We’ve put together a little video showing how to service a life jacket, we are using an Ocean Safety Kru Jacket, but this method applys to all makes, such as XM, Crewsaver, Seago & Plastimo. and most other Manufacturers. If you have any comments or suggestions, we would love to hear from you!

The Shift cable is the gear cable that runs from the alpha leg through the gimble housing and terminates on a shift interrupt switch bracket, usually mounted somewhere on the engine (rocker cover or exhaust riser).

To understand why the shift cable is usually the culprit you have to understand how the mercruiser alpha one gear shift mechanism works.

The forward and reverse gears are in the lower leg behind the propeller (in the torpedo shaped casing), they are both revolving all the time, one clockwise and one anticlockwise and the propeller shaft runs through the reverse gear and sits in the forward gear at the back of the casing.
Both gears are free to revolve independantly of the prop shaft and the shaft direction is only determined by the position of a sliding ‘dog clutch’ which slides along the shaft and engages with either the forward or reverse gear.

This ‘Dog’ is a cylindrical piece of hardened steel which has ‘teeth’ in either face and slides along splines in the prop shaft, mating up with similar ‘teeth’ in either the forward or reverse gear.

Now here’s the thing
these teeth are slightly ‘undercut’ which means they are sloping backward and this is good in that there is much less chance of them ever jumping out of gear whilst under load, however when the engine is running and there is loading on the prop (ie it’s in the water) These teeth do not want to disengage AT ALL, so heaving on the poor old gear lever would just stretch the cable and achieve nothing.

Mercruiser came up with a simple way to overcome this
They split the gear cable into two separate parts, being the ‘shift cable’ (from the leg to the engine mounted bracket) and the ‘gear cable’ (from the control lever to the engine mounted bracket)

Mounted on the bracket is a mechanism which senses the tension between the two cables and when it reaches a certain level it operates a micro switch, this switch kills the ignition circuit and this in turn takes the pressure off the ‘Dog clutch’ allowing it to disengage with whichever gear it is in.

All this hapens in a split second and should be quick enough that the flywheel momentum allows the engine to continue running.

Imagine what happens when the ‘shift cable’ starts to get old and sticky, now you’re getting the picture, it holds the microswitch over too long and stalls the engine, usually when you’re just coming into a marina.

It Also causes problems when shifting INTO gear, as the ‘stickiness’ causes the mechanism to throw the microswitch over, however this mechanism should not actually flinch at all when shifting INTO gear.

IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO SEE THESE MECHANISMS DISCONNECTED OR EVEN REMOVED WHEN FOLKS DID NOT REALISE WHAT IT DID.

Some people think that this is related to a ‘start in gear protection’ mechanism but this is not the case. If you are having shift p.roblems, check that the shift cable is not sticking first, it should slide very smoothly when removed from the bracket, but DO NOT TAMPER WITH THE ADJUSTMENT BARREL ON THE CABLE UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE DOING, THIS SHOULD ONLY BE CARRIED OUT WITH MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE AND A MAINTAINENCE MANUAL

Shift Problems can be caused by other factors which can only be assesed with the drive removed,

Sticky slider
Intermediate shift shaft sticking in its bushes
mud or debris around mechanism
Bent shift shaft
To name but a few, however, suspect the shift cable first.

Yesterday I wrote of the reasons behind the need to winterise your boat motor. Now reasons are all well and good, but I guess you now want to know how to do this process!

So lets guide ourselves through the procedure. Please note that some people have slightly different ideas and procedures, but we are all searching for a common goal – to prevent damage caused by corrosion and freezing bvoth internally and externally. Remember our principal enemy here is WATER!

First off, we need to ensure our fuel is free from contaminants and water. Using a good quality water absorber fuel stabiliser pour the recommended mixture into your fuel tank. In our case we usually use starbrite ez-store ez-start or water absorber as they are proven products at a reasonable price. Read more…

Its seems despite a few rainy showers, Cornwall is not doing too bad on the weather so far this season.
We decided to get sun hats into the shop, as they had been requested a few times by various customers.
We stumbled upon some nice ones, and wondered what best way to model them for the website.

Chris & Peter stepped up and offered to model them………..

I am undecided if I will run with this piccy on the website just yet…..

Its always sad to see a boat in a state of disrepair, but it is all the more sadder, when the boat was well loved, but had an accident.
This Leisure 27  was sat on a mooring when a high powered RIB crunched into the side her, causing her to sink on her buoy, and
unfortunately cause damage which was way beyond economical repair.
Since the accident she has been lying in the boatyard where we have our shop , and recently we were asked if we would like to break her up for spare parts.

So Peter & Chris have been on a mission with saws, hammers and spanners unbolting everything before they eventually chop her up.

The Leisure 27  is a nice sturdy little yacht, and this one was once well loved.

Needless to say we have been listing all the bits and bobs for sale on Ebay , which in a way is nice because at least the boat will live on in pieces on other peoples pride and joys!

 

We did our first boat jumble this weekend, and to cut our teeth in the world of jumbleing we decided to start with the UK’s biggest Beaulieu Boat Jumble.
The van was packed to capacity, the sun was shining, so it looked set to be an excellent day.

The fabulous weather ensured there was an excellent turn out, and everybody that visited our stall was extremely friendly and enjoying their day.
We were amazed by the diverse amount of gear for sale at the show, from £1000 sailing suits to nautical antiques and everything else in between. All day long we were treated to a parade of  boating object d’art ranging from a model motor torpedo boat (which we were jealous of!), coils of rope, brass funnels, folding bikes and literally tins of other gear being lugged around by the bargain hunters!

Our best selling item of the day was undoubtedly boat seats and I think if we had taken a whole van load we would of sold them all!

Welcome to our new blog, attatched to our  online store www.versatilemarine.co.uk

This blog is really just full of our own personal musings, and advice for fellow boaters, we will add info to it and pointers that will hopefully give you some good advice for DIY projects. Which will include videos and fact sheets, and occassionally we will use it to post special offers in both our high street shop & our online website.
So, please, subscribe, we would love to hear from you guys, and we would be really interested to know what projects you are working on,