Originally Posted by
scottar
Will be massively cheaper - 3-4 times in all likelihood at least. On another note, the digital anchor sounds great but at the end of the day, an outboard still has a mechanical clutch. My concern with these systems is that in the process of sitting on the anchor for hours at end, how much is the user accelerating gearbox wear. On our tugs that use these sort of systems, things are slightly different in so much there are opposing drives. The legs will travel a full 360° so when the neutral position is required, the legs are left in gear and simply turned so that the thrust is going outboard from both legs at 90° to the hull - thus cancelling each other with no wear on shifting mechanisms. Outboards wont do this so they are going to have to go into and out of gear to stop overshooting a mark at times.