Patent ID: 7214164

Claim:
A shift operation control system for an outboard motor including an engine and a forward/reverse-switching mechanism, wherein the forward/reverse-switching mechanism includes a forward gear, a reverse gear, a dog clutch, and a shift operation lever, wherein an output from the engine is selectively transmitted to one of the forward gear and the reverse gear to drive the one of the forward gear and the reverse gear, and wherein the dog clutch is actuated by a shift operation using the shift operation lever to switch a shift position between a forward position in which the dog clutch is meshed with the forward gear, a reverse position in which the dog clutch is meshed with the reverse gear, and a neutral position in which the dog clutch is not meshed with either the forward gear or the reverse gear, said shift operation system comprising: a shift operation-detecting device which continuously detects the shift operation by the shift operation lever, and which determines that the shift operation is in an early stage from the forward position to the neutral position or from the reverse position to the neutral position when the shift operation-detecting device detects that a shift position of the shift operation lever is in a vicinity of the forward position or the reverse position and that an amount of change calculated between the shift position detected at a present timing and a shift position detected at an earlier timing is not smaller than a predetermined change amount value; an engine output changing control device which changes the output from the engine; and a control device, which is operable to carry out control for changing the output from the engine using said engine output changing control device when: (i) the early stage of the shift operation from the forward position to the neutral position or from the reverse position to the neutral position is detected by said shift operation-detecting device, and (ii) a speed of the engine upon the detection of the early stage is not lower than a predetermined engine speed value, and to then cancel the control for changing the output from the engine when switching of the shift position to the neutral position is detected by said shift operation-detecting device.