Patent ID: 8234024

Claim:
A marine vessel propulsion system comprising: first and second propulsion devices arranged to be mounted on a hull so as to enable a steering angle to change; a first operation lever arranged to be operated by an operator to control the first propulsion device to have a shift state selected from among a forward drive state, a neutral state, and a reverse drive state and to control a power output of the first propulsion device; a second operation lever arranged to be operated by the operator to control the second propulsion device to have a shift state selected from among a forward drive state, a neutral state, and a reverse drive state and to control a power output of the second propulsion device; a first lever position sensor arranged to detect a position of the first operation lever; a second lever position sensor arranged to detect a position of the second operation lever; and a control unit programmed to set, based on detection results from the first and second lever position sensors, a target pivoting speed according to the positions of the first and second operation levers relative to each other and to set a target travel speed according to amounts of displacement of the first and second operation levers with respect to neutral positions, and to control the steering angles, shift states, and propulsive forces of the respective first and second propulsion devices such that the hull pivots at the target pivoting speed and travels at the target travel speed.