control cable help - 2002 Marlin 300

[Mydream]

Hi all.

So I believe my control cable (throttle) has given up, and my starboard control is really stiff. I am thinking about changing it. Has anyone tackled it to a boat similar to mine? Do I have to run the control cables in the aluminum tubes?

Anyone have the length and type of cables that where used in my boat.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[eppem]

Best bet and first call for stuff like this should be to Grady White customer service. We just went thru this with our 265 express. Called Grady and within minutes had the correct size and part numbers for the job. We are pretty hands on and do a lot of work ourselves but pushed this job onto the local (Yamaha) dealer who we buy a ton of parts from. Had the boat back in 48 hours and the new cables are awesome! Have not received the bill yet but when the mechanic says its a real pain in the ass, to me its money well spent. Give Grady White customer service a call...

 

[seasick]

The job is a pain at best. You might be able to read the cable length off of the cable sheathing near the ends. A lot of cables have a part number that ends in two digits. That usually is the length.

Although Grady support will tell you the cable lengths, I once asked for the spec for my boat and bought the length that Grady said. Turns out it was the wrong spec. My hull had a mid year change in the location of the rigging tubes from near center to close to starbaord side. The difference in required cable length was 2 feet.These days, if I can't find the part number on the existing cable, I tie a drag rope to it and pull it out to measure. The last job I did, I couldn't find the printing, it had worn off but after I pulled the cable, the section that had been in the flex rigging tube at the motor looked new and the part number was clear as day. Next time I will look there first

 

[SkunkBoat]

I just posted about this a few weeks ago...
I just did that on my 265. It was easy. Existing cables had marking for length (port 24', stbd 22'). Hardest part is removing 4 nuts holding the binnacle(control box) without dropping them into oblivion.
The box comes apart easy. Disconnect cable from motor and push backwards thru motor well into battery box. Tape the new cable to the old at the helm and pull from the battery box. My brother and I did it in 2 hrs and that included me running to west marine for the stbd cable when we realized we needed to change that too while everything was open.

For yamaha's, you can use the Seastar Xtreme CCX633xx where "xx" is the length of the cable. These work for both shift and throttle.

 

[seasick]

I just posted about this a few weeks ago...
I just did that on my 265. It was easy. Existing cables had marking for length (port 24', stbd 22'). Hardest part is removing 4 nuts holding the binnacle(control box) without dropping them into oblivion.
The box comes apart easy. Disconnect cable from motor and push backwards thru motor well into battery box. Tape the new cable to the old at the helm and pull from the battery box. My brother and I did it in 2 hrs and that included me running to west marine for the stbd cable when we realized we needed to change that too while everything was open.

For yamaha's, you can use the Seastar Xtreme CCX633xx where "xx" is the length of the cable. These work for both shift and throttle.

I just replaced one set of cables on my other boat. I used the Teleflex extremes also but found out that they outer sheath is a bit fatter than the OEM cables. That was not an issue in the under deck rigging tubes but getting the cables through the motor flex rigging tube was a hard job. It took a pail of soapy water and two people, one to push and one to pull. For the record, the cables for my other boat had ends with larger fittings for Mercs. The Yami ends are slimmer. Also the flex rigging tube is one piece not split as some are.