Cable Replaced
I’m not sure whether my line is dyneema or zylon-core-polyester, but I used the synthetic line insteand of the steel cable. I had a devil of a time threading the line. There was a tight spot in the housing where it passes through the bulkhead and I couldn’t get the soft line to feed past that point. After many many attempts at trying to feed it or join it to the steel cable and pull it through, I finally passed a needle and thread through the line to form a yoke onto the head of the line, fed monofilament through the housing, tied the mono onto the yoke, and that’s what finally got it through.
The next challenge was joining it to the kayak parts. I used a tiny round file and some fine sandpaper to round the edges off the hole in the rudder which formerly accepted a bolt. I tied a loop of line in the hole and tied the not-cable to the loop. The steel cable was formerly joined to the sliding footpeg by wrapping around the bolt that holds the plastic peg-beam to an aluminum plate that slides in the retaining channel. I noticed the newer Wilderness Systems don’t use that method. Rather the cable passes through a vertical hole drilled in the end of the plastic peg-beam. I drilled a similar hole in the end of the peg-beam, tied off a loop of line through that hole, and then tied the not-cable off to the loop. It is my hope that if there is wear and breakage it will be the loops that give, not the main length of not-cable, and I can easily replace the loops.
I’ll try it out this week, but it seems good to go. What a vexing experience for a seemingly simple repair.
The other footpeg was frozen, too. Perhaps that had something to do with the cable breaking. I could not budge that cable, so I took that peg assemply out, put it in a vice, and whaled on it with the rubber hammer. It is sliding nicely now, and though I completely disassembled it, I can’t figure out why it was frozen.
I intended to replace that cable, too. However, I was about a foot short of line. I think I will go ahead and drill the beam to accept the synthetic line, buy some more of the line, and carry it with me when I take this boat on the lakes trip in September. Assuming I can get it through the cable housing, it is a lot easier to work with than steel cable.
And that’s all I have on foot pegs for the moment. Just wanted to get back to the forum, thank you for your suggestions, and report that the repair is complete.
~~Chip