At the end of a three day paddling camping trip with each storage compartment crammed full of gear, food & water, my skeg would not deploy on my 1 year old Eddyline Fathom. We pulled it out with Leatherman Tool and it would retract using the cockpit slide mechanism, but would not redeploy. Any useful advice on how to free up the cable to slide freely? it seems to be binding…Thanks in advance for anyone with experience with the same issue on same brand/model kayak.
Sounds like the cable has a kink. This can occur when the skeg is jammed with sand/gravel and one then tries to deploy it. Asking for help from Eddyline Fathom owners should hopefully find such help. You might also check to see if Eddyline has some Internet help instructions on how to take the skeg system apart.
Their phone number.
1-360-757-2300
Kayak Academy had a link specific to Eddyline rudder repair, but it’s no longer working. You could contact them for a working link.
Eddyline has a diagram of the skeg assembly, but no specific repair instructions. As @szihn suggested you can contact them.
If the cable is kinked it probably has to be replaced. Never force a jammed skeg.
Ethan Ebersold is a rep for Eddyline. His website has some repair videos. I saw nothing for the skeg but if you contact him he may be able to help. ejebersold at gmail.com
1 Like
Thanks for the advice. I will check out the Eddyline skeg diagram to see if there is anything apparently wrong with how my cable line is fastened. I may have popped loose a cable strap when packing my camping gear the last day of our trip when it jammed. I appreciate all the links and phone numbers and name of contact at Eddyline. Very helpful!
2 Likes
Turns out that the adhesive from Eddyline failed right under the deployment knob, causing the unit that is supposed to hold the external conduit/sleeve in place to move along with the inner cable whenever I tried to deploy the skeg. The dealership jammed that unit back into place, and I then JB Welded the outer sleeve where it enters and exits the cockpit bulkhead(about 10” from the external conduit unit which is pretty much inaccessible behind the left side cockpit seat), and have had no further issues with it since, and have put another 100 miles paddling with it since. Glad to have it back in great working condition again!!
1 Like