Engine Linkage Fixed

Last Wednesday as we were sailing out of the Marina to start the Sunset Series Races, the motor controls on the binnacle stopped responding. Since we were on our way out, we didn't worry about it until after the race. I had two plans, first I felt that I could sail into the slip if necessary. Or if we could get some control of the engine we could motor in, but we would be bow first into the slip instead of stern first as usual.

After finishing the race we were able to get the engine to engage and the throttle set to slow. We motored around the marina to drop the sails and then motored to the slip. To control the speed I shut down the engine and if I needed a little bit more speed I would start the engine for a moment and then shut it down again. Happily I was able to guide Sea Bear in to the slip with no problem.

On Thursday, I went to the boat to see if I could determine what caused the problem and perhaps find a way to fix it. What I found was a cap nut on the deck. I couldn't figure out where it went, so I just put it in the cabin. I took all of the stuff out of the starboard cockpit locker and the quarter berth inside the boat to have access to the engine compartment.

Friday, I met Scott at the boat and we looked around a bit to determine why the controls did not work correctly. Scott was bent over, upside down looking into the area where the steering pedestal connects with the deck and the control wire pass through to the engine. We couldn't find where the cables were anchored to allow them to work actuating the throttle and transmission. We removed the compass from tht top of the pedestal, all we could see was the axel and chain for the wheel steering. We saw there is a bracket in the pedestal, under the steering axel. We couldn't figure out how to access that bracket. Earlier in the day I found the installation manual for the Edson pedestal and downloaded it. I decided to look at the manual and I saw a picture with a screw driver in a hole about halfway down the pedestal. The light bulb lit in my brain, that is where the cap nut that I found Thursday went. We were able to get the bolt to poke out that hole and thread the cap nut to it. Eureka, that solved the problem. It was still early so we cleaned up and went for a short sail. We sailed to the marina breakwater and back.