Volvo Penta electronic Engine Controls

freimr

Hello

 

I am thinking to upgrade my 2008 Rinker 330 from the mechanical to the electronic throttle and **** setup. Could you please tell me what systems you used at the factory when the boat was ordered with this option? Also do you sell a kit suitable for the 330?

The Engine setup is twin Volvo 5.7Gi's

 

Thanks for your help

 

Markus

Capt_Steve

Hey Markus...here's the response from Randy Rinker: 

There is no kit from Volvo to convert a standard engine to an EVC. The engine would require several replacement parts along with a new shifter and gauges. You could contact a Volvo dealer to get a list of all items needed and cost. I would guess this will be too expensive to do.

TonyWalker

During my recent repower project I gave brief thought to going electronic.  Just too much additional cost to be considered practical.  And with mechanical controls, anything that might break is fixable out of a standard tool box.

Tony

Salt Shaker 342

TonyWalker

My admiral (Pat) and I were having dinner at our new second home (Bradenton Yacht Club) when, right in front of our table, out in the harbor, in came a 35 foot (guess) center console Jupiter with radar etc. and 3 ea 300 hp Yahamas on the transom and was going to take the slip we had in perfect view.

 

Now I never saw joystick controlled engines before as far a I know but these being outboards it was obvious.  The 3 engines looked like a football team moving the ball to the goal line.  All going in separate directions and all taking separate orders to contribute to the approach to the goal line.

 

If some would have told me 20 years ago this would be how boats would be controlled I would have looked at them like they had one too many Margaritas.

 

But what I saw, as miraculous as it was, did not give me the urge to equip myself the same as that.  I am sort of like that old pilot who preferred conventional gear airplanes to the new (at the time) style tricycle geared ones.

 

Tony

Salt Shaker 342

freimr

thanks Guys for your input. I know it is very expensive and i dont know if the benefit is making up for it. Just a idea floating around in my head.

well will see what this summer brings and then make a "Margarita Decision"....lol

 

Thanks Guys

Michael T

I used to think that way too guys until I took my 2013 EC 310 twin 350 magnum B3s through 20 locks on a canal system and watched decent captains wrestle with narrow confines and high winds with some of them bumping docks and scraping walls. Some of them looked nervous and anxious. I might have been able to work the throttles, just maybe, but why? The Mercruiser axius made my docking and yaw control a breeze. Yes, a retrofit is likely far too expensive. But from my perspective using the Axius is such a breeze that - in my case - I'd be nuts not to get it on my next boat. Even the DTS throttles are, in my opinion, far superior to cable control - and I am real old school. The axius, for me, is the best money I spent on the boat and will mean that the Admiral will dock the boat and we will use it under far more varied conditions in far more exotic places. For me that's what boating is all about. I would never have believed how easy axius could make a trip. A lot of other boat owners took notice - I could see it on their faces when I pulled up to the granite sides of canal locks or while docking at tie-up points at night- and I have only 33 hours +/- on a twin screw cruiser......and no I have no stock shares in Mercruiser. MT

Capt_Steve

@MichaelT ... excellent points!

freimr

Good point you making MichealT. If i would buy a new boat i would go that route. Guess for the moment it is a question of upgrading to Digital or not.