Joy stick control

[Baggiolini]

So some guy with significantly more disposable income than me pulled up to the side tie next to me and he controlled his entire, perfect docking with a remote control. Not only sideways but he also moved forward. Then, he refused my offer of help with his lines as he looped long lines around the cleats and tied them off on his boat. All very impressive.

I get that the sideways movement is bow and stern thrusters but how do you control fore and aft movement from a remote?

Going to buy a few long lines for my single hand dockings.

-- Edited by Baggiolini on Saturday 3rd of March 2012 11:53:16 PM

 

[CPseudonym]

Baggiolini wrote:
So some guy with significantly more disposable income than me pulled up to the side tie next to me*

*Man I hate those kinda guys

 

[rochepoint]

Maybe like this.

http://yachtcontroller.com/

 

[Capn Craig]

While I didn't see*the show I suspect he has Volvo pod drives.* They look a lot like a sterndrive wiith dual props, except they face backward, Props in front of the gear cases.* And they are mounted under the boat insead of behind it and they rotate about their vertical drive shafts for steering.* They don't tilt.* No need for thrusters, or rudders.** Just a big fat wallet to pay for them.* A computer controls which way they face and whether the are in forward or reverse, to respond to the joystick control.* The computer does the vector calculations that net the movement that the joystick calls for.* With the rotation of the engines changing direction 90 degrees twice before it gets to the counter rotating propellors, there is no shortage of complicated stuff to maintain.* But with a big fat wallet who cares?* There will be none of these in my future, my wallet is way to slim, but they are way cool.

http://www.volvopenta.com/volvopenta/na/en-us/marine_leisure_engines/volvo_penta_ips/Pages/VolvoPentaIPS.aspx


-- Edited by Capn Craig on Sunday 4th of March 2012 12:52:22 AM

 

[Marin]

You can get remote control for conventionally powered boats too. I've seen these used on a number of larger yachts. The hand-held unit controls the thrusters and the main engines/transmissions and rudders.

The concept is not new. When I filmed on board the then-new Matson roll-on, roll-off ship for a TV commercial in the 1980s, the skipper had a hand-held unit that could be plugged into a receptacle on either bridge wing. The unit controlled the ship's bow thruster and also send commands for (or actually controlled, I don't remember) the main engine. He and the pilot got this 700-foot ship into and out of its berths in Oakland, Honolulu, and Hilo with no tug assistance at all although one was standing by. I was impressed.

The current Grand Banks 41 has a pair of Zeus drives instead of conventional props, shafts, and rudders.* The system consists of two independently rotating pod drives that are computer controlled.* No thrusters are needed, and the boat can be held automatically in position on a specific heading against a wind and current using a GPS fix, moved straight sideways, pivoted on its center, whatever.* I've met a fellow who's driven one around quite a bit and based on his testimony and other things I've read about the boat, the Zeus drive is the way to go if you can afford to buy it.


-- Edited by Marin on Sunday 4th of March 2012 02:35:15 AM

 

[Peter B]

Zeus is to Mercruiser what IPS is to Volvo. Both pod systems, just Volvos pull, the Zeus pushes like stern drives, and both use computer controlled joystick operation. They have brought out a system now or to come shortly, I believe, which will do almost as well controlling two shaft drives and orthodox thrusters. It's all in the software...and the wallet as someone mentioned.

 

[dwhatty]

And there is evidently some development going on for a single engine IPS system that ties in a bow thruster to compensate for lack of a second engine.

 

[FF]

Folks used to be into boating for years , and slowly move up as income and skills developed.

Today only the top of the market is thriving , but most of these folks have been busy creating the disposable income required for nautical jewelry .

So the boat assemblers created product for this mostly clueless/

lrss skilled market.

Works for me , at least some* boat builders workers are employed.




-- Edited by FF on Sunday 4th of March 2012 06:03:50 AM

 

[JD]

Marin wrote:
You can get remote control for conventionally powered boats too. I've seen these used on a number of larger yachts. The hand-held unit controls the thrusters and the main engines/transmissions and rudders.

*There is an 80' Hatteras on the face dock at our marina owned by a professional basketball player.* I*sat on my fly bridge and watched him dock while he was standing on the deck in the aft section of the boat.* He has a control unit that looks like the ones model airplanes use hanging from a strap around his neck.

It took him about 20 minutes one day to do what should have taken about five but I will give him credit he did it and he didn't hit anything.* He didn't have the line throwing skills as the fist fellow mentioned but I'm guessing that with the amount of*groupies he has he won't need to develop them any time soon.* He gets it up next to the dock and three guys over 7' jump off and tie lines.* No problem.

I'm sure this is a standard set up boat.* Bow and Stern Thrusters and twin engine control.* He seemed to have control over all of it.

 

[koliver]

Years ago I had a client who was selling a control system to Oilrig tenders. Their docking situation required maintaining position within a few feet of the platform for hours on end, in conditions that could get quite rough. The system he was selling used the ship's bow and stern thrusters and main engines to effectively neutralize all the forces of nature that were trying to move the ship off station. Then he was cracking the megayacht market with the same technology, but for owners who's wallets had no bottom. Eventually that technology will filter down to yachts the rest of us could afford. IPS and Zeus are the first to do so.

 

[healhustler]

Because of the impressive waterfront homes around us, massive pod-powered boats are in and through our cove a couple times each week, mostly to demo their close quarters handling and photo set-ups for ads. Sorry I don't have any photos of them, but I wouldn't even waste my camera battery on most of them. They are typically 60 to 90 ft. bars of soap that go into the tightest canals to demonstrate how they are unchallenged by any handling requirement. In the cove itself, they often spin from the bow, then the stern, then maybe travel sideways, ....all very impressive for sure, but I mean, who cares? Cruising out of Miami Harbor some weeks ago, I was passed while under a causeway bridge by a 70 footer with twin jets. He nailed it half way through the "No Wake" area under the bridge, and while 15 or so on the back deck laughed at my humble efforts, he left me on a rising dome of bubbles that took all the rudder, thruster and motor I had just to stay off the bridge columns. This is Miami....full of butt-frunkles that have the cash, but never learned responsibility, courtesy, or the consequences of their actions.