Mercury launches joystick control for single engines

According to Mercury, its new Joystick Steering for Single-Engine Vessels rounds out its suite of joystick systems, delivering effortless command and control for everything from multiple outboard engines to stern drives and pods.

In the past, Mercury had limited its single-engine joystick control system to pontoon boats fitted with a deployable bow thruster.

The new single-engine control function will be available in Australia from April.

Mercury joystick, steering, and throttle and shift controls senior category manager Tyler Mehrl said the new, simpler joystick system was unique in that it was specifically designed for single-engine boats.

“It features a simple, single-touchpoint user interface for throttle, shift and steering, facilitating ergonomic one-handed operation,” Mehrl said.

In contrast to Yamaha’s rival Helm Master EX system for single outboard engines, Mercury’s “sleek design” joystick controller features no physical buttons, instead relying on the user adjusting settings such as the autopilot and waypoints using a multifunction touchscreen.

The joystick will give the skipper proportional forward and reverse movement – the more you move it, the bigger the engine’s response – while the twist function will provide “precise, intuitive steering”.

Mercury said its Joystick Steering for Single-Engine Vessels “eliminates the need for boaters to use both hands to throttle, shift and steer during low-speed manoeuvres like docking”. 

“Not only is one-handed operation more convenient, but the precision control that the steering system provides will give users greater confidence in situations where manoeuvring a single outboard can be more challenging than a multi-engine configuration.”

The joystick will need to be integrated with a multifunction touchscreen with GPS, and Mercury’s SmartCraft Connect engine monitoring module.

The autopilot function will feature heading and route settings, allowing the skipper to drop waypoints on the chartplotter.

The heading function will allow the course to be adjusted via the multifunction touchscreen in either one- or 10-degree increments, or in 10-degree increments using the joystick.