A steering system for a marine vessel comprising: a first engine , a first hydraulic steering actuator for steering the first engine, and a first hydraulic pump for supplying hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic steering actuator ; a first shift actuator for shifting gears in the first engine and a first throttle actuator for increasing or decreasing throttle to the first engine ; a second engine , a second hydraulic steering actuator for steering the second engine, and a second hydraulic pump for supplying hydraulic fluid to the second hydraulic steering actuator ; a second shift actuator for shifting gears in the second engine and a second throttle actuator for increasing or decreasing throttle to the second engine ; a pump control module for controlling an output of the first hydraulic pump and an output of the second hydraulic pump ; a first CAN network and a second CAN network ; a helm for providing, on the first CAN network , user inputted steering commands to the pump control module ; a joystick for providing user inputted steering commands to the pump control module and for providing user inputted shift and throttle commands to the first shift actuator and the first throttle actuator and to the second shift actuator and the second throttle actuator ; and a control head for providing, on the second CAN network , user inputted shift and throttle commands to the first shift actuator and the first throttle actuator and to the second shift actuator and the second throttle actuator ; wherein the joystick can provide user inputted steering commands and user inputted shift and throttle commands on each of the first and second CAN networks , the joystick functioning as a gateway which routes information from one network to the other network for redundancy. a first engine , a first hydraulic steering actuator for steering the first engine, and a first hydraulic pump for supplying hydraulic fluid to the first hydraulic steering actuator ; a first shift actuator for shifting gears in the first engine and a first throttle actuator for increasing or decreasing throttle to the first engine ; a second engine , a second hydraulic steering actuator for steering the second engine, and a second hydraulic pump for supplying hydraulic fluid to the second hydraulic steering actuator ; a second shift actuator for shifting gears in the second engine and a second throttle actuator for increasing or decreasing throttle to the second engine ; a pump control module for controlling an output of the first hydraulic pump and an output of the second hydraulic pump ; a first CAN network and a second CAN network ; a helm for providing, on the first CAN network , user inputted steering commands to the pump control module ; a joystick for providing user inputted steering commands to the pump control module and for providing user inputted shift and throttle commands to the first shift actuator and the first throttle actuator and to the second shift actuator and the second throttle actuator ; and a control head for providing, on the second CAN network , user inputted shift and throttle commands to the first shift actuator and the first throttle actuator and to the second shift actuator and the second throttle actuator ; wherein the joystick can provide user inputted steering commands and user inputted shift and throttle commands on each of the first and second CAN networks , the joystick functioning as a gateway which routes information from one network to the other network for redundancy. <EOS>