Patent ID: 7497747

Claim:
A propulsion unit control system for a boat having plural propulsion units provided side by side and electrically connected in association with two adjacent operation levers that are controllable by an operator to operate a shift actuator and a throttle actuator of a corresponding one of the propulsion units, the control system comprising a lever position detecting device configured to detect a lever position of the operation lever associated with a reference propulsion unit and a lever position of the operation lever associated with a propulsion unit to be synchronized, a throttle opening detecting device configured to detect a throttle opening of the reference propulsion unit and a throttle opening of the propulsion unit to be synchronized, and a control device configured to control the engine speeds of the respective propulsion units for synchronization with each other when certain determining conditions are met, the control device being configured to compute a deviation between the lever position of the operation lever of the reference propulsion unit and the lever position of the operation lever of the propulsion unit to be synchronized and to compare the computed lever deviation to a prescribed value, the control device further configured to compute a deviation between the throttle opening of the reference propulsion unit and the throttle opening of the propulsion unit to be synchronized and to compare the computed throttle opening deviation to a prescribed value, and the control device is further configured to control the engine speeds of the propulsion units for synchronization with each other if the computed lever deviation and the computed throttle opening deviation are each equal to or smaller than their respective prescribed values.