bertram31.com

Saturday, after a nice boat ride in the Trump flotilla I headed back to Homer Smith. Everything was beautiful as I approached my slip and dropped the throttle down to 900 rpm then it was time to go into Neutral and then the pucker factor kicked in. The starboard clutch lever was stuck in forward. I tried pushing it further into forward in hopes it would allow me to pull it down into Neutral but to no avail. Now I'm going past my slip so I quickly went to the lower helm but the clutch lever was jammed in forward there as well. Now I'm approaching a cement bulkhead so I shut the starboard engine down and used the port engine, steering wheel and throttle to head back to my slip then suddenly the starboard clutch lever released and I restarted the starboard engine and got into my slip. A few years ago I had new cables installed and they have always been a little sticky. My mechanic said he didn't think Bertram engineered the cables in the best way by tying the Flying Bridge and lower helm together instead of a direct route. Has anyone had a similar problem that I experienced and if so how did you correct it.

I dont know about your specific problem but usually cables are pretty straight forward. If there is any sharp bends they can tend to bind up when they get a few years old. I would double check where they enter the controls at the helm and where they are connected to the transmission.
If all appears to be OK in those area then disconnect the cable at the helm to make sure the "levers" are free and dont bind up for any reason.

Do you have dual stations? That double the trouble...

Doug,

I have had that same issue with the stbd gear lever too. It just wouldn't move at all at the beginning of the season.
After some forced back and forths it started moving a bit but still difficult.
I had my son up on the fb doing that motion, while I applied vaseline on the exposed few centimeters of the cable as it was being moved. Little by little the motion was getting easier...now it’s completely free. I don't know if the problem will reappear, however it was perfectly easy to use this whole summer.

I had a similar experience with my borg warner transmissions---I traced the problem to the tranny----the detent ball was jamming in the shift lever.

Lubricated it and the problem disappeared.

I am not familiar with how the cables are set up on your boat. On my 31 when I added a 2nd station for the tower with the Single lever dual action Controls I had to install a "transfer box" for lack of better terms. Basically the 2nd station cables piggyback on top of the 1st station. The important aspect is I cannot use the "other" set of controls unless the ones being used are put in neutral OR they jam. I mention as if you have the same that could be the reason.

I have also had parts of the Single Lever, Dual Action Controls come loose not allowing me to shift, another time a part was binding (spring loaded sliding part, some cleaning and lubricating did the trick.

As mentioned, the ball indent can cause issues...lubricant, sometimes a disassembly with a good cleaning. I have had the plate with indents wear to a point the ball came out too far and jammed. The new plate was cheap but welded up the old one in the meantime til it came in. I also had an issue with the shaft itself binding...had to take apart, clean, polish a bit, and as good as new again.

I'd assume a bad cable could also cause similar issues. I have replaced but never as they were sticking. But I can say a few bucks on the better cables can make life nicer.

Last but not least...I used to have 1 cable where the cable end had a telescopic tube over it. If I ran boat to the pins the last tube fell out on the throttle side and I could not bring boat to low idle, that in turn would not allow boat to shift. I opened the hatch, saw the jam, slide tube back on and brought to idle and shifted.


I'm tossing this all out there as it can be lots of things. When something as important as shifting is the prpblem at hand I suggest you find the issue by recreating the scenario and locating the problem, or problems and correct. Sometimes its easier to disconnect each of the items and check by themselves. Does the trans shift easy by hand or is there binding. Does the cable run freely, The Controls move free and smooth? How about with some resistance... Did a cable have something fall on it, was it pushing tight into a corner, around a corner.

As to the mechanic saying the parts were not engineered right...maybe. But how old is the boat and how long have they worked?

All of the above, plus check to make sure the control head moves freely. I find that after a year or two, mine need a shot of silicone spray. I spray the bottom of the head, where the linkage is.