22' Islander steering cable question

[1216bandit]

I bought this 93 22' this spring and the steering to starboard and back to neutral position is great, but from neutral position to port then back to a neutral position is stiff. Thought I'd deal with it at the end of the season, soooo today I pulled the cable back out of the steering tube as far as I could, about 1" of cable left in the tube, cleaned the tube, lubed the cable and pushed it back into the tube. Without the cable being hooked back up at the transom end. steering is again great to starboard but still binds to port. I took a look at the cable routing, straight shot to the transom then it has a reverse "S" shape at the transom where it drops down to go into the steering tube. I am wondering if the cable is too long, hence the "S" shape, resulting in difficulty in removing it completely from the tube, and the stiff steering to port. The only way I could have removed the cable completely from the steering tube would have been to yank like crazy and bend the snot out of it. Has anyone replaced their cable and know what length it should be? It is a teleflex rack power steering. Thanx...Dan