Single Lever Throttle/Shift issues with 250/280 Drive

It's been an "interesting" year so far, a daughter's wedding in Charleston, a son's graduation in SOCAL, me here in NJ, anda commitment by me to totally rewire my YC's 24ft Privateer. Wife and I have very conflicting work schedules that severely limited boating, etc.

Was only able to get my powerboat out a few times, and the shifter is acting up. I had some issues last season that I assumed were either cable or links in the drive, but before launch I determined that these were OK.

The problem is vague shift points... especially going into reverse. Since I'm now running a 15x21 prop, having the engine revs pickup before it shifts is "interesting", especially when docking stern to at a slip that ends in a bulkhead! Many years ago I had this same problem with the exact same shifter with an AQ120 on my first boat and it turned out to be wear on the gear "teeth" in the shifter, not a repairable item. The fix... a new shifter.

For the last several seasons, 99% of my on the water time has been running inboard powered boats owned by my YC for either race committee support or patrol work. One of the boats has an Morse MT3 single lever, the other a Morse "Twin S". I've gotten to the point where I really like the crisp positive detents on both controls. No side mount control on the several other boat's I've run quite has the feel of the MT3. No place at all on my Lancer for an MT3. My bright idea is to replace the existing single lever ( its design goes back to the early 60s, it's the one with a separate pull out knob for throttle only control) with a dual lever MJB. I'd have to fab an adapter plate to account for the smaller footprint, but that is trivial.

My BIG question.... according to Morse, the shift cables for the MJB are ONLY the heavy duty 60 series. Will (or is there) a 60 series cable that will pass thru the transom shield hose/bellows and attach to my 280 drive?

Bob, I can tell you with certainty that the 280 transom shield will accept the 33C cable in either the standard or the premium 33C.
I don't know about this 60 series!

I'm not sure if I'm following you as to what throttle/shift unit you now have.
If you now have the morse MT3 , this fits the binnacle style description.
If so, I'd think that the Twin S shoud be a candidate for you.... but you may need to make a modification to the mounting hole layout.

I'm old school in many respects..... but do appreciate today's technology.
However, it is darn tough to beat the Twin S... both in quality, seviceability, wear and holding up, adjustment, and so on.
If you can fit a Twin S..... I'd sure do it.
Twin and seperate controls, IMO, is far superior to a single lever control.
It may take a few hours/days to get used to it....., but once you do, you'll probably find yourself wondering why you did not do this sooner.
Again, IMOO.

It doesn't get mcuh better than the old school Twin S.
Not the Look-a-like "Sea-Choice" Chinese knock-off version, or the Morse Twin SR units, or the U-flex............. the actual Morse Twin S.

It doesn't get much better!

RE the Twin S... Spent all day last Saturday being the "Pin/Line" boat in a 23 MAKO I/B equipped with the Twin S at a regional regatta the club hosted.... Sweet ! It was a circa 70s OEM control. What I have now is a side mount circa early 60 single lever Morse. Never liked it, now I hate it. Will find photo of helm area and post.

Ok, well, that may change what I suggested to you, unless you were to have a suitable location for a binnacle style.

Are these similar to your helm?

Very such the same. See pix taken day we bought it.

Also pix of MJB control which I'm thinking of mounting on a plate the same outline as the base of the existing control.

MJB??? Bob, are you telling me that a coffee company offers a dual lever side-mount control?

Actually, that MJB is not a bad idea.
I suppose the throttle lever could have a red ball on it, and a black ball on the shift lever.
Does the MJB use the 33C?

Deleted...

Most pix of the MJB show one red and one black ball. Per the specs, the throttle cable on the MJB uses 33C cables while the shift 60 series.<br>I found a Morse catalog online for the cables, but they got cutesy with the webpage and its difficult to view the page at a high level of detail, so I don't know that the tranny end options are for a 60 series, i.e., will it run to/fit my 280 drive. I've also been wondering what exactly is it about the MJB control that enforces/forces 60 series for the shift, after all, my drive has been quite happily being shifted by a 33 cable for over 40 years, so I don't need the "extra force" feature of the MJB. More research to be done.<br><br>Where did you get the Lancer pix in your earlier post? Bottom boat appears to be a 1968 which I believe was the first year of production. The top pix is interesting in that the seats are not original and there appears to be some "non standard" furniture to port, aft of the seat.

Bob, I just grabbed the photos doing a Google search.

As for the cables..... look at this regarding the term 60 series and see what you make of it.
The 33C is available in both the standard and Premium.
There is mention of the 60 series, but it appears to be describing the shift unit and cable clamps.

I know for certain that either the 33C standard or premium will work with the V/P drive.... premium being the better choice.
As far as I know, the premium uses an additional liner and twisted wire strand cable, apposed to the wire only.

Rick,

I did some research on the 60 series and its basically a very beefed up 33C. Thread ends are 5/16-24 ends, not #10. This per se is not a problem, but from what I've seen the whole thing is bigger, not only the cable itself, but the ends rods and clamp surfaces as well. Problematic I feel for getting thru the transom and fixing to the clamp surface on the drive. Thinking about getting one (MJB) and seeing if it were possible to clamp the 33C ends at the MJB end with some fabbed adapters (or some of the accessory parts in the MORSE catalog), or failing that, using a hybrid system where in I run a minimum length of 64 cable and then run the rest of the way with 33C. I'd need to fab a clamp plate to take both 33C and 64C clamps ( I think that these parts are stock MORSE)... I could also get the 64C cable with the "bulkhead" end option and use that towards the engine and then use an L bracket as the base for the 64C to 33C conversion.

It all depends on what I can scrounge. NOT willing to buy a brand new of either the MJB or MT3, would very much like a used one in good shape that I knew wasn't built overseas or with overseas parts, and at a "good" price.

HOWEVER.... I'd not Googled 23 Lancer in quite some time and was amazed at the number of pictures they've found, including some of mine! What was of interest was...



This is interesting, and surely not stock, however, I almost always run my boat while standing and docking . Backing down into my slip with that control in that location is more than my arthritic neck and back could tolerate. The OTHER possibility would be to fab a new mounting panel for the control and partially "bury" the MT3 so that it stuck out enough so that the MT3 lever cleared the coaming, i.e., was in about the same plane as the existing single lever control. Fortunately, I have almost unlimited access to one of the LYC boats that has an MT3 and I think I'll bring over some cardboard and a pair of tin snips and fabricate a mockup and see how it works on my boat. There are a LOT more used MT3s about than MJBs.

I did the cardboard thing per previous post and did not like the way the MT3 would be set up in the Lancer if I "bury" it . Did some sketches and it appears as if fabbing adapters so that I can use a 33C Cable for the shift lever of the MJB should be fairly doable without butchering the MJB. Need to have an MJB in hand to be 100% sure as I do not have a dimensioned print of the MJB available. Now all I have to do is find an MJB "at the right price"...