Patent ID: 8684776

Claim:
An outboard motor, comprising: an outboard motor body that has a power source, a propeller rotated by a rotational output of the power source, and a rotational output transmission mechanism which transmits the rotational output of the power source to the propeller; a fixing member that fixes the outboard motor body to a hull of a boat; an actuator mounted on the outboard motor body and on the fixing member; tilt angle control means that drives the actuator to change a vertical tilt angle of the outboard motor body with respect to the hull; rotational speed control means that controls change in a rotational speed of the power source; rotational speed limiting means that limits the change in the rotational speed of the power source by the rotational speed control means so that a speed of the boat is kept in a predetermined trolling operation speed range in order to perform trolling operation; a switch unit that has a pair of switches for operating each of the tilt angle control means, the rotational speed control means, and the rotational speed limiting means in response to an operational input by a user; and mode switching means that switches a mode of the switch unit between a first mode and a second mode, wherein when the mode of the switch unit is switched to the first mode, the mode switching means makes one switch out of the pair of the switches function as a switch for operating the tilt angle control means to increase the tilt angle of the outboard motor body, while making the other switch function as a switch for operating the tilt angle control means to decrease the tilt angle of the outboard motor body, whereas when the mode of the switch unit is switched to the second mode, the mode switching means makes one switch out of the pair of the switches function as a switch for operating the rotational speed control means and the rotational speed limiting means to increase the rotational speed of the power source for performing the trolling operation as long as the speed of the boat is kept in the trolling operation speed range, while making the other switch function as a switch for operating the rotational speed control means and the rotational speed limiting means to decrease the rotational speed of the power source for performing the trolling operation as long as the speed of the boat is kept in the trolling operation speed range.