Throttle /gear controls. Single vs double?

Here are the photos of the Kobelt controls.

Datenight said:

Here are the photos of the Kobelt controls.

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Thanks - sent a PM. Will need to validate these are viable for multi-station config.

Peter (MV Weebles)

I changed my single lever control 2 years ago and Morse were on my lit but price was too high. These are high end controls and well used among fishermen boats. I installed seastar controls, while obviously of lesser quality (meaning some plastic parts) they are far enough for my usage and revealed to be comfortable to use.
Levers are one things but cables make also a difference, if nicely moving and lubricated there is no sticking issue, remember a lever is just... a lever.

L

We've gone back and forth between single and dual controls any number of times on different boats, and I'd have to say that I'd be happy with either. As RTF mentioned, during docking maneuvers the throttle rarely needs to be touched, so a dual lever system kind of ensures no lever overreach.
We had to replace the old single lever electronic control on Blue Sky, and went with a mechanical Kobelt double lever system. Comparing the internals between the Kobelt and Morse controls was interesting. I can't remember the cables we used (single station) but the controls are very light to the touch, easily as light as the old electronic control.

I’ve operated boats with both single lever and two lever controls. I much prefer single lever. Possum had Kobelt single lever controls. Never had a problem giving too much throttle. There was quite a bit of travel when you shifted into forward or reverse before the throttle advanced.

My boat is a twin and had dual function controls on the flybridge when I bought it. It also had them at the lower helm -- but they were disconnected. According to a prior owner, they had never been connected, but I figure the first owner must have disconnected them for some reason.

I (re)connected the lower station using the seastar system with station selector. At the expense of needing to rotate a lever to switch between upper and lower, this choice eliminated any possibility of a miscalibration between upper and lower w.r.t. gear selection.

The installation took two afternoons and works beautifully. It went particularly easily because I didnt need to change the cables coming down from the flybridge. I just moved them to the seastar units and ran new cables from the lower controls and selector to those units, and then from those units to the engines and transmissions.

I basically use the lower helm to bump the engines while docking. While in Califonia in my old boat, I used to use it for night, fog, and bad weather operation in open, deep, and quiet waters -- but havent had that use case in Florida.

I can take some pictures and post next time I'm at the boat and answer any questions about the system installation.

Don’t know about this

syjos said:

With single lever control, it's too easy to shift past neutral or not stay in neutral long enough for the transmission to slow down. Some marine transmission require shifting at lower RPM.

With a double, there is a delay long enough for the tranny to slow when moving hand from throttle to gear lever.

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I have Micro commander single lever electronic throttles. Forward, neutral and reverse detents are pronounced. Could I over shoot? yes, but it would be obvious.

Gordon J said:

I have Micro commander single lever electronic throttles. Forward, neutral and reverse detents are pronounced. Could I over shoot? yes, but it would be obvious.

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Microcommander and most electronic controls have an adjustable delay in the action to allow the transmission to spool down.

Also, it is pretty hard, I find, to shift past neutral. It is a very wide gear on the controls. In other words, the control has to be moved quite a distance forward or backward from the center of neutral to the point where it shifts into forward or reverse and the throttle starts advancing.

It is easier, I think, if rushed and unpracticed, to apply more throttle than intended when shifting out of neutral just by rushing and pushing past the detent into gear and further into the throttle range than intended.

syjos said:

Microcommander and most electronic controls have an adjustable delay in the action to allow the transmission to spool down.

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Just a quick side note about electronic controls.

1. Yes, delay is there and adjustable. However, years of muscle memory is not instantly adaptable. I had to re-learn control behavior to account for the “move-the-lever-then-wait-a-beat” phenomenon. Like when you read a book and the author notes “and a beat”. Don’t try to impact the throttle until after “the beat”.

2. Electronic controls seem to move more smoothly and with less effort than cable controls. At least in my experience. At first it was easy for me to overshoot the throttle (after waiting a beat) and it got me in trouble a time or two. But that’s just me. Perhaps my controls lacked a friction adjustment.

Also re Kobelt - i thought a unique feature was that Kobelt had/used ball-bearing “lined” cables. Maybe not the case?

Sorry - don’t mean to hijack or derail this thread, but I thought these comments and question to be relevant to the larger discussion that’s emerged.

I cut my teeth on a double..... Now I have a single and miss the double.
Per grabbing the wrong lever, change out one of the plastic knobs.... grab the wrong one, you will learn to tell the difference even in the dark.

I have Kobelt heavy duty two lever T handle, I've never liked single lever unless it's on air.

I respectfully disagree with post #9. I have a single as well and for me it's not as much a matter of needing throttle blasts, but more about simply taking it in and out of gear at lowest throttle. If I'm touching the throttle much, I'm working too hard. I just like to inch along to keep the chances of banging into something at a minimum. In fact, I imagine throttle blasts might be more needed in a twin powered boat.

Kobelt single or doubles with Cablecraft green cables (aircraft control cables) are as good as it gets for mechanical controls. Cablecraft cables can be tied in a knot and still silky smooth.

I have the single Glendinning for my single engine Mainship and prefer it, but generally prefer mechanical to electronic. it works very smooth, easy to adjust to or train someone and just works.



I trained someone to help me back out of a slip fighting a wind while I handled the lines. Their first try and worked perfect.


And Glendinnings support is second to none, as mentioned.



I've had both dual and single over the years and prefer the single. There's little change that one can slam it into gear at high RPM with the single. However, my Lavorsi dual control on my Formula was a real nice and quality dual control.


YMMV

Dual lever mixup was a recurring problem for me on my twin during stressful docking maneuvers. Luckily my boat was over 100,000 lbs so there were no rapid boat responses or movements.

So if going with duals I would highly recommend installing both gears to port and throttles to starboard.

makobuilders said:

So if going with duals I would highly recommend installing both gears to port and throttles to starboard.

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Agreed. That's the only way to do it IMO. Then each hand has a job and there's no mixing.

I've never understood the setups used on some old Chris Crafts and others where it's gear and throttle next to each other on each side. Or worse, the bizarre 4 in the center with gear-throttle-throttle-gear. It may look logical to keep port to port and stbd to stbd, but it doesn't work from a usability perspective.

Single or double lever.

Been on trawler 4 years double lever both stations. Installed a Morse single on my sailboat 7 years before trawler and never looked back. Makes it IMPOSSIBLE to shift at high rpm. No need to even think/worry about it.