Patent ID: 7677937

Claim:
A control system for a boat equipped with at least one outboard motor and at least one operator station to control a hull, the at least one outboard motor having an engine, a throttle actuator that controls throttle opening for the engine, a shift actuator that controls a shift position to be put into one of neutral, drive, and reverse positions, and an engine control unit that controls the engine, the control system comprising: an operation input portion to control propulsion of the at least one outboard motor; and an operation quantity computation portion that computes control command values including a start and a stop, the throttle opening, and the shift position of the at least one outboard motor by detecting a steering state of the hull based on a steering input from an operator of the operator station, wherein, both the operation input portion and the operation quantity computation portion being mounted on the operator station, wherein, the operation quantity computation portion transmits the control command values to the at least one outboard motor via a communication portion, and the at least one outboard motor is controlled based on the control command values received for the start and the stop, the throttle opening, and the shift position of the engine, wherein, the at least one outboard motor is distinct from and physically distanced from the operator station, wherein a number of outboard motors, a number of operation quantity computation portions, and an installment location of the engine control unit attached to the boat are registered in the engine control unit as registered information and in the operation quantity computation portion by a remotely located diagnostic unit via the communication portion, wherein the engine control unit and the operation quantity computation portion store the registered information into internal non-volatile memories, and operate according to the stored registered information after a start-up, where the start-up occurs when a power supply is switched ON, and wherein: at least two operator stations are provided, where one operator station is used as a main operator station and a second operator station is used as a sub operator station; the operation quantity computation portion is mounted on the main and sub operator stations; the operation quantity computation portion mounted on the sub operator station detects the steering state of the hull based on the steering input from the operator and transmits the detected steering state to the operation quantity computation portion mounted on the main operator station via the communication portion without computing control command values; and the operation quantity computation portion mounted on the main operator station computes control command values from steering states received from all operator stations to directly control the at least one outboard motor.