Steering Cable Failure

At first it was merely a slight squeak emanating from behind the starboard wheel as the autopilot steered during our crossing of Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Pentwater. It sounded like a bearing needed lubrication so I wasn’t immediately concerned. After 20 minutes, I decided to hand steer and see if there was anything abnormal. Besides, I was trying to fly our large spinnaker as close to the wind as I could in each puff to try and get to our destination before dark.

After one large puff, I needed a bunch of right rudder to get back on course. The steering briefly seemed to stick a little… not good… and as I applied a little more pressure on the wheel I heard a metallic cable snapping sound from behind the wheel… really not good!

My Catalina 400 Mark I has two steering wheels, opening up lots of space to make a large and comfortable cockpit. We love it! Unfortunately, it adds complexity to the steering system. It basically has one very long series of chains and cables connecting the steering quadrant (on the rudderpost) to one wheel, then the other wheel, then the other side of the quadrant. If a cable or chain breaks anywhere, the entire manual steering system is not useable, just like on a single wheel boat. Later versions of the 400 use independent cables for each wheel… so a cable failure on one wheel doesn’t prevent use of the other wheel unless something jams.

A manual steering failure doesn’t render the boat completely disabled, however. The electronic autopilot is connected to the rudderpost via an independent tiller below deck. Assuming nothing jams, the autopilot can steer the boat close to a location where repairs can be made. The autopilot really isn’t good enough for docking in a slip, though. At that point, I would need to install the emergency tiller on top of the rudderpost.

Of course, the emergency tiller was at home! The previous fall I had tested its operation and discovered it didn’t even fit in the rudderpost. Too much corrosion had made for an impossible fit. Also, my chartplotter pod interfered with its travel, as well… so I had brought it home with plans to “overhaul” it. It was still on my “to do” list. D’oh! At least I have towing insurance!

All these thoughts and contingencies… and embarrassment… went through my head when I heard that snapping sound.

I knew right away not to turn the wheel too much more to the right… if the cable had indeed snapped, I risked the chain actually falling off the wheel’s sprocket inside the bulkhead. That would make repairs more complicated. A few small turns on the wheel revealed the cable wasn’t broken, though. It was much looser than in the past, so I made a mental note to check the steering system at our destination. Since nothing seemed jammed, I switched back on the autopilot and we continued to Pentwater.

I actually only figured it was a cable tension issue. Nonetheless I inspected it before our next departure.

I first removed the starboard compass, mounted at the starboard helm, to inspect for anything unusual. Here the chain passes over the starboard sprocket. Everything seemed fine.

Next I removed an inspection panel from the starboard sheave area. From here I could inspect the starboard chain below the compass area, the starboard sheaves, and much of the cables. Immediately I saw our problem…

A cable had definitely frayed. 4 of the 7 strands of the cable, made of ¼” stainless steel wire rope, were jutting out of the sheave. This explained the squeak, and the feeling of it sticking. This particular cable ran from one end of the starboard chain, through a sheave, then to a turnbuckle setup over the aft cabin mattress. The separation had started at a nicopress (swaged) fitting at the cable’s end.

With Kristin in the cockpit to carefully turn the wheel as I watched movement below, I could see interference beginning with the application of rudder right of center. When turning the rudder left of center, nothing interfered.

We weighed our options. While the cable wasn’t completely broken, it was undoubtedly very weak and needed replacement as soon as practical. Continuing with our plans to sail in beautiful weather to Frankfort, MI, another of our favorite towns, was too risky. Some internet research revealed I could order a new cable online, though I didn’t have the proper tool to cut the ¼” stainless steel braided wire rope. I considered various boatyards in the region, and weighed them with the risks associated with delivering the boat there. Eventually we decided to just go to Snug Harbor Marina right there in Pentwater. Snug Harbor is also a boatyard, and maybe they had a rigger that could fix it. Otherwise, I could order the part online and ship it there.

Since we needed a pumpout regardless, we headed to Snug Harbor’s fuel dock. We were considering anchoring out one more night since it was Labor Day, and no boatyard guys would be working. During maneuvering to the fuel dock, I immediately noticed things were a little more complicated than I first thought. While left rudder was unrestricted, applying right rudder was restricted to about half travel. This made docking much more challenging!

The fuel dock is merely a wall, or wharf, that vessels up to several hundred feet long can tie to. With light winds, docking there was easy despite our steering handicap. Stronger winds were forecasted the following day, and docking in a slip with limited rudder travel in high winds could get messy. Therefore, after our pumpout, and after much discussion with the Snug Harbor dockhands and Kristin about our issue, we figured we could safely limp over to a slip. Before leaving the fuel dock I carefully planned all the turns required for the entire route, and with excellent help from the guys at Snug, we made it to a slip without incident.

Since it was Labor Day, there was no one to look at the steering issues until the following morning. We made the best of it, though, with more beach time!

On Tuesday, Snug Harbor’s rigger looked at our steering cable. They didn’t have any ¼” stainless wire rope in stock, and weren’t sure how quickly Edson Marine (the steering component manufacturer) would ship the part, either. However, they did have ¼” galvanized wire rope left over from another project.

Galvanized steel wire rope is plenty strong, so my only real concern with using it was corrosion. Since the Great Lakes are freshwater, metal corrodes much more slowly here than if the boat were kept in salt water. Galvanized steel is far less noble than the stainless steel components of rest of the steering system, so any galvanic corrosion would damage the temporary galvanized cable over time but not the other components.

Galvanized steel is also a ferrous metal, so the compass at the starboard helm might have some errors induced by the temporary cable, also. There’s another compass at the port wheel, but I mostly use the autopilot compass anyway, and it’s far away from the steering cables. I didn’t notice any problems, and our route wasn’t navigationally challenging, either.

Since we’d be home in less than a week anyway, we went ahead with the galvanized wire rope as our fix. It took the rigger at Snug only about an hour to fit it!

Priorities is now 23 years old, and probably still has her original steering cables installed. Apparently, steering cable should be replaced every 5 years! Most of the “life expectancies” of marine parts are based on salt water use, but still, our steering cables are long overdue for replacement. Replacing ALL the steering cables will definitely be a project this winter. I also plan on having spare components aboard, and the tools to make the repairs from anywhere. The emergency tiller WILL get overhauled, too!

After enjoying more beach time in warm weather, we finally left Pentwater on Thursday, bound for Grand Haven, MI. After Grand Haven, we sailed home, and after several daysails from home, the temporary cable has worked fine.