Joystick or no joystick?
 

My old school self says no but the technology intrigues me. What say the braintrust of OSO? New 28 ft cat build, twin 400's.

I wouldn't get a joystick on a boat capable of the speeds that boat will run. A tie bar is your friend.

Doesn't joystick-control mean you cannot use a tie-bar between the motors?
If so, I don't think that's the route you want to take with a boat of the speeds you are considering.

drejustice just went to 400s on his DCB cat. He has some threads on here with good info.

Not an apples to apples comparison, but I have experience with Axius in a 350 Formula SS. Let me tell you, there is an art to using the joystick effectively just as much as there is using your shifters to maneuver a boat in close quarters. I'd stay old school on a 28 cat. You will want that tie bar.

No joystick on a performance boat. The beauty of the joystick is to allow the motors to steer in different directions as well as to move from forward to reverse at the same time. Great for docking at slow speeds, but definitely not for a cat that needs a tie bar. Test drove a pontoon boat at LOTO shoot out with twin 300 G2's with a joy stick. It works only at idle speeds, ie. for docking. But pretty cool for that! Oh, I forgot to mention that it is a $16K option.

I think someone misplaced the decmical. When I looked at it I thought it was about a 1600 dollar option. I can totally see it on the big CC but like others have said, really anything that goes over 65-70mph should have a tie bar.

I guess I was under the impression the tie bar would still be used and the joystick would only control forward and reverse, kinda like we do now with throttles and gear levers.

they day i need something else to dock my boat is the day i quit boating :D







I do like techie stuff tho :cool: . . . . saw one in action pretty slick . . . ya got me there

Just say no.....to the joy stick

I'm not a fan they just keep making it easier for the idiots.

Hope, $16,000 for Evenrude joystick steering per their boat quote with options.

Not for me, if I can't dock my boat the normal way I shouldn't be on one IMO.

The Verados move independent of each other with the joystick control in twin, triple or quad configurations. On your cat the engines will be so far apart you can easily close quarters maneuver by splitting the throttles. Tie bar is a must. My Renegade turns within its own length 360 degrees by splitting the throttles. There are youtube videos showing the joystick and the engines moving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-AOoTJwacc

I'm sure I read this somewhere in a press release or boat test, just can't remember where....?
We dock our boats using gearshift, throttles and NO steering, surely a joystick can do the same. Would not be quite as efficient as the 'independent steering' version but should still do the same job.

RR

Here's a system that they say caters for hi-performance with twins/trips /quad application and also cats.

http://www.seastarsolutions.com/wp-c...0-2014-web.pdf

Of course, their definition of "hi-performance" may not extend to the100 mph+ boats on the market. I don't know?

For the old school guys who say it's just not right, do you still heat your iron over the fire and spray water onto the clothes? Do you have a gps speedo or still use a pitot tube? Do you navigate with a plotter or a chart and sextant? Etc,etc..... :silenced:

RR

No, but docking a 33' boat with two sticks in tight space is not an issue.

I think in years to come, sadly, younger boaters won't know how to dock a boat using the sticks. Bit like asking the younger generation to do simple arithmetic like long division, they don't need to know how because they just use the calculator on their smart phone. ;)

RR

True, I also think younger folks don't care much about boats anymore. The kids in our extended family and their friends generally have their head buried in phones. What a bore.

As others have said, Joystick on a cat is a no no. On the other hand, If there is a guy docking next to me with a stiff breeze and he doesn't have much experience, I would hope he had a joystick!