Joystick Controls

Goodluck on getting that to work properly and with good maneuverability. A friend of mine went through 8 entire days of having ZF techs on a 43' Tiara with the factory Tiara installed ZF system that utilizes the bow thruster and gears, it never did end up working smoothly.......

I hope the system works for you. I have an older Azimut 55, but I demoed a newer model with the joystick. I found the joystick used too much thrust at times, and I found myself over correcting, but I suspect I would have gotten used to it. At this stage, I'm quite proficient with the standard controls and bow thruster. I wouldn't want to change that with an alternative system, particularly with the risk that could come with a retrofit system.

My wife couldn't find the dock, let alone get it into our slip, joystick or not. I've taught my wife how to drive the boat in open water, how to use channel 16, how to tell "good water" from "bad water" on the chartplotter, and how to tell the current lat/lon from the chartplotter. If something happens to me, I could care less if she docks it. Heck, I could care less if she destroys it. I'll be happy if she can just get just keep it upright and floating until help arrives.

I also taught her how to use the life raft and the ditch bag.

I know .... she should learn more .... but I'm happy to be boating and married. Try to do too much, and one or the other will give way.

Teach her how to safely get the boat near the marina or inlet and how to call seatow or USCG. If something has happened to you she won't be in any mental shape to dock!

I'm catching the drift that she "actually wants to take part and learn".... why is everyone suggesting she shy away? Any problem with a wife docking a boat? :/ (i'm not married yet, thankfully , but if my wife doesnt like boating she surely wont become my wife heehehe)

I applaud your efforts in trying to be "accomodating", and although I dont know the particular system, having it in place may give her enough confidence to gradually learn to operate the conventional controls too (or not, who knows...)...

Anyways, I think its good that she is open and that you are both enjoying boating together... have fun! (and lets hope if she does dock it its just cause you had a couple of beers too many )

Makes all the difference in the world. If my wife showed any interest in learning more about operating the boat, I'd buy any tool that would make her more interested/comfortable. We're both lucky, but in opposite ways!

Sounds like you're getting to be an old (experienced) guy. We recognize that the more the boats run themselves, the more our skills diminish. We also know that electronics and mechanicals stop working, and it always happens at the worst possible time (Murphy's Law). I rarely ever even use a bow thruster, but then again I don't even use (trust) a smart phone. I'm ashamed to admit that I use GPS so much that I don't plot my courses on paper anymore.
All that said, whatever gets a person behind the helm is a good thing, especially a wife. I run some Ladies In Boating seminars and there's a definite reluctance of women to take the helm. When I needed a captain my wife got her ticket and was a terrific boat handler. However before and since, when it was not needed for business, she would never take the helm. It's a psychological or societal thing I guess.
I look forward to hearing how the system works, and if it gets your wife on the helm.

Why not just teach her the proper way and how to use the gears and bow and stern thruster. I've watched a 7 year old kid dock a boat his size on a face dock with bow and stern thrusters. It's not that difficult to get to a dock with bow and stern thrusters, in a case of emergency, putting it in a tight spot is entirely different.

Its sometimes not as easy as you are suggesting... I have seen women drive boats too, i've seen children, i've driven and docked since i was very young myself, doesnt make any difference to the question at hand...

The point remains that the joystick is less intimidating, and therefore is a valid stepping stone...

I'm all for it.

Yeah, except you cannot drive the boat from wherever you are all of the way to the dock with the joystick........

Perhaps you havent had contact with someone who is intimidated by something of similar nature... be it technology, driving a car, or a boat... But in these cases giving the person a stepping stone is sometimes all it takes to break what would look like very large barriers (in this case even docking a boat)...

The joystick for docking is merely the tip of the iceberg potentially... if the wife (in this case) takes a liking to it she will be docking (with or without joystick) and driving before she knows it... whereas without the "stepping stone" she may just be too intimidated by the controls and never want to even try anything...

I am currious how the Xentas interfaces to your current gear/throttle controls? CANbus perhaps? What do you have for gears and throttles?

Capt'n Crunch

Best of luck to you and the wife. As an Azimut user I can tell you it works very fine, my friend's 11 year old, on his 2nd ever boarding on a boat, got the hang of controlling a 95er. No doubt the bow thruster has TOO much power in the maneuver but you (or she!) will get to feel the compensation. For me, I like using gears only, not really into gadgets cause am at sea for hard earned fun!

Cheers.

Thanks for the information 480AR. I agree on the joystick giving confidence in tricky situations. I think she will like it.

Glad to hear that everything worked out for you. Does the system use both your bow and stern thruster or just the bow? I had meetings in Chicago last week so went down by boat and stayed at Dusable. While I was there I helped a Skipper Bud's guy who was single handing a boat (older 48-50' sea ray I think) land. I got talking to him and he said he had just installed the system and that it was just using computers to control the thrust/direction of the motors and the bow thruster no stern. Later when the owner arrived I watched them test the system around the harbor and judging by the smile on the owner's face and the control they had over the boat it seemed to work quite well.

max