Yacht Controller or similar?

CLOUD9

CLOUD9

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Home in Bath, Boat in Cala d'Or, Mallorca
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Only just discovered that such things exist!
I've now read a couple of previous threads on the subject but thought it worth asking about the latest kit available and any experiences of using it.
The idea of being able to control final docking from the cockpit is very attractive.
In the UK I have been able to handle the boat effectively single handed with the help of the thruster remote controller.
My first officer is not relishing the prospect of more active participation now that we will be mooring stern to and I will need to be on the throttles. I have suggested going down the head-set route so that I can whisper 'helpful' instructions, but that idea hasn't gone down too well. I've also floated the idea of her learning to do the throttle work whilst I handle the ropes and passerelle, but that wasn't popular either....
The answer may well be a remote which will allow me to be in the cockpit and finely control the approach. I know its an expensive option, but if it brings stress levels down and avoids another expensive divorce it will be well worth it!
Can this gear be retrofitted to 2007 vintage Volvo EDC? Any thoughts appreciated.
Rick
 
Yep, Yachtcontroller would definitely work with your installation, although as you say it's not a cheap option. A *much* cheaper alternative is to build your own, if you're so minded - jrudge has done this a couple of times with very impressive results.
 
My advice is to have a go without the remote/Yacht Controller idea.
You are starting off in Cala D'or which is well sheltered.
It is a tightish channel/fairway down to the far end which IMO would be more challenging than the actual docking.
SWMBO and I handle much more difficult docking situations than Cala D'or.
Cala D'or is perfect for you to get your confidence - both you and your SWMBO.
The headsets idea is low cost and works well.
Also, wireless thrusters are good after you have left the FB and gone down to help SWMBO

In the Med it is always accepted that a dockmaster will be on the quay side to help so you don't need to worry about the passerelle.
Leaving is easy.
Docking - all you really need is one lazy line and one stern line - then you can help.
My SWMOB manages - it is just confidence

So, my advice is - give it a try.
I'm sure you will both crack it.
 
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Hurricane said:
So, my advice is - give it a try.
Click to expand...
Thanks Hurricance. I'm sure you are right. Although, if I had stumbled on this gear before the winter refit and shipping to Mallorca, I would almost certainly have had it fitted. So we will see how we get on. We have some training booked for the end of this month in Cala D'Or and I'm hoping that this will give SWMBO a bit of confidence boost. I will report back!
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Yep, Yachtcontroller would definitely work with your installation, although as you say it's not a cheap option. A *much* cheaper alternative is to build your own, if you're so minded - jrudge has done this a couple of times with very impressive results.
Click to expand...

Interesting, Jimmy.
Was it just a matter of connecting an extra remote micro-commander to the engine CAN bus or was it even cheaper than that - buttons for example?
 
Hurricane said:
Interesting, Jimmy.
Was it just a matter of connecting an extra remote micro-commander to the engine CAN bus or was it even cheaper than that - buttons for example?
Click to expand...

Somewhere in between - I'll let jrudge speak for himself, but in brief his solution was to use off-the-shelf multi-channel tx/rx modules, and then relays with adjustable pots that mimic the throttle positions for idle ahead and idle return. His receiver connects to the throttle pot, and then his calibration method then is to make sure that when he selects his idle ahead position on the remote, the expected voltage is returned from the throttle to the ecu.
 
Thanks Jimmy
If he reads this, I would like to hear his solution.
Not sure I'll do anything because SWMBO and I can handle most situations on our own but I love this kind of mod.
I wonder of it would work with the MTU control panel.
Maybe another project.
 
Being able to drive from the aft cockpit is a huge help and I've had this on all my boats since 2004, but for Cloud 9 I would do it just by adding an extra Volvo throttle head in the aft cockpit and a bowthruster joystick. This is plug and play by connecting to the Volvo loom
 
jfm said:
I would do it just by adding an extra Volvo throttle head in the aft cockpit and a bowthruster joystick. This is plug and play by connecting to the Volvo loom
Click to expand...
Thanks jfm. I have noticed the extra cockpit controls on a number of boats. What didn't occur to me is that it might not be a massive job to get it installed.. (Im still thinking about complex mechanical linkages as I seem to be stuck in about 1982!)
 
Sorry to give the contrarian view but I've had aft cockpit controls in my last 2 boats and I don't use them at all for manouvering into a Med mooring. I much prefer to see all the extremities of the boat when reversing into a Med mooring and for that reason prefer to stay at the helm upstairs until I see that at least one bow and one stern line is properly attached and the boat is going nowhere. You can usually see the stern of the boat through the hatch for the flybridge stairs from the flybridge helm anyway. The only time I use the cockpit controls is for tightening up the stern lines which is something I could equally well do with the stern winches but we find easier to do (v gently!) with the throttles

In any case, having a Yacht Controller or cockpit controls is not really going to help with the one task your SWMBO is going to hate the most and that is walking the (usually) filthy and barnacle encrusted bow lines forward and pulling them in at the bow. Btw buy some good quality crew gloves for anyone tasked with this job

If your SWMBO is not going to be keen on helping with crewing (nothing wrong with that btw), you should make friends with your home marina management, explain the issue and ask that they supply at least 2 marineros when you come back into your home mooring, one of whom should be asked to do the bow lines. Its amazing how helpful marineros can be if there is the prospect of a €10 tip every time you go into your mooring. Its best also to remind them that you need 2 marineros by calling on the VHF when you return to the marina
 
Thanks for the alternative perspective Mike. Having only so far done this once I clearly have a learning curve to go through before I can make sensible comment. The attraction of control from the cockpit or from a remote is that I hoped I could come down from the flybridge helm earlier and assist whilst still being able to give it a touch of forward or reverse. Its the 'staying on the flybridge' bit that will wind her up... particularly if its not going so well...
Thanks for the tip with the gloves. I bought her a pair for Christmas (lucky girl). She asked why the hell she would need gloves. I explained about picking up barnacle encrusted bow lines. Last week I put my first Mediterranean bow line on.... and within 10 seconds of picking it up I was covered in blood from a sliced middle finger. I laughed out loud! (I have gloves on board but was far too butch to actually put them on)
Fully with you on looking after those who can help out... there will no doubt be mopeds screeching to a halt at our berth from all directions!
 
Saw a neat trick when we were in Cala D'Or a couple of years ago.
There was a charter boat (Sunseeker) next to us and the crew consisted of one permanent skipper and a casual female chef/deck hand.
The chef/deckhand didn't want to get her hands dirty and didn't seem to have any gloves so she used the boat hook and ran the lazy line through it whilst she walked down the side deck.
By the time she had got to the bow the skipper was there to pull the last bit in.
The technique wouldn't work for us because we (like most others) tend to fix the bow lines first (even the first time in a berth) and then winch back.
In our case, SWMBO fixes at least one bow line - then moves on to the other so by the time I get down, they are mostly done and I all I do is tighten the stern lines that she has left loose.
 
Hurricane said:
...used the boat hook and ran the lazy line through it whilst she walked down the side deck.
By the time she had got to the bow the skipper was there to pull the last bit in.
Click to expand...
That's what we do every time. Been doing it for years. It also allows 2 ways to stop the mud/slime touching the boat and dirtying it: you can either hold the dirty lazy line a metre away from the boat (if you have the space of course), or hold it close to the waterline. With fin stabs, its better to hold it a metre outboard of the beam

Also we do this even though we attach bow lines first then winch back on the capstans - I don't see any technique-istical incompatibility there

It can be necessary to use gloves and hands when you are squashed tight fender-to-fender with your neighbour but that doesn't happy in lots of places including the yacht club end of Cala d'Or
 
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CLOUD9 said:
Thanks for the alternative perspective Mike.
Click to expand...
Interesting how there are very different views on this. I absolutely never do the final parking from the flybridge. I always do it from aft deck using the remote, so I can see what is happening with lines and fenders and passerelle, and talk easily to crew. Definitely each to their own on this! That said, if the gap is sort of same width as the boat I do final approach from the fly and only run down to the aft deck controls once the boat is 2/3rds into the berth
 
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Hurricane said:
The chef/deckhand didn't want to get her hands dirty and didn't seem to have any gloves so she used the boat hook and ran the lazy line through it whilst she walked down the side deck
Click to expand...
We try to do the same but where the lazy lines are encrusted with barnacles or have knots in them from previous breakages, they don't run easily through a boathook. The other factor is that there is nothing quite so annoying as getting the lazy line nearly to the bow and then allowing it to slip from the hook or worse, some cack handed guest dropping the boat hook in the water. Somebody ought to make a boat hook with a closed hook and a wrist safety loop! Perhaps somebody does?
 
Deleted User said:
We try to do the same but where the lazy lines are encrusted with barnacles or have knots in them from previous breakages, they don't run easily through a boathook.
Click to expand...

we use a boat hook with a roller, like this,

boathook.jpg


I don't remember where we bought this a few years ago
 
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