Patent ID: 7527538

Claim:
A small boat comprising: a plurality of propulsion units mounted at a stern; a toe angle altering apparatus connected to the plurality of propulsion units, the toe angle altering apparatus being adapted to alter a toe angle of the plurality of propulsion units while the small boat is under way; a running state detecting apparatus mounted to the boat, the running state detecting apparatus being adapted to sense an operating characteristic of the small boat; a controller comprising a toe angle control unit connected to the toe angle altering apparatus the running state detecting apparatus providing data to the toe angle control unit; wherein the toe angle control unit determines a target toe angle corresponding to a selected target running performance mode and the running state detected by the running state detecting apparatus, the toe angle control unit driving the toe angle altering apparatus to attain the target toe angles; and the target toe angle determined by the toe angle control unit differing for a given running state detected by the running state detecting apparatus depending upon which of multiple target running performance modes has been selected.