I just got to see the new Teleflex Optimus 360 system in action
My 21 year old son and I just came back from three days at the Miami boat show and by far the best thing that we saw was the new Teleflex Optimus 360 system that brings joystick docking to outboard powered boats (which we got to go test ride and it was truly amazing!). I have always been intrigued by the concept of joystick docking ever since I first saw the Zeus and IPS systems when they initially came to market. When joysticks came to the I/O market, I serious considered moving from outboard powered boats to I/O just to get joystick controls. That said, I’m a huge fan of outboards because of their reliability, ease of servicing, and the fact that where I boat, if I foul a line, I can raise the engine, clear the line, and not have to go in the water to untangle the mess.
At the boat show, my son and I went on a test ride on a Volvo-powered, joystick-equipped boat and got to witness firsthand how great joystick docking is. Although I have decent boat handling skills in close quarters (docking, etc.), I typically either single-hand my boat, or am out with my wife who is a very reluctant mate in terms of line handling and helping to dock a boat (which at times makes things even worse than single-handing my boat). At the show, I thought about how great it would be to have joystick controls but wasn’t ready to give up my Grady White and my twin Yamahas.
During our test ride on the Volvo-powered boat, we asked if anyone was doing joystick controls for outboards (recalling that Yamaha had announced something a number of years ago but had yet to bring anything to market) and were told that Mercury was working on something. We then stopped by the Mercury tent and asked them about joystick-equipped outboard systems. The response was effectively that they could neither confirm nor deny that they were working on such a system other than that they had been able to do it with I/O powered boats, so that it was not out of the realm of possibility that they would someday do it with an outboard-powered boat. For a brief moment after talking with Mercury, I considered that I might be convinced to repower with Mercury in order to get joystick controls (even though I’m a big fan of Yamaha, and not a fan of Mercury – just by way of personal preference and experience).
After leaving the Mercury tent, we continued down the dock and happened to see a 30 foot center console boat with twin 250 outboards hanging off the boat. My son and I both thought it looked like the tie bar connecting the two engines was broken, as the engines were splayed, with the port engine swung outboard to port, and starboard engine swung outboard to starboard. We walked up to the boat to take a closer look and happened to see several guys wearing Teleflex shirts and hats that said “Seastar Optimus 360”. We immediately asked about what we were seeing and inquired if Teleflex had done what we had hoped that somebody might in terms of independent engine steering and controls (some of you may recall that the whole concept of joystick docking was originally tested on a twin outboard boat that had two separate steering wheels and engine control systems a different person operating each engine).
The team from Teleflex confirmed that they had indeed developed a comprehensive system that not only brought joystick controls to outboard powered boats, but that they system could be retrofit to any boat with mechanical engine controls and brings the additional benefits of variable assist power-steering, and electronic throttle controls with automatic engine synchronization. We were completely blown away by how well the system was designed, and spent almost an hour that first day looking at how it was installed and integrated into the boat. It is truly an engineering marvel in terms of the integration to the existing boat and systems and that it is a straight-forward retrofit. The team from Teleflex told us that they had been working on it for quite some time and had equipped and tested several boats with the system (including a Grady White somewhat similar to mine) and that it does exactly what I was hoping for in terms of giving 360 maneuverability at docking including being able to move a boat perfectly sideways, as well as diagonally forwards and backwards. Even the best captain can’t come close to doing what this system brings to an outboard powered boat.
We were invited back the next day to take a test ride on one of their Optimus 360 equipped boats (they had two at the show) and the experience was better than an E-ticket ride at Disney (for those who are old enough to remember what an E-ticket ride was at Disney). We were joined for the test ride by several members of the Teleflex team including their CEO (all really great guys) and got to spend another hour seeing the boat in action. I was willing to write a check then and there to buy the system.
The new helm is amazing in that the user can dial in the amount of resistance at slow and at high speeds (so that at slow speeds you get more assist and at high speeds you have a heavier wheel that stays on course). You can also change the lock-to-lock count for the wheel. Likewise getting electronic shift and throttle means you get silky smooth control of your engines and the added benefit of automatic synchronization of engine RPMs between the two motors (I’m constantly bumping one engine up or down to try to manually sync my engines). Teleflex provides a digital display and control system that shows you what is going on with each motor in terms of engine sync, engine position, and a host of other information and variable parameters for the Optimus 360 systems. Also, the entire system can be interfaced to either a Garmin or Raymarine autopilot (and since I don’t currently have autopilot, I don’t need to add Garmin’s autopilot pump kit since the Seastar Optimus 360 now gives you electronically-controlled power steering).
My son and I got to try out the joystick controls and it was everything I could have imagined and more. We made the boat go perfectly sideways in a strong current and in decent winds and were able to adjust the direction of our bow and stern with extremely fine precision to offset any of the variables that you typically run into at the dock. Just thinking about docking with a system like this and no longer yelling to (or at) my wife to fend off of a piling or another boat, or to get a line onto a cleat before we are blown off the dock would absolutely save my marriage (this system has to be a lot cheaper than a divorce).
I absolutely love my boat and the thought of adding joystick controls along with electronic throttle and steering (making the entire boat “drive-by-wire”) is very exciting. Before anyone asks the question, I have absolutely nothing to do with Teleflex other than having Seastar steering on my current and prior boats. I found that the team from Teleflex was genuinely interested in customer feedback (especially Yvan Cote – the CEO) and that they were extremely proud of their new Optimus 360 system. I actually asked permission to write this post (which I am writing on my plane trip back to Boston) as I wanted to be one of the first people to talk about having seen it in action and having tested it on an actually boat. To me this is a real “game changer” for outboard-powered boats.
The link to the Teleflex Optimus 360 website is:
http://www.teleflexmarine.com/products/ ... ol-system/
and the link to the brochure for the system is:
http://www.teleflexmarine.com/wp-conten ... lowres.pdf
As my birthday is coming up, I know what to ask my wife to buy me (please!).
Only 52 days until my boat goes in the water (but who is counting).
Ken
My 21 year old son and I just came back from three days at the Miami boat show and by far the best thing that we saw was the new Teleflex Optimus 360 system that brings joystick docking to outboard powered boats (which we got to go test ride and it was truly amazing!). I have always been intrigued by the concept of joystick docking ever since I first saw the Zeus and IPS systems when they initially came to market. When joysticks came to the I/O market, I serious considered moving from outboard powered boats to I/O just to get joystick controls. That said, I’m a huge fan of outboards because of their reliability, ease of servicing, and the fact that where I boat, if I foul a line, I can raise the engine, clear the line, and not have to go in the water to untangle the mess.
At the boat show, my son and I went on a test ride on a Volvo-powered, joystick-equipped boat and got to witness firsthand how great joystick docking is. Although I have decent boat handling skills in close quarters (docking, etc.), I typically either single-hand my boat, or am out with my wife who is a very reluctant mate in terms of line handling and helping to dock a boat (which at times makes things even worse than single-handing my boat). At the show, I thought about how great it would be to have joystick controls but wasn’t ready to give up my Grady White and my twin Yamahas.
During our test ride on the Volvo-powered boat, we asked if anyone was doing joystick controls for outboards (recalling that Yamaha had announced something a number of years ago but had yet to bring anything to market) and were told that Mercury was working on something. We then stopped by the Mercury tent and asked them about joystick-equipped outboard systems. The response was effectively that they could neither confirm nor deny that they were working on such a system other than that they had been able to do it with I/O powered boats, so that it was not out of the realm of possibility that they would someday do it with an outboard-powered boat. For a brief moment after talking with Mercury, I considered that I might be convinced to repower with Mercury in order to get joystick controls (even though I’m a big fan of Yamaha, and not a fan of Mercury – just by way of personal preference and experience).
After leaving the Mercury tent, we continued down the dock and happened to see a 30 foot center console boat with twin 250 outboards hanging off the boat. My son and I both thought it looked like the tie bar connecting the two engines was broken, as the engines were splayed, with the port engine swung outboard to port, and starboard engine swung outboard to starboard. We walked up to the boat to take a closer look and happened to see several guys wearing Teleflex shirts and hats that said “Seastar Optimus 360”. We immediately asked about what we were seeing and inquired if Teleflex had done what we had hoped that somebody might in terms of independent engine steering and controls (some of you may recall that the whole concept of joystick docking was originally tested on a twin outboard boat that had two separate steering wheels and engine control systems a different person operating each engine).
The team from Teleflex confirmed that they had indeed developed a comprehensive system that not only brought joystick controls to outboard powered boats, but that they system could be retrofit to any boat with mechanical engine controls and brings the additional benefits of variable assist power-steering, and electronic throttle controls with automatic engine synchronization. We were completely blown away by how well the system was designed, and spent almost an hour that first day looking at how it was installed and integrated into the boat. It is truly an engineering marvel in terms of the integration to the existing boat and systems and that it is a straight-forward retrofit. The team from Teleflex told us that they had been working on it for quite some time and had equipped and tested several boats with the system (including a Grady White somewhat similar to mine) and that it does exactly what I was hoping for in terms of giving 360 maneuverability at docking including being able to move a boat perfectly sideways, as well as diagonally forwards and backwards. Even the best captain can’t come close to doing what this system brings to an outboard powered boat.
We were invited back the next day to take a test ride on one of their Optimus 360 equipped boats (they had two at the show) and the experience was better than an E-ticket ride at Disney (for those who are old enough to remember what an E-ticket ride was at Disney). We were joined for the test ride by several members of the Teleflex team including their CEO (all really great guys) and got to spend another hour seeing the boat in action. I was willing to write a check then and there to buy the system.
The new helm is amazing in that the user can dial in the amount of resistance at slow and at high speeds (so that at slow speeds you get more assist and at high speeds you have a heavier wheel that stays on course). You can also change the lock-to-lock count for the wheel. Likewise getting electronic shift and throttle means you get silky smooth control of your engines and the added benefit of automatic synchronization of engine RPMs between the two motors (I’m constantly bumping one engine up or down to try to manually sync my engines). Teleflex provides a digital display and control system that shows you what is going on with each motor in terms of engine sync, engine position, and a host of other information and variable parameters for the Optimus 360 systems. Also, the entire system can be interfaced to either a Garmin or Raymarine autopilot (and since I don’t currently have autopilot, I don’t need to add Garmin’s autopilot pump kit since the Seastar Optimus 360 now gives you electronically-controlled power steering).
My son and I got to try out the joystick controls and it was everything I could have imagined and more. We made the boat go perfectly sideways in a strong current and in decent winds and were able to adjust the direction of our bow and stern with extremely fine precision to offset any of the variables that you typically run into at the dock. Just thinking about docking with a system like this and no longer yelling to (or at) my wife to fend off of a piling or another boat, or to get a line onto a cleat before we are blown off the dock would absolutely save my marriage (this system has to be a lot cheaper than a divorce).
I absolutely love my boat and the thought of adding joystick controls along with electronic throttle and steering (making the entire boat “drive-by-wire”) is very exciting. Before anyone asks the question, I have absolutely nothing to do with Teleflex other than having Seastar steering on my current and prior boats. I found that the team from Teleflex was genuinely interested in customer feedback (especially Yvan Cote – the CEO) and that they were extremely proud of their new Optimus 360 system. I actually asked permission to write this post (which I am writing on my plane trip back to Boston) as I wanted to be one of the first people to talk about having seen it in action and having tested it on an actually boat. To me this is a real “game changer” for outboard-powered boats.
The link to the Teleflex Optimus 360 website is:
http://www.teleflexmarine.com/products/ ... ol-system/
and the link to the brochure for the system is:
http://www.teleflexmarine.com/wp-conten ... lowres.pdf
As my birthday is coming up, I know what to ask my wife to buy me (please!).
Only 52 days until my boat goes in the water (but who is counting).
Ken
