Flex Cable Soldering Prior to soldering the flex cable into the ferrule, it is imperitive that both surfaces (cable and ferrule) are absolutely free from oil, grit, grease etc otherwise the solder joint will be somewhat weakened. I personally find the best way to clean these parts as follows:Wipe excess gunk off the cable with a rag

Give the cable and ferrule a good spray (be careful not to breath the vapours) with automotive brake cleaner (in aerosol cans from supacheap for a few bucks)

Give the cable a good rub with a wire brush, then spray again with the brake cleaner

Finally wipe the cable with a nice clean rag and set aside in a clean area.

Get a good quality solder rod with a high silver content (ideally silver solder) and a compatable flux (CIGWELD white in colour works well)

Apply a small amount of flux to the ferrule and the cable end.

Heat up both the cable end and the ferrule evenly with a propane torch until the flux flows freely into the cable windings (I personally use MAPP gas for hotter temps/quicker solder jobs).

Apply the silver solder to the joint and let it even flow into the ferrule (trying not to feed excess solder into the joint).

Allow to cool naturally (to prevent a "cold" joint, I can't stress this enough), then all that's left to do is clean any excess material off with a scourer and brake cleaner.

The above method if done in sequence will yeild a nice sturdy joint with minimal failures due to joint fatigue

Flex Cable Storage To get maximum longevity and ease of storage out of flex cables I perform the following at the end of each days running without fail.

Firstly, you will need a length of PVC pipe, slightly longer than your largest cable

Glue a PVC end plug to one end with plumbers cement

Fill the pipe with Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF), any brand, doesn't matter (cheap stuff works well enough)

Pull the flex shaft out of the boat and wipe excess grease, debris off with a rag.

Place the flex shaft into a PVC pipe ( take prop off but leave drive dog etc in place)

Push fit another end cap onto the open end your cables and store in an upright condition (just lightly grease and reinstall into the boat the morning you going to race).

If you do this, you will find that your cables will last much longer, saving you money (for more boats) and the frustration of broken/heavily worn cables