
SUPERYACHT #9 Summer 2006
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news

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Article by Angelo Colombo
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HAMILTON MOUSE BOAT
We've already had the chance to try Hamilton's joystick for
handling hydrojets at low speed on the Azimut 86S and we've talked
about it in the magazine. On that occasion we highlighted the easy
steering of such a large vessel in a restricted space, pointing
out that coming alongside with an 86 footer seemed even simpler
than it sometimes is with much smaller boats. Undoubtedly
technology can superbly overcome what some people consider to be
the limitations of precisely that type of transmission but, not
satisfied by all this, Hamilton has developed another system for
engine handling in the most critical phases. The Mouse Boat is an
actual computer mouse which, together with the joystick, allows
you to turn the vessel in very restricted spaces and with a
control that would be unthinkable with other systems. An
interesting fact is that after every action taken with the Mouse
Boat it returns to zero: you can move this hull-shaped mouse in
the exact direction you want to steer the vessel, inasmuch as the
mouse turns on no less than three axes, also controlling the
number of revs. This precious assistant to those assigned to
steering a vessel in port must be interfaced with the Blue Arrow
control system to which it is connected by a special cable.
Obviously the system can only be applied to vessels equipped with
Hamilton hydrojet transmission systems which, like other similar
systems, have often been held up as being complex in slow movement
handling, whereas after our trial aboard the Azimut 86S we clearly
demonstrated that, with the joystick alone, manoeuvring was one of
the simplest and most intuitive things you could do on a
superyacht. Today, with the use of the Mouse Boat, it all becomes
even more efficient and this kind of criticism of hydrojet
transmission now seems really out of place. Hamilton is also
envisaging application of the Mouse Boat to single engine craft,
but in this case control is on two rather than three axes.
For further information Hamilton Marine, PO Box 709,
Christchurch, New Zealand; Ph: +64 3 962 0505; fax: +64 3 348
9882; email: marine@hamjet.co.nz; website www.hamjet.co.nz.
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