STEERING CABLES
by James H. Jost

In the interest of Safety and removing most of the human error that cause steering cables to fail at the tiller bar connection, we are showing the above photo of five different ways to fasten the tiller cable.
Please note that the identical eye-bolts were used on the bottom four installations and further note that the second installation has almost doubled the strength of the fourth installation by merely tieing a loop on the free end before using the clamp. Again, the same double strength appears in #3 over #5. Almost every installation seen in the field is, generally speaking, the #5 shown above. The Safety Committee, at the November APBA meeting, will inform the various commissions that no inspector should allow a boat to leave the port without an overhand knot pulled up tight against the clamp. We are also going to recommend that a second clamp be used and drawn up tight within two inches of the knot as shown in figure one or two.
If a larger free end cable is to be retained a third clamp should be used to hold it in place. This gives a joint strength very nearly equal to the breaking strength of the cable itself. "U" bolt cable clamps should not be used especially on small cables. The cable will fail at the clamp if it is clamped too tightly.