Funny, I am as well and don't want them either. The thought of failure has not allowed me to"upgrade" from my old school cable system.I'm an electronics engineer, doing industrial controls, remote sensing, and "bullet-proofing" electronics that has to survive lightning.
I would not have a fly-by-wire control system in my boat. I'm on the fence with electronic engines, too.
Funny, I am as well and don't want them either. The thought of failure has not allowed me to"upgrade" from my old school cable system.
I always put the engines in forward and reverse briefly before we cast off any lines just in case a shift cable is stuck or something else is wrong.
I'm an electronics engineer, doing industrial controls, remote sensing, and "bullet-proofing" electronics that has to survive lightning.
I would not have a fly-by-wire control system in my boat. I'm on the fence with electronic engines, too.
Sigh!
...
I remember the days way back when we had a boat with upper and lower helms, but even though manual, you had to consciously use a lever of some sort to pass control from lower helm to upper & back, and even then I managed to screw up one time and arrived at a helm, can't remember whether it was upper or lower now, and could not get control without zooming back to the other to move that lever. I give thanks our present boat, being even older, has absolutely simple, always linked, upper and lower controls, so what one does at one helm is duplicated at the other. Works for me. But I always manoeuvre from the lower helm to be closer to the centre of things, including the anchor switch, (the upper one has no chain counter), better depth sounder, and to be able to leap out to help docking, etc. And heck. I don't even have a raised pilothouse. To me, they make the flybridge redundant for most occasions, except great weather and wildlife spotting. But that's just me, I guess.
Am I the only one who thinks we shouldn't have to 'sync' our engine controls before we use them? This would never pass muster in aviation circles.
Why is this 'sync' step necessary?
Am I the only one who thinks we shouldn't have to 'sync' our engine controls before we use them? This would never pass muster in aviation circles.
Why is this 'sync' step necessary?
There have been fly-by-wire systems at both pilots stations for years in planes. There's no need to 'sync' the controls before transferring control from one side to the other.
I'm not sure why both boat stations cannot be active with one coasting in standby while the other is working, then switch roles automatically when the other knobs are moved. My mechanical controls always work at the same time...