I have my heart set on a set of Mercury 115 command thrust engines for a Cat I’m building, but according to the Mercury website the joystick piloting for outboards is only available on 200hp & above. I read an article years ago about Yamaha/Honda having similar systems but I can’t find any details on their websites, can anyone shed some light on my options to have a system like this on 115hp outboards? I’m open to any of the reputable 4 stroke manufacturers if they have this option for a 115hp.
A bit more digging & I’ve found that Seastar offer a system to suit Suzuki & Yamaha engines which have EST control. Suzuki have info on their website which shows 150hp is the smallest with this option, but I can’t find any other manufacturers websites with this info. Any help appreciated, at this stage it looks like I’ll need to upgrade to 2 x 150hp & go Suzuki if I want joystick control, very expensive option!
Not overly familiar with the optimus system but a quick look at the paperwork shows it to be pretty similar to other systems I have some familiarity with from bigger vessels. The first sticking point in your horsepower bracket is whether any have fully electronic throttle and gear selection. Without that, getting to where you need to be involves not only an expensive system to start with but also an electronic shift and throttle control system with an electromechanical actuator . None of these systems are cheap - a basic dual outboard electronic steering system for hydraulic rams will set you back (at a guess, it's been a while) in the vicinity of 7.5 to 10 K - and that won't allow for independant rudder movement or control of throotle and shift.
Yes Scottar, big bickies isn’t it. Another consideration is that twin 150 Suzuki will be 150kgs heavier than twin 115 Mercury. I think I’m going to have to stick with 115 & spend a bit more on a good twin binnacle to make manouvering as easy as possible.
Probably the most cost effective option. It is expensive for most private users here but when you look at some of the outboard powered US rigs, it's not really a significant cost. Personally, I don't think it is even remotely aimed at our market place. We priced up a couple of systems to replace some ageing steering gear in a couple of harbour tugs some time ago that more or less do the same as these just on a much larger scale. It worked out to near on $250K each.Originally Posted by Heliduck
Is being able to manouver by joystick that important? with a cat, and having the motors so wide apart makes the whole deal very different to engines set close together.
I reckon I can manoeuvre around the boat ramp easy enough, but I initially looked at the joystick control for the digital anchor option. The only other way I could find to achieve this is with an electric trolling motor & Id like to avoid that if I can, but I might have to revisit it. Damn site lot cheaper by the look of it.
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.
I suppose if or when the outboard industry adopts a different technique for engaging forward/reverse gears, a breakaway from the dog clutch arrangement, then this may open a whole new world to digital positioning using outboards.
I read that Seven Marine's outboards use a transmission located under the motor with no clutches in the lower gearcase.
Hopefully this works, but this things amazing.
https://www.facebook.com/12044219938...6913793719939/
Hook line and sinker testing a Yamaha system.
Running 350's, no idea what the minimum engine is, but crazy capability.
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For sure Dan although clutch wear regardless of position can still be an issue. The engineers at work tend to have a bit of a hissy fit if they come across skippers that rely on clutching in and out excessively. To do a typical ship berthing, it is not unusual for the tugs to clutch in once for a job that may take several hours. If a neutral position is required from then on it is done via steering. The biggest change with outboards will be if they ever decide to go away from traditional legs that have limited steering range to a system of twin engines that can oppose thrust in any direction. It allows much more precise control - once you learn to drive it. The downside would be cost due to much more complicated steering mechanisms and a lot more electronic wizardry. It may never be an issue if the system never really gets cheap - if you can afford it at the moment, covering the costs associated with a bit of extra gearbox maintenance probably isn't too much of a concern. That isn't the case for most of us though.
I’ve done a few trips on the RV ###### Australis, reversing direction every few minutes to ram the ice pack. This went on for 2 weeks on 1 trip! On that ship the propellor maintains the same directional rotation but the blades on the propellor change pitch (similar to a turbo-prop aeroplane). This allows directional change as well as variable thrust for a given rotation speed, I look forward to the day they have this on outboards!
The “######” blocks out the name of the ship, must think I’m swearing? Google the southern lights & you’ll get the idea.
Laid eyes on her in Hobart just last week. Her replacement looks like it will a weapon when it gets here.
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