavy duty cutters. You can then cut off the end of the cable that attaches to the rudder and leave that end as smooth as the black cable cover and now it won’t get hung up on any zip ties by the hardware. Don’t cut off the “rack” end , grabbing it by that rack to yank becomes handy. Push the rack out under your bow seat towards the bow. Now you can pull that through all the old original zip ties. I was able to cut a few old zip ties in order to aid a smoother release , then just went to town pulling the old one through from under the bow seat straight towards the bow ( no angles, bends or curves to bind). I removed the “rack” portion from under the steering wheel and fed it out the bow to do this. . It was easier to get leverage and keep the cable from kinking-binding on anything as I pulled it out. . Before you complete the entire removal……..when you get close enough to end ….. tape a heavy duty thin string to the end (car tie down string is what I used ) and now give it a final pull out leaving string to pull it back through in reverse.




Tape the string to the new steering cable rudder end ( I quadrupled up my string to have couple extra lines laying off to the side ready in case one failed, it took little extra time , but I this way I wasn’t sol if string popped came loose or broke )and now reverse the process. It’s little tricky to get that rudder end to turn the elbow from the deck to the hull as you push it down , but there is enough space there trust me. It helps to have two people , one keeping the line taught pulling it back towards the rudder as you jam it down into the hull. Then simply run the new cable along side of the gas tank instead of under it and viola piece of cake. Zip tie in new locations. And now if that ever goes bad it’s simple to remiive as an added bonus.