Work in progress, I will be updating this with pictures soon.The basics on flex cables.1. Rotation: Without a doubt, the biggest problem we see is customers that struggle with which is left and which is a right flex cable. HELL, we have been doing this for almost a 1/4 century and sometimes look and have to think about it, so there is no better way to explain it than the look at picture 2 and match it to what you have. At the store, we have a saying. "When reading we read from left to right, so a left rotation cable is wound with the cable going downhill, and the right rotation cable is wound going uphill." Picture 3 will explain this better.2. Flex Size requirements: The smaller the diameter cable, the less rotation mass, so the faster the boat will go. But you don't want to put a giant 1/4 (6.375mm) diameter cable in a 20" boat. So you have to figure out the smallest cable you can get away with. This is what we would suggest for the popular size cables. But without a doubt not gospel..098 diameter cable for 10-16" boats with 28 x 45mm motors that produce approx 200 watts..130 diameter cable for 17-22" boats with 28 x 60mm motors that produce approx 350 watts..150 diameter cable for 23-28" boats with 36 x 50mm motors that produce approx 700 watts..187 diameter cable for 29-40" boats with 36 x 82mm motors that produce approx 2000 watts..250 diameter cable for 41" and up boats with 56mm motors that produce approx 5000 watts.3. Flex "curve": You never want an extreme angle in the stuffing tube OR the strut/drive when exiting the boat. Any sharp angles will cause cable fatigue or binding which can either break the cable or worse yet, burn up an esc.4. Tightening factor: When using a one-piece flex system, under load a flex cable will tighten and shrink, causing binding at the strut/drive. To fix this, simply leave a cables width of space between the drive dog and strut/drive face, See picture 4,5. Tefon or No Teflon: So this will be argued forever. Similar to which is better, a Ford or Chevy. At OSE we dont run teflon. Using Teflon does work well, but we find fewer issues in the long run when not running it. Some of the issues are binding, the Teflon will sometimes catch and spin which causes the stuffing tube to break, and the damage is usually catastrophic. The negative of not using Teflon in the stuffing tube, you will need to grease the cable more often.6. Square drive versus 1 piece cables.Square drive shaft(see picture 5). The prop shaft and the flex cable are not soldered together. The flex cable end is square and fits into the square-ended prop shaft. Pro's: - The flex cable floats within the prop shaft, so the load is placed on the drive/strut, because no space is needed in between the strut and drive dog. This sometimes helps the handling in some boats.- Losing a prop is greatly reduced. The shaft remains in the strut and normally is removed from the closest side to the boat, so you should NEVER lose a prop unless the prop nut comes loose. The reason for this is that if the cable breaks the prop shaft remains inside the strut/drive.Cons's: - Removing the shaft and cable to grease is more time-consuming.- Removing the strut/drive is required to grease the cable, this means you would lose the angle at which it was set. So this requires the strut reinstalled and tested to get back to the optimal angle..One-piece cable, the flex cable is directly attached to the propeller shaft, by solder or glue. See picture 6. Pro's: - Simplicity/convenience. You simply loosen the coupler and the flex cable will be removed from the boat. This usually takes a minute.- This makes maintenance and adjustments much easier.Con's: - If the coupler loosens while driving, the cable will fall out. Some people use flex savers to help stop this issue.
