Advice docking a boat with throttle mounted down low?

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "It should be reachable over or around the wheel so you don't lose the ability to move the rudder while shifting or adjusting throttle."

Yes of course. But you'd have thunk that such esteemed manufacturers of engine control gear as, oh say, Edson would have moved with the times, and in the these days of broad-butted and twin-wheeled boats, glommed on to the marketing opportunity of making a single lever unit that has the spindle of the control lever concentric with the spindle of the wheel, so the lever protrudes from the wheel hub just in line with your navel. Conceptually such a device is the simplest of engineering "problems". In fact the garden variety Edson pedestal mounted jobs already have all the necessary components present in them.

Maybe yotties are just too loath to tell manufacturers that their gear is dysfunctional or manufacturers are just too constrained by inertia to do the necessary thinking. Tho' Spinlock (see post #75) obviously have had their thinking caps on :-)!

TrentePieds

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Dean.hupp

I have a tillered Islander28. I repositioned my control to near the top of the cockpit combing with a single lever made for sailboats by Spinlock. The lever is removable so whilst sailing it doesn’t get in the way of lines. It accepts winch handles for the lever!!

Spinlock Flush Mount Throttle Control Unit

Now this is cool!

[nortonscove]

One single experience on a boat with this arrangement put it on the top of the list for things to avoid when boat shopping. I can't imagine how much of a pain it is in very gusty conditions and in tight quarters. No thanks. There's plenty to consider when docking and blindness shouldn't be one of them.