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Adding a click or notch to indicate in neutral


Capella247

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Hi all, 

When family and friends are steering the boat they are often clunk from forward straight into reverse without knowing.  Although I advise that when the handle on the gear rod is in neutral, it is inline with the hatch front, as there is no resistance often they forget.   I wondered if I could add a shim or block to the rod and attach a metal flap to the ceiling so there is some resistance at the neutral point.  Anyone done this and any nifty ideas or suggestions?  (other than steering the boat myself)

 

Tom

Edited by Capella247
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Hi,

I had a similar problem with traditional a 'pull/push' gear selector rod, I got a 6" length of thin 1" wide tempered 'spring' steel. This was slightly bent and the two ends heated and bent into 2 small pencil coils. I then made a small wooden block and made a hole in the middle of the selector rod and screwed both to the ceiling, A 'cam' was made and fastened to the rod, positioned in the center of the bend when in neutral. To select 'forward' gear the rod is pushed forwards and slight resistance is felt when the cam pushes past the end of the sprung rod, the same happens if reverse is selected.

 

Sounds compilcated? not really' will get a picture next time I visit the boat if you want.

L.

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3 hours ago, LEO said:

Hi,

I had a similar problem with traditional a 'pull/push' gear selector rod, I got a 6" length of thin 1" wide tempered 'spring' steel. This was slightly bent and the two ends heated and bent into 2 small pencil coils. I then made a small wooden block and made a hole in the middle of the selector rod and screwed both to the ceiling, A 'cam' was made and fastened to the rod, positioned in the center of the bend when in neutral. To select 'forward' gear the rod is pushed forwards and slight resistance is felt when the cam pushes past the end of the sprung rod, the same happens if reverse is selected.

 

Sounds compilcated? not really' will get a picture next time I visit the boat if you want.

L.

Leo 

This sounds just the ticket. If you could send a picture I'd be grateful. 

Regards
Tom

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4 hours ago, Dartagnan said:

How about a simple black line or piece of tape marked on the shaft?  It’s a black line on mine.

Hi Dartagnan,

Thats a good idea.  The current visual clue is lining the rod handle up with the front lip of the hatch,  its just in the heat of the moment especially when approaching a lock they often are often thinking about stopping rather than the gearbox, so looking for something mechanical to signal when to stop.

Regards

Tom   

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I'm guessing you have a morse type control lever and your your lever is not vertical when in neutral, is that right? If so, read on; if not move on to other attempts to help!

I had the same thing with my morse control, it having been fitted with the handle at between the 1 and 2 o'clock position when in neutral. (possibly because the "base" was mounted at 45 degrees for best control cable run).  It 'clicked' when neutral was selected, so I tried to live with it in case the reputable builder knew best - he didn't, and it remained a constant problem for everyone who steered the boat, including me.  The "click" wasn't much help.  What put things right was removing the lever and refitting it so that it was in the 12 o'clock position when in neutral. Forwards for forwards, backwards for backwards and in the middle for stopped just seems to work.  Don't fight it if yours is like mine was!  Find the little hex head grub screw which locks the handle to the shaft, loosen it and, with the drive in neutral, pull the handle off the star shaped shaft and pop it back on sticking straight up. Re tighten the grub screw and never have another issue. :)

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1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

I'm guessing you have a morse type control lever and your your lever is not vertical when in neutral,

 

It sounds more like a push/pull rod operated gears to me, with a mechanical box.

However if it were that, often the box itself will have some kind of detent that makes it faitly obvious when you are somewhere near neutral.

Perhaps OP can confirm.
Some pictures of current arrangements might help.
 

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Just now, alan_fincher said:

 

It sounds more like a push/pull rod operated gears to me, with a mechanical box.

However if it were that, often the box itself will have some kind of detent that makes it faitly obvious when you are somewhere near neutral.

Perhaps OP can confirm.
Some pictures of current arrangements might help.
 

Thats right Alan, Sea Dog, this is a push/pull rod operation to a Borg Warner gear box.  It is obvious to me when in neutral, and by the position of the handle, but not to others using the boat hence the idea of some kind of mechanical signal before a user just pulls the rod straight into reverse 

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29 minutes ago, Capella247 said:

 

Thats right Alan, Sea Dog, this is a push/pull rod operation to a Borg Warner gear box.  It is obvious to me when in neutral, and by the position of the handle, but not to others using the boat hence the idea of some kind of mechanical signal before a user just pulls the rod straight into reverse 

Ah, then I'm sorry not to have been of help.  Good luck! :)

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Is the Borg Warner gearbox a mechanical type that needs a heavy shove, or is this arrangement working a hydraulic box in some way, hence there it little physical resistance to the pushing and pulling of the lever.

(Sorry if that proves to be a dumb question because, for example, there is no such thing as a manually shifted Borg Warner box - I don't know what they have made over the years).

As I said, some pictures might help.

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If the rod is fairly close to the ceiling a pair of spring loaded door ball catches could be fixed to the ceiling above the rod with a neutral gap between them. A jubilee clipped tightened up on the rod with the worm drive part on top between the neutral position of the two ball catches and would click in and out of them. An

exhaust clamp might be tougher than a jubilee clip. The U part of the clamp on top to click over the ball catches with the brace bar and nuts underneath. Of course a little rounded block of steel could be welded to the top of the rod to do the same.  Large size spring loaded Ball type door catches are quite substantial, self contained units and usually secured with two screws.  A jubilee clip or exhaust clamp would afford fine adjustment.

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I have seen the gear rod fitted with 2 small magnets "the strong small circular jobs mounted to attract one on a bracket on the cabin roof  the other epoxied to a small jubilee clip around the gear rod IIRC the was around a 1/16 gap when they were lined up  Sort of Trail & Error  in the set up

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Fit a standard bale catch in a block of wood between the rod and the roof and file a small dent in the rod  for the catch ball to drop into at the position of the bale catch when in neutral. 

Ready made parts and some bale catches are adjustable for 'push'.

Example catch at https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Ironmongery/d170/Catches/sd2310/Bales+Catch/p27191 - there will be better ones out there!

N

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4 hours ago, Halsey said:

latest boat with twin controls has a notch in the rod which just (slightly) drops as you traverse from forward to reverse - not had it before relied on tape painted lines etc all OK but this is very good and very simple. 

This sounds nice and simple, and easy to do.

  • Greenie 1
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On 2/18/2018 at 14:52, LEO said:

Hi,

I had a similar problem with traditional a 'pull/push' gear selector rod, I got a 6" length of thin 1" wide tempered 'spring' steel. This was slightly bent and the two ends heated and bent into 2 small pencil coils. I then made a small wooden block and made a hole in the middle of the selector rod and screwed both to the ceiling, A 'cam' was made and fastened to the rod, positioned in the center of the bend when in neutral. To select 'forward' gear the rod is pushed forwards and slight resistance is felt when the cam pushes past the end of the sprung rod, the same happens if reverse is selected.

 

Sounds compilcated? not really' will get a picture next time I visit the boat

L.

Hi, As promised, have attached a few pictures, let me know if you want more. The red gear lever, runs down to the engine and has lots more forwards and reverse movement.

L

 

Boat Gear stop 019.JPG

Boat Gear stop 009.JPG

Boat Gear stop 006.JPG

  • Greenie 1
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Not the easiest thing to see (or photograph) but this shows my solution.  In the small hardwood block, is a sprung ball catch (as found on internal doors).  A small countersink was drilled in the rod for the ball to drop into.  Along with the detent already in the gearbox, it seems to help.

 

image.jpeg

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2 hours ago, NB Esk said:

Not the easiest thing to see (or photograph) but this shows my solution.  In the small hardwood block, is a sprung ball catch (as found on internal doors).  A small countersink was drilled in the rod for the ball to drop into.  Along with the detent already in the gearbox, it seems to help.

 

image.jpeg

Neat idea.

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On 21/02/2018 at 14:26, LEO said:

Hi, As promised, have attached a few pictures, let me know if you want more. The red gear lever, runs down to the engine and has lots more forwards and reverse movement.

L

 

Boat Gear stop 019.JPG

Boat Gear stop 009.JPG

Boat Gear stop 006.JPG

Thanks Leo for posting,  this looks a good solution.  My linkage is slightly different but I think a similar set up to this could work well.  

 

 

19 hours ago, NB Esk said:

Not the easiest thing to see (or photograph) but this shows my solution.  In the small hardwood block, is a sprung ball catch (as found on internal doors).  A small countersink was drilled in the rod for the ball to drop into.  Along with the detent already in the gearbox, it seems to help.

 

image.jpeg

 This looks good too and nice and simple.  Thanks for these ideas, certainly has the making of an absorbing Sunday afternoon project.  Typically that will probably involve me breaking something else in the process. Cheers Tom   

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  • 4 months later...
On 19/02/2018 at 07:09, Halsey said:

latest boat with twin controls has a notch in the rod which just (slightly) drops as you traverse from forward to reverse - not had it before relied on tape painted lines etc all OK but this is very good and very simple. 

Ours is the same, the push/pull handle shaft is 3/4 inch square for about 9 inches and runs through a plate support. A 1/8 inch cut out in the square shaft drops and locks the push/pull in neutral unless held up for normal forward/reverse operation.

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