Controls, Position Of

[system 4-50]

From time to time I am reminded that the position of the controls on my 60ft narrowboat are unsatisfactory.  The standard Morse lever is on the left of my cruiser deck and I have to bend down slightly to operate it which impairs my view ahead and can't be reached if the tiller is hard over the other side.  The headlight & horn are on the bulkhead in the standard fashion and are similarly inconvenient. I would like to have all these controls on the tiller.  Has anybody done this and have pictures of what they have achieved?

[MoominPapa]

I shared locks on the river Nene with a chap who had a very fancy tiller handle, covered in buttons. I asked him what they controlled and the answer was "Nothing, but I used to be a Harrier jump-jet driver and that's the joystick from one: makes me feel at home"

 

No use to you, but an entertaining story anyway.

 

MP.

 

[NB Esk]

 

Never seen what you describe but it should be doable in this day and age.  Maybe a Bluetooth type set up, with the batteries stored neatly in the tiller arm?

I've moved boats with the setup you describe and more than once been "trapped " in the corner, not good. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, NB Esk said:

 

Never seen what you describe but it should be doable in this day and age.  Maybe a Bluetooth type set up, with the batteries stored neatly in the tiller arm?

I've moved boats with the setup you describe and more than once been "trapped " in the corner, not good. 

A bluetooth set up, controlling servos on the engine and gear box would have to be custom built I suspect. Possible there is a product on the market for boats already? I'm too lazy to search ?. If not, then either home made (arduino to make the electronics and programming easy), with plenty of trial and error, or paying someone a lot of money to develop it for you. The easiest way could be to make a box for the morse lever and the headlight and horn controls to clip on to the tiller extension when cruising, placing them close to hand while steering. Morse cables are certainly flexible enough to cope with the movement of the tiller if care is taken with the routing. The box could be around 6 to 8" by 6 to 8" by 2 to 3" deep or so in size to hold the morse control mechanism, so not that big, or heavy. It could be clipped to the swan neck out the way when moored up and the tiller extension is detatched. Relatively simple to home make, not going to stop working if the batteries go flat as you approach a lock and a normal, "use a bigger hammer", boat yard mechanic can fix it if it goes wrong. Just an idea.

Jen

Edited February 8, 2020 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Thought about this some more. Mount the morse control unit on the swan neck. Arrange the tiller extension so it acts as a twist grip to operate the morse control. Gives you neutral, forward, reverse and throttle by twisting the handle one way, or t'other. Perhaps a cog on the tiller extension that engages with a cog on the morse control when the extension is fitted. Nice and simple. Could be geared up if desired to make the grip easier to turn. The friction in the morse control means that once the desired direction and throttle opening is set, then the tiller acts as normal until you want to change. The tiller extension rotates on the swan neck as it would if a tiller pin wasn't present. Mount a horn button in the end of the tiller extension and a plug and socket to work the horn and it is good to go! The cogs would need to be specially made, or extensively modified. Everything else is simple fabrication.

I wouldn't do this on my boat as the control lever is nicely placed with respect to the tiller.

 

Like this:

 

Jen

Edited February 8, 2020 by Jen-in-Wellies

[phantom_iv]

Just buy a generic lawnmower throttle control lever and bolt it to your tiller. Or else one designed to bolt to a gearstick for disabled drivers if you need a heavier duty one. Might even get away with having a second one to operate the gearbox? Run them in parallel with your existing controls like a dual control setup. Then if your new throttle cable goes ping you still have some control...

[Alan de Enfield]

5 minutes ago, phantom_iv said:

Run them in parallel with your existing controls like a dual control setup.

On twin-control boats they generally have complicated systems to disengage one or the other control system.

 

You cannot have both controls 'live' at the same time.

 

 

Its always easier to criticise than 'invent' so just take this as a suggestion on a windy and rainy winters night.

 

Just one other thought, there is usually a need to disengage the gear selector so you can get high-revs for starting the engine. This is usually achieved by 'pulling the gear lever' away from the control box - not quite sure how that would be achieved in the above drawing.

[phantom_iv]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

On twin-control boats they generally have complicated systems to disengage one or the other control system.

 

You cannot have both controls 'live' at the same time.

Have to admit I was wondering exactly how such things would work as I wrote that, but thought that as such things exist it must be a problem that’s been solved by now.

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, phantom_iv said:

Have to admit I was wondering exactly how such things would work as I wrote that, but thought that as such things exist it must be a problem that’s been solved by now.

It is very common on sea-going boats with a helm 'inside' and another on the Fly-Bridge.

 

Even the twin-steering is complicated with all sorts of by-pass valves so that only one 'wheel' turns.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Alan de Enfield

[phantom_iv]

My head hurts now. Seems like the throttle would be the easiest to ‘dual’ though, as it’s just a one-way pull against a spring? Personally I’ve just learnt to operate the morse lever with my knee ?

 

That said, a bolt-on hand throttle on the tiller and just using the morse control to engage the gears would at least make some situations easier. Or have a floor mounted, foot operated gear lever to go with it ?

[Guest]

Sounds like a horrible plan. Having the controls on the tiller means they will move and be subject to brushing against/the elements etc and so forth. Why not have them in front of you? One of mine (trad) has both the gear lever and throttle directly in front of the steering position mounted where the hatch is. Could you have some form of 'control table' on your cruiser deck to do similar? I mean, I'm not even sure where you can put a champagne flute on a cruiser deck whilst steering so it would come in handy...

 

Seriously... If you're going to the effort of moving them - something more ergonomic that you can happily reach for when steering in consistently the same place. And then cover neatly when not in use.

Edited February 10, 2020 by TheMenagerieAfloat
wobbly spelling

[system 4-50]

Curious.  A response I made earlier seems to have disappeared.

I favour cables, I don't trust blueteeth sufficiently yet.

And I think I favour a modified lever rather than cogs so that I get the full functionality of the current Ultraflex lever, with a sort of collar bracket going around the swan neck.

That leaves me with the problem of routing the cables so as not to foul access to the engine, weed hatch etc.

But somebody out there must have done this before, don't be bashful, show us your pics!

[Alan de Enfield]

7 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:

But somebody out there must have done this before, don't be bashful, show us your pics!

I did meet a disable guy (boat called Victoria Plum) who had set up a system to avoid having the controls 'out of reach'.

 

He had bow and stern thrusters fitted, once off the boat he could drive and steer the boat into the lock with a remote control simply using the thrusters.

A little control box on a strap around his neck (like the ice cream ladies 'tray' at the cinema)

[Guest]

See! Most handy to have controls right in front of self :-)

 

My other boat has more the set up of OP's (albeit on a trad) and whilst I'm fine with that I do slightly wish the tiller was a little lower. I'd waste time and money faffing if I had them too :-) 

[Glynn]

It could be done using linear actuators on the engine & box and controlled by a switch on the tiller I suppose.

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Glynn
.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

11 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Just one other thought, there is usually a need to disengage the gear selector so you can get high-revs for starting the engine. This is usually achieved by 'pulling the gear lever' away from the control box - not quite sure how that would be achieved in the above drawing.

I was assuming it would be a morse control box similar to the one on my boat. I know there are several ways manufacturers have used to achieve this. Mine has a push button in the centre of the lever that disengages the gear control when pressed so the throttle can open independently. This would still work if there was a cog, pulley, or whatever fitted to the splines, instead of a normal lever.

 

Probably the simplest way for the OP would be to move/build/have built a pedestal on the deck in the appropriate place and height for the existing control lever and waterproof buttons for the horn and tunnel light. No pics of the current arrangement, so don't know how practical this is.

Jen