MerCruiser’s new joystick system makes getting in and out of slips a breeze.

By Gregg Mansfield

For some boaters, the thought of docking their V-bottom with a lot of people watching can be downright intimidating. Whether it’s worrying about hitting the docks or bumping into another boat, it’s enough to make them get out the anti-anxiety medication.

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MerCruiser is hoping to take the stress out of docking thanks to a joystick system it has developed. If the company has its way, drivers will no longer need to use the steering wheel and shifters for getting in and out of slips.

The concept isn’t new (there are a couple of designs on the market), but this is the first time it has appeared in a traditional stern-drive boat. The system, named Apollo, can only be used with twin-engine applications on boats that go slower than 55 mph. It will be available on Bravo Three applications up to MerCruiser 496 Mag HO power plants.

But if the joystick technology takes hold, it could make its way into the high-performance realm in three or four years. Mercury officials hope the ease of docking and the ability to execute low-speed maneuvers might draw new boaters into the sport who otherwise may have been intimidated.

Using a joystick to dock is a basic concept, but designing it was anything but simple. In order for the system to work, each drive had to move independently, so a tiebar couldn’t be used and the drives had to be at least 42 inches apart so they wouldn’t touch. The boat’s steering and throttle and shifter also had to be digital.

Engineers were concerned about the drives’ durability and ease of shifting when using the joystick.

“The drives were put through 50,000 shift cycles,” said Reinhard Burk, director of product engineering for MerCruiser. “When we looked at the drives (the wear and tear) was negligible.”

The first boat with Apollo was a 29-foot Sea Ray cruiser equipped with Bravo Three drives with twin counter-rotating propellers and 5.0 MPI small-block engines. The helm had Mercury’s SmartCraft Digital Throttle & Shift system.

MerCruiser allowed the media to put the technology to the test during an event in June in Sarasota, Fla. When the shifter was moved into neutral, the joystick was activated and the steering wheel became inactive.

Pressing the joystick, the boat responded swiftly and precisely to my input. Twist the joystick and the boat rotated. As I moved the boat next to a piling with a strong wind from the starboard side, it felt as if the V-bottom had bow thrusters. But Burk assured me that was a combination of drive direction and propeller spin that made the boat so maneuverable.

The drives shifted in and out of gear, but it was barely noticeable from the helm. Engineers designed a safeguard so the engines would not go above 2,000 rpm when the joystick was in operation. (The rpm can be adjusted to individual boats.)

The Apollo project is based off the company’s Zeus system, which is targeted at larger cruisers. It might one day incorporate GPS that would allow it to stay in fixed positions. Burk said Apollo should be in full production by the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October.

Apollo also holds some exciting potential for the high-performance market, although Fred Kiekhaefer, president of Mercury Racing, said any joystick system for performance boats is at least three years away.

First, the company has to digitize the steering and throttle/shifter inputs for its engine lineup. And since the system requires that each drive move independently, Mercury has to find a way to get rid of the tiebar, which is essential for high-speed drive stability. One solution might be to create a collapsible tiebar.

“We need to be rigidly flexible,” said Kiekhaefer of the drive system. “Logic (computer technology) isn’t the issue. We’ve got to do a whole lot of work before we get there.”

Other challenges include that the drives on performance boats are generally too close. The drives articulate 30 degrees side to side and could potentially touch. To overcome that problem, engineers would have to limit how far the drives could move and might have to incorporate bow thrusters, Kiekhaefer said.

Even if designers could solve the problems, Kiekhaefer said it comes down to whether high-performance consumers would be willing to pay for a joystick docking system.

Kiekhaefer said there is one certain, “No one wants to look like an ass while docking.”