OBs and OB control

Posted By: James Newsome
Date: 12/15/07 4:48a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Outboards & the Instantilt (Jim Blessing)

On my S29' I have the remote control of throttle and gear shifting, basically the same as any inboard would have. I would highly suggest removing the tiller control and adding the remote control. From experience I can tell you that when docking or leaving a dock, you need to remove as many distractions as possible. I once rented a sailboat while on vacation and it had an OB with tiller control. While docking I attempted to shift into reverse and give the motor a quick throttle up to kill my forward speed. In order to do this I had to look backwards instead of where I was going. I almost rammed a boat ahead of me while I was trying to get the motor into reverse. Only my daughter on the bow prevented the accident because she literally pushed the front of the rental boat away from the approaching docked boat. I was very experienced and could not believe what I almost did. As far as maneuvering the motor inside the well, I have very little room to do this other than a few degrees either way. I think you get back to the distraction issue when a skipper needs to be looking forward and not down in a hole with a several ton boat moving towards potential danger. This is just one opinion but I hope it helps.