A New Journey Begins for OverEasy - 2023/2025

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

Took sometime for a Blue Angles Airshow this past weekend!
What a blast!
Kind of fun watching stuff one used to be involved with flying around like that in the hands of some of the most skilled pilots in the world!
Both military and civilian.










With only a cell phone camera I won’t bore ya’ll with too many photos but suffice to say we had a great time with seats right up to the flight line, Severe clear skies and a great crowd at the Beaufort Marine Corp Air Station!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[OverEasy]

For those interested here’s a link with lots of photos and videos better than I could have ever hoped to have taken!
https://explorebeaufortsc.com/2025-mcas ... in-photos/

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Russ]

We've seen the Blue Angels a couple of times. So impressive.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

Well we finally got launched this afternoon!
Simple easy process and a great feeling to be out on the water again!

We launch from Port Royal them cruised up the Beaufort River past the Beaufort Water Front Park then to Pigeon Point where we met an empty barge pusher coming down river. It was beautiful out!


We then motored back down to our Marina where we have our slip when a bit of a Snaffle hit us!
The wind was up to above 25 mph and the tide was at full run going towards low tide.
Just as we were about to make that dicey turn into the current at the marina entrance …. No power!
Engine still running but only idle! Shift full fwd… neutral… shift full aft…. Prop turning… Only idle speed…. Nothing more!
We made the only choice we had which was to see if we could make headway into the current or if we would drift down into the bridge pilings… It held! …. We even started to inch upstream! … So very very slowly we inched our way into the marina and into our slip!
Whew! Serendipity!

Once securely tied in the slip was to figure out what had gone awry!!!

Seems that the throttle Teleflex cable had rusted its outer sheath! Just 3 years old too!
The portion that rusted was right where the cable is hidden and enters the engine.
Boy were we fortunate! As they say “Timing is Everything”.
Looks like we’re going to have to make some Temporary Duty Repairs that will allow us to get back to the launch ramp and haul out Friday.
First I have to pull and replace the trailer bunks and pads before loading on the boat.
Also have to measure and order a new cable set… (if one failed the other can’t be far behind…).
Then once back home I’ll have to disassemble / remove the old / install the new / adjust / reassemble.
Gonna be a busy week!



Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Russ]

Wow!

That looks like the insulation broke and allowed water infiltration to rust the cable.

Can you repair it while in the slip? It seems like the hardest part would be inside the cabin and routing it to the control.

Gee, I better inspect my cables.

[OverEasy]

Hi Russ!

Yeah this is a tough one!
Sure wish it had shown up during the through pre-launch inspections prior to launching
So yeah it appears to have been under the exterior sheath and wasn’t visible.
Fribble! It is what it is and I gotta keep moving forward in my now typical inch-by-inch routine…. Really didn’t need an extra project just now… My To-Do-List just keeps growing…

I’ve only just begun looking for replacement cables but it seem Suzuki (or anybody else for that matter ) doesn’t sell SST outer shell cables. I could be wrong …. I haven’t finished looking…..

A Plan-B would be to force lubricate marine grease into the cable ends of the replacements to hopefully build a corrosion barrier.
Another is to somehow (in addition to the above) add some sort of impregnated fabric sleeve to the cables at their entry to the engine. I’m not sure how that would work given the sleeve has to be fixated at the cowling entry for the Teleflex to work….

This is one of those PITA things that happen and just have to be dealt with… Oh Well…

The annoying thing is these cables that failed were “lifetime” lubricated…(Teflon inner sheath between the core wire and intermediate metal sleeve that rusted… the Teflon is doing just fine by the way….

Best Regards
Over Easy

[pitchpolehobie]

Frustrating but it worked out all things considered. My boat is ex-salt water and I had a similar issue with corrosion on my teleflex steering cable requiring 2 hands to turn the wheel over. Reminded me of pre power steering but even worse. Got the cable replaced and amazing difference. Good luck sounds.like youre on the right track.

its a labor of love and if you love the feeling of inspecting a completed project you get that feeling a lot with these ol' boats.

[Russ]

At only 3 years old, that shouldn't fail. It would seem you have a defective or less quality cable. At that point it probably get much abuse, however, it still ought not rust that much in that short time period.

The grease idea might help, but from the photo it seems it didn't fail at the very end of the cable but where it enters the cowling.

Glad you survived that episode. In another situation, it could've been worse.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

In contemplating the TDY repairs to get things sufficiently operational I sort came up with either a potential seasonal fix or a brain fart..

The way a Teleflex works for (those that might not be familiar) is that the outer sheath has a metal coil tube that needs to stay rigidly static relative to the inner movable core wire cable that has to move relative to it. Now if I were to utilize my noggin’ and utilized a Rube Goldberg approach to just clamp to the exposed outer sheath appropriately (grip but not crush) then secured that clamp closely to the engine feed through (without compromising anything) then I’d have basically made an appropriate TDY to safely operate to get back to either the boat ramp or potentially operate for the rest of the season (which as things stand (the plans of mice and men & all that stuff) is only gonna be to the end of June this year…. Hmmm…. Then after we haul out and before we relaunch next year I could then accomplish the full replacement of both the throttle Teleflex (the one that broke) as well as the shifter Teleflex (which is still operational but being it is of the same origin point and use) is highly suspect (and is a while I’m at it better safe than sorry sort of thing)… This is something I’m gonna have to look at more closely and will have to fabricate something to accomplish appropriately… More to follow on this one.

Now regarding the trailer bunks….. detailed closer inspection yesterday indicates that whoever originally screwed on the longitudinal bunks to our SeaLion trailer did so with what appear to be what had been bright zinc screws which have all corroded away their heads and shanks. That explains the lifting bunk problem we encountered at the end of last season. Each angle bracket has three holes to hold onto the bunk of which only two have already been used. The pressure treated wood bunks do not seem to have any noticeable degradations … good and solid! … even the carpet is somewhat reasonable given its age other than its shedding at the cut edges where it was wrapped onto the boards. ( Note: That could have been prevented by making an under fold of the fabric when it was originally attached… details matter). So there is the “IS” condition.

Now my first instinct is to grind off the residual corroded mounting screws, strip the old fabric and do a proper full refurbishment including all the various bits-n-bobs, U-Bolts, nuts & ext… but then is that is just me under normal circumstances… my problem is that aside from the loose bunk (and the eminent potential same for the remaining bunks ) I am just a wee tad pressed for available time now with the lethargically slow pace of the kitchen remodel we have going currently and a planned trip up north fast approaching….

So I’ve opted to proceed with the really good TDY approach for the trailer bunks and used a hot dipped galvanized lag bolt in the currently empty center third hole of the angle brackets for this season. I’ll put the full on trailer refurbishment on the “To-Do-List” for next year. It’s more than safe as it it after the bunks are Re-secured. Now while I have full access while the boat is afloat I’ll take the time and will be making up a detailed parts list of what I’ll need so I can get what I need in-hand for next year…

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Jimmyt]

Sounds like the trailer bunks can be easily crossed off - for the near term.

I hope you can come up with a really solid temporary fix for your broken cable. I haven’t seen it done before, so I’m interested to see what you come up with. You’ve always got the kill switch and an anchor if it goes bad.

[Russ]

TDY huh? Interesting.

From the image above, it looks like the insulation was broken allowing water/salt to penetrate and rust the outer part.

Maybe cut a straw and wrap it around the broken cable. Then coat it with JB Weld to the existing cable. Kind of like a split or cast.

Keep us posted what you end up doing.

[OverEasy]

Hi All

A picture of our “as is” cable issue


And some of my co-worker during the damage assessment





Headed to the boat now to see if I can effect a TDY repair so we can motor back to the boat ramp tomorrow.
I was able to get new 14ft cables Friday from the boat supply store and the potential TDY repair from the local hardware store.
I don’t feel good about trying to make a TDY repair last the season. My little grey cells say it’s not worth the risk.
One short with loads of margin is ok, but even a short season isn’t when it is within my capability to haul out and do it right.

I’ll let y’all know if it works or not…

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

Well we got a TDY repair in place so we can safely motor over to the boat ramp a few miles away tomorrow morning.





A pair of cable clamps to lock the outer sheath of the damaged throttle Telefex to the still somewhat intact shifter Teleflex. A third clamp around the engine pass-through to act as an anchor for the tie wrap between it and one of the cable clamp.

While a bit wonky it will work and accomplish what we need.

Best Regards
Over Easy

[Russ]

A bit wonky, but it looks like it will work for a short trip. Very clever.

I agree, not worth a temporary fix other than for a temporary trip to the ramp.

BTW, I like your motorwell strainer. I'm going to have to do that one.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

TAADAA!!!!
SELF RESCUE MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Got out of the marina slip, over to the boat ramp, onto the trailer and back to the house without incident this morning.
High tide was at 10 AM. We slipped out at 10:30 AM. Got to the boat ramp at 11:30 AM. On the trailer at 12:10 PM. Secured by 12:30 PM.
Home by 1:15 PM. It’s 1:45 PM now and lunch is up!

Whew! Glad that’s out of the way with the nice weather too!

A quick rinse after to get the salt off and then into the removal/replacement of the cables.

Best option for getting relaunched and back on the water is Thursday afternoon if the weather holds good and the Admiral can get off work.

Plan B is for a later afternoon attempt on Friday.
(Really would not want the attempt a Saturday or Sunday launch attempt as the boat ramp is always a clown car rally and way too crowded. The Town is still rebuilding the area around the ramp/boardwalk/and a new causeway to the beech damaged during Hurricane Helene. Construction equipment and materials have overtaken the normal boat prep and turnaround as well as the overflow lot. Only thing “open” is the trailer parking but the “Karens” seem to think that they are privileged and can park in the few marked trailer slots. There’s one in particular that regularly shows up in their Cyberspacekadettruck and generally takes two spaces … (I’m just waiting for the inevitable altercation or dust up to show up in the local paper when some weekend boater loses patience or someone’s trailer prangs it…. Meanwhile I’ll avoid the weekend issues ).

Plan C is next Monday late afternoon.

Best Regards,
Over Easy