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Front steering and throttle

F

fowbish

Well-known member
I am rigging up a boat for bowfishing and was wanting to know if anyone has run a front throttle control before?
 
Are you asking about a front seat operator position or something rigged out on the platform up front of the seat package ???

Scotty
 
my boat has dual station steering. One mounted on the cage and a lower one mounted low towards the bow. What info are you after?
 
I have seen a 20' boat set up for flounder giging with a bow rail that had throttle, steering and start/stop all on the front railing. The throttle and steering were cable. The throttle was hand operated lever. Had to be expensive cables.
 
Thats is what I am doing. I have looked at pictures of different types of throttle set ups and was wanting more opinions of what someone has done. My boat is a 20X8, it has no rail but 10 500 and 300 mixed lights.
 
An inexpensive way to set up your throttle is to go to your local Bicycle shop and buy a brake handle and cable. The brake handle will clamp onto the front steering stick for your throttle.
 
Faron is giving away more secrets hahahahah ! I always get my throttle cables at Montgomery Wards bicycle shop, or Wally Werld, or Sears. Dirt cheep. Work well and cheep to replace when time comes.

Faron you put them onto a winner there pal :)

Scotty
 
I have a rockcrawler that I used a gear changer from a bike that allowed the rpms to be raised and held, to run a winch or allow less clutch in some situations. Would there be any reason that I would need to keep rpms up or could it be a safety issue.
 
You never want anything that doesn't instantly return to idle as soon as you take tour hand/foot off of it on an airboat. thats a HUGE safety issue.

Scotty
 
out here in Nebraska some guys put fast idle solenoids on their boats because of the current on the river to hold the boat to the bank while they tie their boat up.
 
That is why I was asking. I had already looked at some of the electric set ups and all but they would be hard to RIG when something goes wrong in the middle of the night.
 
Nebraska I see the application for it there. My thinking is that first, airboats are tippy, its not unusual to lose your balannce on board when not seated and grab for something to stabilize yourself. Bad thing to have there for an erant emergency hand to hit or grab. Second , its not unusual for folks to get tipped out of a boat even from the seat. Either in rapid deceleration or collision, here again you don't want a boat taking off at throttle with no operator. Thats the reason we put those little trim tabs on the rudder so if ya do get dumped the boat will just idle around in a circle and come back to you. Rigged correctly a man overboard doesnt need to be an emergency, just wait it out a few seconds and climb back in.

I'm not joking about those little trim tabs, they are NOT to trim it to run strait, they are to make it run a little circle at idle.

EDIT: Wording change: The trim tabs are to relieve the perceived stick pressure when operating the boat. Adjusted correctly you will not have a heavy stick and the boat will still be allowed to turn in a circle on its own at idle. You never want to adjust them so the boat runs strait ahead hands off, ever. ( This is a CYA wording change for the pilots in the crowd LOL :)

Again I'm thinking Florida, and slack or at least not high current applications.

Scotty
 
I am pretty happy with the idle speed but coming up on a shallow that allows the boat to hit bottom is the only time that I would want the ability to raised the rpm's, that I can think of. I will have a kill switch and ignition up front also.
 
I would think that if you are standing on the bow of your boat and controlling the steering and throttle it would be wise to have a hand rail and kill switch attached to yourself like the jet skii's and lake boats. How many times have you been cruising or idleing and tap bottom. I have been idling out to the middle of the river throwing water over my front deck to remove sand and hit bottom and nearly fall out of the boat because of the sudden stop and start. It would be much worse standing on the bow with nothing to hold onto but the rudder stick.

Just my opinion.

I never knew that about the tabs on the rudders. It makes more sense now why they are there.

Thanks,

Dan
 
Whitebear - A bicycle brake cable - WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME THAT ABOUT 14 YEARS AGO. ALL THE *&#$*@%* CAJUN AND AGGIE ENGINEERING WE HAVE RIGGED THAT DIDN'T FUNCTION WELL AFTER THE FIRST TRIP.

And never knew that about the trim tabs set up that way. Makes lots of sense.

Big Daddy - that's two more.

Nebraska - I am leery of automatic kill switches. Make sure there is a way to isolate it or bypass it. An accidental disconnecting of one of those while on plane in deep water or strong currents would not be good.
 
Back when I was much younger and dirt poor I used to race an enduro bike. The brake and clutch levers were several times as expensive at the motorcycle shops as they were at the bicycle shops .... So ..... I won a National Enduro once at a place called Jack Pine with Schwinn clutch and front brake levers ..... :wink:. Worked for me!

BF
 
The cable I mentioned is also great because you can set it to only pull the throttle about 1/2 throttle or less. There is no reason to be on the deck at full throttle. *Saftey First
 
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