Trim Lines MercCruiser Sterndrive

My trim line blew while out in the ocean yesterday, interesting experience in itself.....I have the boat home and see it's the pressure line (Gray), this is an older Silverline Comoro boat 1970's, I suspect an Alpha One Sterndrive. I disconnected the line from the pump, removed the plate on the stern drive, removed the gray line, attached a strong cord and tried to pull the line through however it will not come through the transome, I tried feeling as far as I could with my finger and can not really tell what is holding it so I figured it might work if I removed both lines and pulled them through together, no luck at all. It's impossible to fell from the inside where the lines come through the transome as the motor is in the way and I really want to avoid removing the sterndrive.

Any ideas how to get these lines through? Does anyone know if the opening is just really tight? I was thinking of buying angled needle nose pliers to try and push it.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, Have a great day.

Andrew

Thanks for the image, problem is where the hand is in that image, it's not possible to get there with the motor in, in any event I friggied, swore and finally got it out, IMHO the key is this is a two person job, one inside the boat and one by the stern drive, just put it back together, now to bleed the system