Project report: Change to vintage boat control was a stupid mistake

[DVW]

As reported on these pages I modified my Bennington to make it my own. One of the modifications involved replacing the original single lever control with the a vintage dual lever control for twin engines. Thirty years ago when I found this control I said “someday I will find a home for this”. So it came to pass that I did find a home but what a mistake. First of all I had to add remote trim switch’s because the old control did not have switch’s. Then I had redo my switch control in order to keep one hand on the wheel and the other on the throttle. Finally after all that I discovered the old boat control was crap. It had excessive friction do to poor geometry. Last week I tore off the old control and replaced it with a modern low effort control having integral trim switches. Live and learn. Hope someone finds this interesting or at lease laughable.

 

[Yianni]

It did look pretty cool though. Was worth a try.

 

[jcr159]

you remind me why i just finally sold my '82 Honda CX500... lol...

Making old stuff keep working just isn't worth the trouble and effort at some point...

 

[DVW]

In my original post I did not fully describe why I got rid of the control in the first place. The bad issues occurred next to the dock while shifting in and out with engine idling. What I originally thought was excessive shift dog drag had more to do with bad control geometry right at the spot where good geometry was most needed. The old control was simple and elegant and I normally appreciate that but In this case the extra complexity of the new control was of worth it. In addition the old control was meant to be mounted front and center for two fisted steering in tight places. The new control has the right ergonomics for single hand operation.

 

[Livingthelife]

Not a stupid mistake, simply something that didn’t work as hoped. If everything you attempt works, you aren’t pushing the envelope had enough. The vintage control does look cool. Maybe you can use it for bar taps.

 

[DVW]

Not a stupid mistake…. Maybe you can use it for bar taps.

I have considered mounting it right above the toilet paper holder.

 

[JP10]

Reminds me of the time I thought a vintage refrigerator would look cool at our beach house.