New Throttle system

The gear shift on the port engine failed while we were trying to manoeuvre to stand by a capsized dinghy in Southampton Water. We continued with our weekend to Newtown with Neil, Tamsin and Kendra. Picking up the buoy and manoeuvring alongside at Marchwood were interesting challenges!

Alan Ganter worked out that one of the gear shift solenoids had failed, and in so doing a circuit board in the electronic throttle system had been wrecked. Vetus quite spoiled my day when they said the our throttle system was now obsolete. They still had a few spare boards, but wanted £850 for it. The question was, why had the system been made obsolete? Was this a common problem? Or were there other issues as well? The new system would cost £3000 plus installation, However painful, that was clearly the right way to go. So In the Spring of 2017 Alan Ganter and Adam Hartnell fitted the new system.

Once commissioned it took several attempts to get the slow speed response to throttle movements right. It seems that the shock absorber springs on the throttle cables were allowing some movement of the throttle levers before the engines responded.