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I felt a skip in my steering today and since I have the time and expecting kids using the boat this weekend and beyond, I decided to replace the helm and cable on my 16'.

I have done this repair before, but it has been a while. I actually had the last helm that had come off the boat.
Teleflex safe-tee not the big -tee.

Went to a very large dealer of many boats and motor makes after calling to confirm the 'kit, helm and cable" in stock.

All good until I got it home.
It was packaged as a dual cable assembly. Called and was not able on the phone to determine if it was still usable. Drove back and tech opened another box like my kit. This was the same and when we both decided that "faulty boxing" was probably not the issue, we figured out the new helm is just another change to be aware of.

I spent a lot of time driving back and forth because no one at this very large dealership was even aware of this change.
All is well and hope I save a fellow whaler owner some time.

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Kinda piggybacking on your post here for anyone else interested in steering options...

I just replaced the steering setup in our 1970 17' whaler with a side console,
the cable housing had cracked and bent,
and the box was getting sloppy.

It took a while to study the options online,
and ended up getting a 14' planetary style rotary unit by Pretech off eBay.
It's a competitor to Teleflex made in S. Korea,
(not sure where Teleflex is made!)
and it's a great quality unit regardless of the cheap cost (109 + 15 shipping)

The rotary box is the most compact unit compared to the reduction gear and rack and pinion style.
It is very tight compared to the worn out original.
The catch is the cable housing is silver not black,
although it would match Yamaha control cables.
The main drawback to planetary is supposedly the multiple gears could wear out quicker,
but for a c-note the cost per year should be minimal.

The installation took maybe 30 minutes,
although I rushed it and put it in reverse...
I copied the rotary box cable insert which used the lower hole,
opposite of the rotary style.
It took another 10 minutes to change it on the water!
Doh!!
Very sketchy feeling!
Make sure to check even if you think you are right!

Anyway here's more detail if anyone is interested...
http://perichbrothers.blogspot.com/2016/07/whaler-resto-pt-xix-just-add.html

TP