Engine control replacement

Hello,
The engine controls on my boat (Both lower helm and flybridge) are giving sign of age and I am planning to replace them next spring so I have some question about this.
I am looking at replacing both by two Seastar CH7600 Top Mount. Does anybody have any experience with this model? Both engine controls are top mount lever located on my right when at the wheel.

Other question, is this something easy to do? I never did that before but for what I saw it is just a matter of removing the old one, connecting cables to the new one and fixing the new one in place. Am I wrong?

I plan to reuse the existing cables, is there any issue at doing that?

Thank you very much for any help!

L.T.

I use the Morse 1700 series with built in rocker switch for controlling the bow thruster.
Fairly straightforward job just take it easy, grease moving parts when assembling and don't for get to grease the engine room fittings.

Depends on what your aging issues are. Stiff controls might be frozen cables in which case you might need to replace. If they are long with a few bends they can be hard to refurbish. I am seriously considering replacing mine with Glendenning electronic controls. Seems like a straightforward conversion based on drawings I got.


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Kobelt makes a good product, I have replaced Morse controls straight across.
There are two different sizes of cable commonly used, make sure your hardware is for the right one.
New cables with the new controls would insure smooth operation, they last a long time, but not forever!

We replaced our Twin Disc electronic controls with Kobelt manual controls which necessitated new cables and are very happy with it. They are as light to move as the electronic system was. However, this is a single station control.

My suggestion is that if you can, invest in good cables.

The engine controls on my boat (Both lower helm and flybridge) are giving sign of age
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What is signs of age. Are they getting difficult to operate? Are they just looking bad?

If difficult to operate it could be the cables. They wear internally and some times rust.
Changing the control heads won't help if it's the cables. Are you sure it's not the cables?

If it is simply appearance then of course your choice.

Greetings,
I'm sure this would work for control cables...

C lectric said:

The engine controls on my boat (Both lower helm and flybridge) are giving sign of age
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What is signs of age. Are they getting difficult to operate? Are they just looking bad?

If difficult to operate it could be the cables. They wear internally a nund some times rust.
Changing the control heads won't help if it's the cables. Are you sure it's not the cables?

If it is simply appearance then of course your choice.

Click to expand...

To be more precise about what I called aging it is more the lever itself. Both are easy to operate, no issue with the cables, just that the one in the flybridge has its lever kinda loose, the handle looks like shaky, while the one in the lower helm is working fine but the chrome started to decay and show some chips. I almost never use the one in the lower helm so I could keep it but the flybridge one is no very nice to use with its loosy handle.
I took a look at the kobelt ones, they look very nice! Not sure they will fit though. I was thinking about the seastar ones as the base is exactly the same base, or almost exactly, as the one I already have. But I must admit that the kobelt ones are very interesting too and looks very solid.

Mr RTF thank you for the video!

Of course a direct replacement is the easiest. If your controls have given you good service and you are comfortable and used to them, direct replacement might be a good choice. There are always better controls, and the cable connections are pretty straight forward between brands. The footprint can be addressed easily with a block of teak or starboard if you choose to switch brands.

Electronic controls will be more involved. Toss your existing cables, install servo's on the engine and gear with their own short control cables, address new footprint, pull new wires to your controls. For a two station boat of this size I would prefer the simplicity, reliability and redundancy of traditional control cables. For a larger boat with long cable runs or more than 2 stations, electronic controls may be a better choice, my $0.02

Kobelt Controls

One of the trawlers I chartered had Kobelt controls. It was nice to look at, nice to touch, it was positive and felt good. It was a dual lever control, probably mechanical, and it looked like this:

2048 - Twin Handle Medium Duty Single Lever Mechanical Control Head

I looked at Kobelt controls and found the 2050 that would be perfect for me, single lever dual action, optional neutral lock switch, and I like the second mini lever for warm up.
However it is a high end product at around 1200$, but I guess you have the quality you pay for as it looks very solid and high quality.

Yes, the Kobelt product runs to the expensive side, but well worth it.
That's why it is the predominantly used control in commercial fishing vessels.
The warm-up lever is just another complication, why wouldn't one just set the main throttle control up a bit for warmup? Wasn't that a feature introduced for single lever outboard controls?

We opted for the more conventional control look from Kobelt. When looking at the internal mechanisms of the Kobelt vs Morse there is a significant difference with the advantage going to Kobelt. How that works out for the long term operation is unknown however. (Please forgive the construction dust)

A little bit of thread drift here...

When we purchased IRENE, I was excited about the electronic control (Volvo Penta EVC). I never actually owned one before, mine have been all cable. How modern and progressive I was!

Then a mechanic was aboard. Without solicitation, he looked at my control and said it was soooo old. "Volvo now uses this small, slick control."

I still like it! If I was replacing it though, and it was possible with the Volvo Penta, I would go mechanical. I believe it would be simpler and less prone to having problems.

In my case no doubt I won't go to electronic. First I wouls like to reuss cables in place if possible. I have many other changes planned and if I can keep the cables it will save me a lot nof time. Also my engine is an old guy without any electronic and purely simple mechanic working wonderfully and I would like to keep it that way. And also I don't feel the need for it, my boat is not an high tech trawler more a simple enjoyable old school one

On my new build I just used the basic Morse twin stick units for both upper and lower helm. These have been on the market for decades and are simple and reliable. In service now for several years and still shift like buttttah..

Lou: If you are happy with the way your conventional engine/gear controls work now, I can't see a good argument for going electronic. The standard Teleflex S top-mount controls are tried and tested.

Whatever changes you make, ensure that the new levers are adjusted so that their positions correspond with what is happening at the other end. In other words the transmission really is in neutral when the lever says it is. Similarly for the throttles.

I renewed my throttle cables a few years ago. The post below may be useful, even if you decide not to. My lever controls are likely not the model you will select.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s6/renewing-engine-control-cables-8186.html

Shoalwaters said:

Lou: If you are happy with the way your conventional engine/gear controls work now, I can't see a good argument for going electronic. The standard Teleflex S top-mount controls are tried and tested.

Whatever changes you make, ensure that the new levers are adjusted so that their positions correspond with what is happening at the other end. In other words the transmission really is in neutral when the lever says it is. Similarly for the throttles.

I renewed my throttle cables a few years ago. The post below may be useful, even if you decide not to. My lever controls are likely not the model you will select.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s6/renewing-engine-control-cables-8186.html

Click to expand...

Thank you very much!

I still have a question though.
Looking at the seastar/teleflex documentation I saw that there are two version of the control I was looking at. The 7640p and the 7540p. The difference is that 7540p has the handle on right, and the 7640p has the handle on left.
As I am not sure about what that mean is there someone that can clarify if:

1. This only mean that the handle is either on right or left of the control base and can be indifferently mounted to the right or left of the steering wheel.

OR

2. This means that the 7540p (lever on right) is intended to be mounted on the right of the steering wheel and 7640p (lever on left) is intended to be mounted on the left of the steering wheel?

If I ask this question it is because my current control is on the right of the steering wheel and has the handle located on the left side of the control base (in fact both the one on the flying bridge and the one in the lower helm is like this).

Lou

In case anybody would be interested, I confirmed with seastar that both model are intended to be placed on the right of the wheel and the difference in lever position is just there to accomodate different boat/windshield layout.

Lou

If you chose electronic I give another vote for Glendinning. Arguably the best piece of equipment on my boat. With twins I do a lot of shifting and bumping of the throttles in tight maneuvers and these units are smooth and precise. They also have other cool features. Since I use my boat often and single handed the units were well worth the cost.

Shoalwaters said:

I renewed my throttle cables a few years ago. The post below may be useful, even if you decide not to. My lever controls are likely not the model you will select.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s6/renewing-engine-control-cables-8186.html

Click to expand...

Your post helped me greatly when I renewed my cables, especially the wisdom on using a ferrule to join the cables. Well done, and save me a ton of time and aggravation.

mike