And if limited to the 33C cables, use the Teleflex Xtreme cables, as they're lower friction than the standard red ones. I've heard good things about the Glendinning cables as well.
Seconded. When my port gear shift started sticking badly I wanted it to be anything but the cable. People kept telling me that'd be expensive. I inspected all the bits, and found more than one potential problem. I adjusted and lubricated linkages. I swapped out the control heads (both of 'em, because the old ones, which were missing a few small parts, were no longer available but Teleflex sells prettier ones that were a direct replacement) but all that did was remove some ugly. I lubricated the cable as best I could, even forcing lube through with compressed air (and creating quite a mess in the process). When none of that helped, I finally faced reality and chose to replace the cable, myself.
Sizing the new cable was mostly a matter of reading the jacket on the old one, and then double-checking with a tape measure to be sure I hadn't read wrong or been lied to. Installing it meant pulling a bunch of things apart to get from under the helm on the fly bridge, down to the cabin overhead, through that and down to the engine bay, and across the engine bay to the port transmission.
That was work, but it was straightforward (I was, after all, just following the route of the existing cable). It took me the better part of a day. Knowing it would take time, I sprang for a Teleflex XTREME cable, which was only about a hundred bucks.
Turned out that this was one of the best things I've done for this boat. The port shifter was not just fixed, but now is now noticeably more fun to operate than the starboard, which still works fine. "Smooth as butter" seems to apply.
Along the way to that fix I entertained all kinds of ideas, including full electronic control, combining shift and throttle, etc. I am glad I didn't take that on - in hindsight it would have been a waste. With the original control design, now prettier and working so well, I am happy to be enjoying the boat more and spending my tinker-time on her other priorities.
My only regret is that knowing what I do now, I really wish I had run four Teleflex XTREME cables at the same time. It would not have been much more work, and still pretty cheap as boat things go. I may still go back and replace the others.
