Technology is a wonderful thing. It all started around 2007 with Mercruiser and Volvo Penta’s pod drives for larger cruisers. Prior to those systems the only way to effectively side-shift a boat were bow and stern thrusters. What has then transpired over the past decade can only be described as an arms race by the engine manufacturers. After starting with the inboard world, the outboard manufacturers decided they could adapt the technology and apply it to their outboard motors. Today there are joystick systems that can be applied to virtually any vessel that has two or more main engines.
Let’s start by describing how the systems work. Each manufacturer uses their proprietary computer and hydraulics to essentially complete the same task. The whole point is to use the engine’s thrust to move the vessel in any direction, including sideways, with only one hand. The principal is actually quite simple. If you take forward thrust and reverse thrust at carefully calibrated rpm’s, and intersect them at the center of balance of the hull, any forward or reverse movement is cancelled out and the boat moves sideways. How this is managed is by computer controlled shifting and throttling as well as the steering of two (or more) motors independently. For example: take our demo boat, a 2018 Kingfisher 3025 with twin Yamaha F250 fourstroke outboard motors and the Optimus 360 system. When the joystick is moved to the left the port motor will turn to starboard and shift into reverse. At the same time the starboard motor will turn to port and shift into forward. The computer will determine how much RPM to apply to each engine. Generally the motor in reverse will rev almost double what the engine in forward is running. Exhaust gasses passing over the propeller make reverse less efficient requiring it to run faster to match the thrust. Using a pre-calibrated map the computer can instantly achieve this RPM on each side and minutely adjust the steering angle to precisely move the boat directly left without ever changing heading. Cool eh?
Now that we can control the direction and heading of the vessel, GPS systems can provide the control computers data for basic autopilot functions without the need for a separate chart plotter. GPS anchoring is now a reality. Boats will hold themselves in any position, regardless of wind or current at the push of a button. Have you ever needed to put out your dock lines and fenders but don’t want to drift without someone at the helm? Ever wanted to jig a line over a certain reef to see if the fish were biting BEFORE going through the hassle of dropping the anchor? Ever needed a bathroom break with no one else available to pilot the vessel? Just press the button and the boat doesn’t move.
How easy is it to use? Well the first couple of times can actually be difficult, ironically even more so if you are a seasoned boater. You truly have to take everything you know about docking a boat and throw it out the window. The urge to reach for the wheel or controls is just too great for most of us to ignore easily. You have to take a few attempts before you can wrap your head around just how much control you have with a joystick. Instead of playing the drift or wind you take a direct line at your target. You can stop perpendicular to your slip, spin the boat 90 degrees, shift port or starboard to align yourself and then proceed to enter your slip either forward or reverse whichever suits your particular situation. Watching it done once is enough to make even the most seasoned boater think about upgrading.
What options are there? The choices of joystick systems are almost as vast as the choices of engine manufacturers. Mercury has Axius, Yamaha has HelmMaster, BRP has iDock, Volvo has IPS. Seastar Solutions makes Optimus 360: an aftermarket joystick solution that can be retro-fitted to almost any boat providing packages for any outboard manufacturer with both electronic shift and mechanical shift available.
Now the big question… Is it worth the upgrade? The Optimus 360 system installed on our Kingfisher is worth roughly double what a bow thruster would cost. A difficult notion to consider for any boater, since people have been successfully docking boats for thousands of years without the need for a joystick. The experienced captain will likely say no, as he/she has years, even decades of experience docking their vessel. Slowly even that boater has adapted to the bow thruster. When you consider the ease of docking combined with GPS anchoring then the justification for such systems can certainly be appreciated. We all have to decide which upgrades we add to our boating experience, and joystick controls are definitely gaining traction as a performance and convenience enhancing add-on.
Do you need it? No. Do you want it? Probably.
-Mike Di Nardo
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