Bought a used dredge with old-school cable controls, took me 3 months to admit they beat the new joysticks

Back in April I grabbed a 2009 Ellicott from a retiring operator near Baton Rouge. I grew up running GPS and joystick setups, so I figured those manual cables were gonna be a pain. First two weeks I fought the thing constantly, nearly tore a hose on a snag. Then I realized the old levers give you feedback you just can't feel with electronics. Last month we ran 14 straight days and I matched my best yardage. Has anyone else switched to older gear and ended up sticking with it?

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oliviapatel7d ago

Cable controls on that old Ellicott are a whole different animal. I ran a '98 Dixie for two seasons before upgrading, and the first thing I noticed was how much you can feel through the levers when you're close to the bank or dragging over a hard bottom. Joysticks are smooth but they lie to you about what's happening at the cutterhead. Once you learn to trust that vibration and resistance, you stop fighting the machine and start reading the ground. Keep a spare cable and a good grease gun on board, those old setups will run forever if you treat them right.

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