Dockmate, Yacht Controller, etc.....

And keep this in mind, people experience malfunctions with wired systems. Well designed wireless systems are showing themselves to be as reliable as wired and, in some cases, more so. This is especially true in the wet, salt environment of a boat. We've had wireless controllers on three boats and experienced zero problems so far. I'm not saying we will never experience an issue, but I'm not saying wire wired stations that is guaranteed either. We're comfortable, you're not.

Thank you all for the feedback, I have ordered a Dockmate with twist to be installed by Yacht Tech. Installation will be relatively soon, although the stern thruster won’t be installed until a yard period in May. At that point, it will be hooked up to the Dockmate. After that, I may do a shakedown cruise to the Keys before going up to Maine. As Ft Lauderdale is on the way, anyone in FLL is welcome to try it out.
Best,
Maldwin

They'll have to reprogram ALL of the settings in the joystick again, once you install the stern thruster. After spending 3 entire days off of the dock doing this with a ZF joystick, I would advise you to install the stern thruster first then the dockmate twist, or at least get a quote of what it's going to cost to reprogram ALL of the twist parameters again once you install a stern thruster.

Maldwin--curious how you like your Dockmate. I'm going through the process of trying to decide between it and the Yacht Controller, since I think one of these will make picking up a mooring in Avalon Harbor (Catalina Island) much easier to do singlehanded.

One recent comparison of the two units puts the Dockmate slightly ahead, but also hints that the captains involved may have been swayed by the fact that the Dockmate rep was present during the testing and the YC rep wasn't.

So far, I am very happy, but have not used the boat I have put it on due to the fact she has been in refit most of this year. I plan on taking the boat to Maine from Florida and back this Summer, so should have a ,pre complete answer by this Fall.

I have had Yacht Controller for several years. Installed it when I purchased this boat.

My motivation was a visibility issue. At the helm I cannot see the swim platform or the sides of the boat. If the boat had cockpit docking controls I probably would not have purchased Yacht Controller.

If I went in the same slip all the time could use other visual cues, but we cruise a lot and are in different slips, tie ups on a regular basis.

My remote provides me with control of transmissions and thruster through toggle paddles.

It has performed the task I bought it for without question and I have been very happy with the $'s spent.

There are limitations:

No control of throttles or rudders. There are docking situations where application of throttle, or sometimes swinging a rudder to get an extra push on the stern - have to be at the helm.

It is easy to get disoriented. Holding the unit in your hand, then turning and facing a different location takes some adjustment to not take an action that is the reverse. Different than facing backwards with shifters - at least for me.

It does not reduce the basic skills required to dock a twin engine boat, technique is the same. It does allow the captain to move at will based on the activity and the area of concern to watch.

I am not a fan of either IPS or Zeus in its current form for a variety of reasons, a big one is reliability.

We did do a bare boat charter right before Covid on a express cruiser that had IPS, wow the ease to do some maneuvers was astounding. I also sat with a friend recently and he recounted his experience with owning a new boat with IPS - that more than offset the diagonal move capability in strong wind.

All that said, my Yacht Controller has nothing to do with "joy stick" swiveling pods. It is simply a mobile remote control for shifting transmissions in a standard twin engine boat.

I'm going to post a bit of an update on this subject. There are three major players in this field that I am aware of.

Yacht Group sells Yacht Controller and quite a few other products and six different remotes.

Dockmate focuses on remote controllers but sells four different remote controls.

Xenta sells a full line of control products and the wireless X-RC is just one.

They are all three pushing the others to add features and the units one may have used in years past are not even close to what is available today. Some have joysticks and some don't but all three companies offer joysticks.

I have used Yacht Controller for 8 years and remain very impressed with functionality and with quality. We put over 10,000 nm on a boat with Xenta and were in and out of docks constantly plus in various challenging areas. I'm fully confident Dockmate would compare with them both although for a larger boat, Yacht Controller is more proven than the others. Each is also doing other interesting things. For instance, Yacht Controller now a relationship with ZF. Xenta integrates now with Garmin's autopilot.

Now I currently see Dockmate as an add-on type item as they don't have their own command unit for the main helm or thrusters or joystick for the helm like Yacht Controller. They don't sell spotlights and thermal imaging cameras and graphics either. That might be an advantage if on a new build and wanting an integrated system, but for an existing boat, Dockmate's single purpose and focus might be a plus. Xenta is between the two but doesn't focus just on the remote. Xenta offers a control system, a docking system, a steering system, a dynamic positioning system, and a remote control system.

The functionality varies widely within products offered by any of the manufacturers and certainly by year of purchase.

All of these incorporate the same basic techniques and systems you're use to. A couple of specific items I'll discuss though. Joysticks, first. These come with or without. We also have joysticks at our helms. If joysticks are properly programmed, they can make docking so much easier. I once hated joysticks for anything from video games on. It's because I wasn't accustomed to them or good at the techniques. However, a properly programmed joystick can access my throttles and both sets of thrusters quicker than I can and can do it in the right proportion easily. I can do a side walk well, but not as well as they and sure can't hold against a lock wall or dock side without thought like they can. Second, dynamic positioning. All of these offer it but only if installed at main command. You wait regularly for bridge openings and you'll love it. We remember using ours at the Macy's Fourth of July Parade as we were in the harbor. Rules require staying in position and no anchoring. I saw other captains working so hard and ours doing so little work.

There are new features too. Some are small. For instance, I'm not awestruck by Dockmate having a horn on the remote.

They've all added features to ease throttle and others to give quick boosts. Different units work differently with proportional thrusters.

I still tend to favor Yacht Controller based on number of installations, but Dockmate is developing a following and I'd lean toward them for adding to an existing boat. Meanwhile I've been very impressed by Xenta, although I personally like their remote the least of the three. Not it's functionality, but it's design.

If looking, I'd encourage anyone to get into the details.

Thanks for the detail.

Mine would be on an existing boat, and I'm leaning toward Dockmate if for no other reason than the electrician who's been doing work on my boat since purchase is an authorized Dockmate installer and I like to be able to minimize the number of people working on the boat.

The horn thing does seem a bit gimmicky, though I suppose it could come in handy.

Seems like the most crucial aspect with a joystick is proper programming. Also I'm still not 100% sure how the throttle controls work (Dockmate seems to have throttle control) when using the joystick, but will try to find out.

Just to add a little, just had a dock mate installed on my 65 Outer reef. Works really well has just a couple of kinks I need to work out with dock mate installer that anyone considering should be cautious of when considering. My boat has an older analog control bow thruster from ABT. (Hydraulic and simply "bang-bang" on off not proportional). Also has glendenning electronic controls. Turns out the unit was first installed below the helm in the pilot house tying in horn/thruster/glendenning. I normally dock from the flybridge but can't see back, hence the dock mate. what we did learn at sea trial today was you can switch throttle/glendenning control at any of the three stations to and from the dock mate BUT if you take control of the bow thruster from anywhere other than where it was tied in on install (in this case in pilothouse) you no longer can take bow thruster on the dock mate unless you set the install point back to master first. Not great for me who would only run between the flybridge helm and dock mate unit so next week they need to move install from pilot house to below the flybridge. Should have been told up front and luckily I was away from dock where I learned this on the fly.

Your situation shows how critical the installer and the install are.

Have used a Yacht Controller on a Sunseeker Predator 68. You absolutely cannot see the stern of the boat from the helm - a bad situation when backing into a slip. The YC has been dead-nuts reliable for 5 years.
It allows single handed, and short handed safe operation of the boat.

On costs - the price Sunseeker charges for a cockpit remote helm is the same as a Yacht Controller. We deleted the cockpit station and opted for the Yacht Controller- never regretted the decision.

It's really not. The stern/swim platform is much lower than stern and distances are decieving. Can't really judge distance on your port side as you are low compared to the side windows.