Steering cable broke - does this explanation seem right?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I'm going to say it's a lack of maintenance that caused it to fail. Plenty of fish hooks seen in both sides. In addition the hole in the end fitting is showing elongation from extensive use.

In my mind that cable should have been replaced a few years ago.

Could be a combination: Cable nearing the end of it's life and then when put in rough use quickly failed.

[Don C L]

If the sheave were split/cracked/broken it might account for that....

[aquadreams]

Additional data point - the "engineer" that did the temporary fix said the cable break was at the sheave, where the cable rounded it. So he couldn't just add in a splice.

- Joe

[swisssailoralex]

It happened to me and can be witnessed on the video link below as well as the trouble we had fixing it. There were several reasons for mine breaking. Cable should have been bigger (was 4mm and now 6mm). Put too much stress on the helm, we were in 30kts with 4m waves at our backs. Should have taken a reef to ease pressure. Should have been checked and replaced when we did the refit. And the final cause... it's a boat, stuff break eventually.
https://youtu.be/UjSZ9cPS6RI

[macman4190]

This happened to me after my rudder was replaced. Cable fell off pulley during install and was then tensioned. Steering was stiff in the beginning. Cable was chaffing until it broke. If the installer pays attention, he should notice that the cable is suddenly a ‘different length’ from what it had always been before, based on where the cable is now being secured. It doesn’t match the marks where it used to be secured.

[alaskaflyfish]

Are there not cable guides and fairleads to prevent the cable from slipping off the pulley even when loosened? Aircraft have this setup for nearly 100 years.

[Cheechako]

I'm thinking misalignment with a sheave.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by daletournier

I often wonder how many boat owners check their steering cables?

I owned a gym and literally replaced hundreds of wire cables on pin loaded weight machines over the years. I've never seen one spontaneously just break. In my experience they give plenty of warning.

I would bet it's one of these out of sight/out of mind maintenance chores for many. Maybe because I have a center cockpit boat with about a 14' run from the fwd sheaves to the quadrant that I've always tried to pay attention and keep everything lubed. I'm sure it helps that most of the cable runs through housings with built-in grease cups, and that I have fairly easy access to the chain/sprocket/cable portion at the binnacle which I keep lubed with oil.

Still, an experienced surveyor friend of mine advised that most of the failures he's seen -- on my type of (Edson pull-pull) system anyway -- were at the connection between the cable & the sprocket at the binnacle. Not sure this would always be visible. I contacted Edson about it once & they recommended replacing the cable, housing & fittings every two years. This seems excessive (and expensive), and maybe more compatible with high-usage in high-corrosion environments like the tropics.

In any event, I'm both grateful and at the same time worried that my system has no apparent signs of wear for at least the 10 years I've now owned the boat. Will I get reasonable warning of impending failure as you & others suggest, or could there be some invisible gremlins somewhere in the system ready to fail w/o warning?

[Cyrus Safdari]

Originally Posted by aquadreams

So if a cable can fray that quickly then maybe I should plan on inspecting it more often.

Absolutely it can if misaligned.


Technically anyone taking a charter boat should also inspect it, and furthermore the responsibility is ALWAYS WITH THE CAPTAIN not the charter co.

This is why I removed the steering wheel and just go with tiller steering.

[eroc]

this jogs the memory to an experience with a friend's out island 41 years ago. When first boarding the boat, it struck me that the steering felt unusually stiff , but having no previous experience with that boat, I put it out of mind --until the cable broke and we were waiting for days in Puerto Rico for a replacement. After he owner installed the new one, it was still stiff and I had a look at it- it was as tight as a fiddle string. Easing up the tension took the stiffness out of the steering without introducing any noticeable slop so the answer here seems to be a combination of age and over tensioning when it was last serviced.

[aquadreams]

Hi Cyrus,

Thanks for your comment, sheave misalignment or something causing the cable to fray so quickly is what I was wondering about.

Regarding the other part of your post:

Originally Posted by Cyrus Safdari

Technically anyone taking a charter boat should also inspect it, and furthermore the responsibility is ALWAYS WITH THE CAPTAIN not the charter co.

I take on responsibility for safety of my crew. That's why I make sure the emergency tiller is functional, and a liferaft or dinghy that will get us to shore if the boat sinks. But there is a limit to how much I am willing to take on for ensuring the boat works. I'm paying the charter company thousands dollars for a functional boat that isn't going to have breakdowns due to shoddy maintenance.

I've had engine failures due to plugged fuel filters twice (their fuel fill, not mine), as well as completely fouled fuel pickups - see the pics below. You seem to suggest that I disassemble the fuel system and make sure that isn't plugged too. I put responsibility on the charter company to provide a properly maintained boat.

I've also encountered liferafts 3 years beyond their inspection date, bilge pumps that don't work, man overboard strobe with dead batteries, leaky dinghies with foot pumps that don't work, and more. With the bilge pump I lifted the float and it didn't kick on, the charter guy said "Oh it will kick on if water gets in". Sure. I filled a pan with water, dumped it in the bilge, and said we're not leaving the dock til this is fixed.

So I have a bit of an attitude about charter company responsibility when they take my thousands of dollars.

Cheers,
Joe

[thunderhoof]

My Beneteau 40.7 manual states very clearly that the Dyneema steering cable MUST be replaced every 4 years. I am guessing the owner's manual for each model says something similar.
BTW using any line but Dyneema or Spectra is a non starter and should lead to early, if not instant failure. The stress is extremely high. The 40.7 uses 9 mm Dyeema, min breaking strength 8000 kg.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Cyrus Safdari

Absolutely it can if misaligned.


Technically anyone taking a charter boat should also inspect it, and furthermore the responsibility is ALWAYS WITH THE CAPTAIN not the charter co.

This is why I removed the steering wheel and just go with tiller steering.

Not sure I agree with this one. I'm all for personal responsibility and believe we have gone to far the other way.

Chart companies rent boats to reasonably inexperienced sailors, they have a responsibility to maintain their vessels thoroughly.

It takes time, alot of time to learn and understand boat systems and then you have the individual boats which differ,its unreasonable to expect a majority of extremely part time skippers to have the knowledge and experience to know what to look for. The charter company has a large duty of care in this area.

What I've witnessed in the last four mths being around many charter boats is incredible, it stuns me that people with very minimal experience can be allowed to take a 700k boat out for a week. I've seen quite a number hit reefs, many dragging, ropes round props amongst other things. The charter companies definitely know that They are majority of their customers have little experience.

I have one anchored right on top bommies not far from me now, they are completely unaware that the tide is going out and there's not enough water, when I speak to them I know what they are going to say, but "the chart plotter says it's ok here" my answer as normal will be, "if you see light brown stuff, that's bad, and dark brown at high tide is possibly light brown at low tide"

[jmschmidt]

If they dinged your credit card for a deposit before you took the boat just call the credit card company and put the charge in dispute. Tell them your story and sent them the pictures and they will take the charge off. The charter company will not protest or pursue you for a few hundred bucks based on the evidence.

[aquadreams]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

If they dinged your credit card for a deposit before you took the boat just call the credit card company and put the charge in dispute. Tell them your story and sent them the pictures and they will take the charge off. The charter company will not protest or pursue you for a few hundred bucks based on the evidence.

We worked it out on checkin. There was some other boat breakage that "could" have been my fault so we called it a wash. I'll start a separate thread on that - you ever see a jib/genoa car break and come off the track? I have now :-)

Cheers,
Joe