unless your boat is a wire drive that inst always a good thing.
to have bands in your shaft is okay. friction will be there weather you like it or not. but even more friction will come in the form of cable whip if you don't have enough of a bend in your stuffing tube. bends allow the cable to rest on something rather then whipping around and doing stuff like that.
ORIGINAL: HOTWATER
Hi Jake,
You're stuffing tube seems to have a sharp bend in it. I guess it will work out ok though. I tried to keep mine as straight as possible with just a gradual bend to keep the friction down to a minimum .