Installed wireless remote helm on 506

[Carpediem]

My wife and I are really enjoying our 506. It was a move up from a SeaRay 44DB which is 7 feet shorter and 20,000 lbs lighter and was much easier to maneuver and dock than the Aft Cabin 506. My wife was not comfortable with line handling on the 44 and she has no interest in helping to land the 506. We have a down wind side tie and the 506 has a lot of windage. On the 44 I looked into installing a Dock Mate or Yacht Controller but the 12, to 15 grand price tag was not justifiable so I developed my own. The wireless remote made it so much easier to single hand as I could be anywhere on the deck and dock the boat with ease and tie off on my own while my wife relaxed with the guests.
When we bought the 506 I had the intension of installing a remote to make single handing the boat possible as well but the Volvo EDM controlled drives provided a technical obstacle to the remote installation. After some consultation with great contacts I have in the electronic engineering field we came up with a work around and I was able to install my remote. Now getting the boat to the dock and secured is stress free. I shared the low cost system Idea with the Sea Ray community and several owners installed the systems on their boats. I thought I would share the idea here. The system is easiest to adapt to Cummins powered vessels with bow and/or stern thrusters with analog electric drives. It will not work with boats with shift cables although it can be installed for just thruster control. If anyone would like to investigate the viability of installing one on your boat, feel free to PM me.
Cheers
Carpe Diem

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Dual Thruster.jpg

[aussie530carver]

PM sent..

[Coldcruisin]

That is awesome. Nice work!

[vineyardgray]

That is very impressive work. You do controls for a living?

[Carpediem]

Source of the post That is very impressive work. You do controls for a living?

No I don't, I teach Aviation Maintenance at the local JC. I was unwilling to pay the big bucks for a Dock Mate or Yacht controller and decided to integrate an industrial wireless switch system to the controls on my Sea Ray 44. It worked so well that a few friends wanted them for their boats so I build one now and again.

[Midnightsun]

Must say this is really impressive, awesome work.

[trwestman]

I am a new 506 owner and wish to explore installing your wireless control system. Please send any information you have. I echo the sentiments of “impressive work!”
FYI: Cummins 405Cs and Factory Bow Thruster.

Sincerely,
Tom

[trwestman]

I am a new 506 owner and wish to explore installing your wireless control system. Please send any information you have. I echo the sentiments of “impressive work!”
FYI: Cummins 405Cs and Factory Bow Thruster.

Sincerely,
Tom

[Carpe Diem]

Tom, I just saw your post. Give me a call sometime to talk about it. 707 758 8356. I am in the middle of selling my 506 and retiring from boating. The remote has been a bit if a pain on the Carver.
Rusty

[Sea506]

Add me to your list! PM sent
Looking forward to connecting!