Patent ID: 8141510

Claim:
A marine vessel steering device comprising: a turning mechanism; an operation unit that is operated by an operator to turn the turning mechanism; a steering angle detection unit to detect a steering angle of the operation unit; a turning angle detection unit to detect a turning angle of the turning mechanism; a turning control unit to control the turning mechanism according to a steering angle detected by the steering angle detection unit; a phase shift determination unit to determine whether a phase of the steering angle detected by the steering angle detection unit and a phase of the turning angle detected by the turning angle detection unit are shifted relative to each other constituting a phase shift wherein a deviation exists between the phase of the steering angle and the phase of the turning angle; and a turning control delay unit to start control of the turning mechanism by the turning control unit after elimination of the phase shift by an operation of the operation unit when the phase shift determination unit determines that the phase of the steering angle and the phase of the turning angle are shifted relative to each other when starting the turning control unit, wherein the elimination of the phase shift results in the steering angle and the turning angle having the same phase.