Personally after years of boats and replacing cables every 4 to 5 yrs, i finally stepped up and bought hydraulic steering, i got the Marel brand from japan, first reason is they use bearings in the pump(helm) and second was it cost less. I will never have a cable steer agian!

Could you post a link to what you bought? The steering and shift cables on my boat are awful. I just got off the water for the first trip of the season and the boat would not shift out of reverse. The steering was like very difficult as well. Good thing I have a new kicker motor!
Mine is an I/O so I’ll probably need a different kit.