Controls & Throttle
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- Engine controls mounted in the footwell wall, if not recessed or protected by a bar are susceptible to damage from an arrant foot or dropped winch handle…Another method of protecting the engine instruments is a Plexiglas cover that is hinged above the panel. (Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat, p. 176)
- With tiller-steering, the engine controls are usually placed on the side of the cockpit well. Wherever they are located, it is important to be able to operate them while steering the boat and to do so without a loss of visibility. If a single control is used (as opposed to separate throttle transmission controls), it can often be operated by foot, which increases the range of installation options. Wherever the controls are located, they need to be placed so that they are not likely to get fouled by loose halyards or sheets. (Cruising Handbook, p. 84)
- Some thought has to be given what will be underwater if the cockpit floods. Commonly, the engine panel is located in the side of the cockpit well….When the going gets tough is not the time for the boat’s engine electrical circuits to short out. It is better have the pane in the coaming that in the well…such an installation also protects the key and switches from being snagged by people and lines….On our last boat, we placed the panel below decks in the navigation station. The minor inconvenience of having to go below decks to crank and shut down the engine, in my opinion, was more than compensate for by the fact that after 15 years, the panel was still as corrosion-free as the day it was installed. (There is no great need to have the gauges in the cockpit; given an engine overheat or low oil-pressure situation, the alarms would have alerted us.) (Cruising Handbook, p. 92)
- Two control cables are fastened to the control plate linkage, led fair to the linkage on the engine, adjusted and fastened tight. One need only to be certain that no sharp bends occur in the cables that might hamper movement of the inner wire in its sheath, and that the nut and barrel on each end be adjusted so that the gears, both forward, neutral and reverse, engage positively, and that full throttle on the lever corresponds with full open on the engine throttle lever. (Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat, p. 144)
- Connecting the wiring harness on the BMW simply involved snapping one end into the back of the engine and the other into the rear side of the ignition and instrument panel. (Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat, p. 143)
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