Daysail on Monomoy
July 26, 2010…
We took our friend Jim for an afternoon sail on Monday and was having a great time with ~15 knot wind. When it came time to head back in, the transmission lever didn’t feel right and was determined to have a broken clutch cable.
Ben made a phone call to Ken at the dock who enlisted the assistance of a couple of other dock neighbors (Jon and Coy). They made a bridle for the boat and launched two dinghys to assist as needed.
The transmission was still in forward (checked at the tranny), so Monomoy was started in gear and we proceeded for the dock.
We attached a painter from Jon’s dinghy and towed him for a short period down the channel. We approached the dock very slow at about 1.5 knots. Once the bow just broached the outside pilings, Ben shut down the diesel and steered into the slip. Between the attached dink acting as reverse, the bridle, and Jim getting a spring line around a piling, it all worked out and was a non-event with Monomoy coming safely to rest in her slip.
So Tuesday afternoon Jim and Ben began the task of removing both the clutch and throttle cables for replacement. They couldn’t get them through the pedestal due to what felt like a lower attachment point. They thought they had removed everything that was needed, called Edson and Hunter Marine, with all saying they had done what was needed, but they still couldn’t get the cables loose. It finally determined that Hunter must have intentionally or accidentally clamped the cables in the lower pedestal, so they had to go through the task of removing the pedestal to get in from underneath. Sure enough the cables were clamped in a way that was unintended by Edson and most likely had caused binding over the years.
Wednesday morning Ben cruised down to WM to see if they have or could get replacements, which they did. The cables were purchased and by afternoon Ben and Jim were back at it putting the boat back together.
We’re happy to report that the dock trial was a success and the new cables work as they should.
We had never changed throttle or clutch cables on a sailboat before, nor had we taken apart a pedestal. All postings online said the task is quick and easy, but to that contrary we probably racked up 8 hours due to the need of removing the pedestal.
Here are some pictures from the day sail and the cable replacement.
Blake.
Jim.
Pogo.
Ben and Jim taking apart the pedestal.
Task is nearly done with just a few items left to put back in place.
