Went over the new Manitou and found that the skeg didn’t want to close all the way, no problem I thought . . . just adjust it.
But it seems that’s not the issue. Here I’m going to use cycling terms as that’s what I know better. The housing on the skeg wire wants to slide through the hole in the side of the kayak where it goes to the outside and has the adjusting knob on it.
Is there supposed to be something that keeps it from doing that . . . like a clip? Or has the hole just gotten worn from the wire not being lubed?
Any quick fixes or am I looking at plastic welding the hole and then redrilling?
How much of the blade is sticking down when the skeg is retracted? I’m trying to remember on my Mom’s 14, there might have been some blade showing even though the skeg was “up”. Same with my Tiderace, I haven’t bothered to adjust it.
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I had to do some work on a wire skeg in my wife’s kayak, and Eddyline. The wire travels through a plastic tube up to the skeg control box, then is attached to the rear end of the box with a plastic fitting and Goop adhesive. So the plastic tube housing the wire does not slide into the skeg control box.
On her kayak, there is a metal tube that the wire is inside of, in the skeg control box. This metal tube is what slides back and forth to actuate the skeg, and slides inside the plastic tube as well.
I am not familiar with your kayak, but if it has a similar skeg design, and you are talking about the plastic tube the wire runs through that goes from the skeg control box to the skeg, then I would think it should not be moving into the skeg control box.
Not sure if this helps, but that is how the Eddyline skeg works that we have.
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What Brodie said. How much is sticking out. What is the maximum exposure? On one of my boats I adjusted the skeg to “stand proud”. It isn’t enough to catch on anything and if it is forced up into the hull it isn’t enough to kink the cable. It has been slightly exposed for a very long time now and if I ever need to replace the skeg cable I would adjust it to achieve the “stand proud” thing. It may not be worth messing with.
The skeg has no problem going totally into the box(?) But sliding the control knob forward to retract the skeg causes the plastic housing that the wire travels in to get pulled out through where it exists the hull on the side, the recessed area that the control knob slides in.
If I do it multiple times it pulls more of it into that area until the knob hits the far side.
It seems as if the wire doesn’t move free enough within the housing and pulls it w/ it,
Or that the housing should stop at the hole in the hull and only the wire should continue out.
That’s what makes me think that the housing is missing some kind of stop at that point,
Or, the hole in the hull has gotten too big and now the housing can fit though, but shouldn’t.
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Thanks. What’s the slice of cake next to your handle about? 
Today is the anniversary of the day he joined the forums in 2003.
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From my experience, a skeg that does not fully retract into the skeg box seems to often be a sign of a kink in the skeg cable. Often caused by something jamming the skeg in the retracted position (rock between skeg and box or the like) and the user trying to force the skeg down.
If this is the case, the fix is to replace the cable. Here are some basic instructions: Wilderness Systems | Maintenance Replacing the Skeg Cable - YouTube
Ok, I think I need to reword the problem.
The skeg retracts into the box fine. It only stops short because the knob that is used to retract it runs into the end of the space allowed,
And that happens because the housing moves forward w/ the wire that’s inside it.
So let’s avoid the western medicine approach of treating the symptom. No insult intended.
Symptom - skeg won’t retract all the way.
Cause - housing moves w/ the wire where it should stay in place. (At least I believe it should stay in place)
Solution (for the moving housing) - that’s what I’m trying to get help w/.
I do appreciate the suggestions offered, would like to just redirect them a bit.
I’ve just taken a couple of pics to show what I think is the problem.
The housing should not pull through like that, right!?
Wow! It’s much clearer in the photo then when I was crawling around on the ground trying to see it. 
Definitely looks like I need to weld that up and redrill it.
I have the same type of skeg on my Impex RM Mystic. If you look into the small hole in the center of knob, there is a hex screw that can be loosen that will then allow the knob to slide back and forth on the cable. Pick a placement slightly back from the front and the tightened again. That should give the ability to fully pull the skeg back into the box but you will lose a little on how much the skeg can fully deploy. For me, no biggie since in most wind situations, I deploy the skeg slightly (a couple of inches) to offset weathercocking anyway. I feel a fully down skeg offers more drag and doesn’t offer anymore to offset weathercocking.
sing
Right, the cable housing SHOULD NOT pass through the hull like that. You might want to take apart the skeg knob, slider bar and housing. Try putting on a nylon or rubber washer in from of the offending cable housing to prevent it from going through the hull. Silicone up the hole while you at it when reinstalling.
sing
That’s exactly where I was headed. I might just drill out a piece of something appropriate that I can find in my stuff and use that as a washer.
Thanks for the confirmation!
The adjusting the knob placement was the first thing I did thinking it was just out of adjustment, then I discovered what was actually happening.
A bevel rubber washer may work. You may have to expand the hole with a drill.
sing
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If the other end stays fixed, you are correct. Suspect a joint has failed, see crack at hole? Try epoxy of tube to deck same configuration as others end.
What does that screw in the pic do? If part of control it may affect fix.
The other end is fixed in place w/ a metal fitting and sealed against water intrusion.
The screw you see in the pic is the mounting location for one of the plastic cable clamps that route the housing along the side. No way that clamp can stop the housing from sliding unless it was epoxied to it and even then I wouldn’t trust it to do the job.
And yes, now that I have pics of it I can see that the hole in the hull as seen some damage and is too big.
So at this point a repair is in the works, just not sure if it will happen before tomorrows 3 hour drive and overnight camp paddle/ water test.
We’ll the overnight got pushed one day later (not because of me) and that gave me time to do a practice packing, never packed a yak w/ a skeg box, and to do a quick"field repair" of the skeg wire/housing.
I took a scrap of the broken plastic bin that I’d cut a backband out of and made a quick washer to stop the housing from pulling through the hull.
Craved it into a somewhat rectangular shape so that it matched the molded end of the skeg control box and drilled it just big enough for the wire to pass through.
I then cut off as much of the old silicone as I could (w/o taking somethings apart) and put it back together.
After adjusting the knob position everything worked great.
Knowing that I was going to be pulling the seat assembly and thigh braces out after the trip to do a better repair, I didn’t silicone it (I also didn’t have any on hand) but I did throw the tube of Lexel in the repair kit.