TOPIC: Steering cable question

Restoring a 1959 alumacraft and need to replace the steering cable. Are the cables in these old boats special or just coated cable? Do I just go to farm and fleet or Menards? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks all

peoriaone,

Most any hardware or home improvement store has perfectly acceptable covered cable. = Take a piece with your for size, is my suggestion.

yours, satx

As you painted the boat red and white, I'd suggest you look for red vinyl coated wire. I've seen it used on a couple of tin boats and it looks great.

I used the generic stuff satx suggested from an ACE Hardware. Fairly easy to find in multiple diameters

What you really need is called "tiller rope"/"tiller cable" or just "wire rope" with a vinyl coating.

Don't use clothesline-type stuff, it'll work for a while but might rust and break. And it's nowhere near as strong as a proper marine-grade or aircraft-grade wire.

Marine-grade tiller rope comes in stainless and also galvanized steel, and as you'll see at this website I found, their 1/8" galvanized cable has a 1700 lb breaking load, with 3/16" having a breaking load of 4200 lb! That's some purty strong stuff. Not cheap I bet!

www.miamicordage.com/product/7x19-galvanized-tiller-cable/

Be sure that whatever cable you buy has a breaking strength listed, since that will vary depending on mfr and application.

Not to mention that there is a lot of cheap stuff coming from China and I wouldn't trust my life to sub-standard material.

Many hits on Amazon, including red-jacketed cable:

www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_2?rh=n%3A16310091%2Ck%3Astainless+wire+rope+%28vinyl\c+coated%29&page=2&sort=price-asc-rank&keywords=stainless+wire+rope+%28vinyl%2C+coated%29&ie=UTF8&qid=1452677401&ajr=2

Change the query from "stainless" to "galvanized" for more results.

Here's some red tiller cable with 2000 lb breaking strength from an American mfr that specializes in the stuff, for a very reasonable price:

www.amazon.com/Loos-Galvanized-Coated-Breaking-Strength/dp/B0050K369C

HTH........ed

Thanks for all the suggestions. This is not for the red Starcraft but using red cable on that one would be a great idea. This is my second restore. Found a 1959 Alumacraft Deep C at an estate auction and got it for $300. Took a little work to get it running but the fat fifty is humming now. Used Gords aluminum polish to restore, stuff works great. Here are some pics

www.dropbox.com/sh/32sgw9f1qugv7j0/AAAIbscRUsmMpJ9zI24C3dlza?dl=0

along with the stock photo from 1959

Nice!! Good bargain too. I see the 50 has a generator also, sweet find. You might want to change those two drive belts though. I got stuck/stranded out in deep water when the belt on my distributor parted ways, had to be towed in....hence the name on my boat "pull toy"