Marine vessel including steering mechanism for marine vessel
A marine vessel including a steering mechanism that includes a steering wheel including shift switches to cause the marine vessel to shift to a course holding mode to hold a course of the marine vessel, and a traveling direction maintaining mode to maintain a traveling direction of the marine vessel.
1 . A marine vessel comprising:
a steering mechanism including a steering wheel; wherein
the steering wheel includes shift switches to cause the marine vessel to shift to a course holding mode to hold a course of the marine vessel, and a traveling direction maintaining mode to maintain a traveling direction of the marine vessel;
the steering wheel further includes course adjusting switches to adjust the course of the marine vessel navigating in the course holding mode or the traveling direction maintaining mode;
the course adjusting switches include first and second course adjusting switches corresponding to starboard and port of the marine vessel;
the first course adjusting switch to change the course toward the starboard is located on a starboard side of the steering wheel when the marine vessel is moving straight; a
the second course adjusting switch to change the course toward the port is located on a port side of the steering wheel when the marine vessel is moving straight; and
when a marine vessel operator rotates a wheel portion of the steering wheel by a predetermined amount or more, the course holding mode or the traveling direction maintaining mode is released.
2 . The marine vessel according to claim 1 , wherein the shift switches are located within reach of fingers of a marine vessel operator who is gripping the wheel portion of the steering wheel.
3 . The marine vessel according to claim 1 , wherein each of the shift switches is operable to emit a digital signal to a controller configured or programmed to control at least one of propulsion devices or steering units of the marine vessel according to an operation on the shift switches.
4 . The marine vessel according to claim 1 , wherein
the steering wheel includes a central portion supported rotatably around a rotation fulcrum with respect to a hull of the marine vessel, the wheel portion, and spoke portions that connect the central portion and the wheel portion; and
the shift switches are located on the spoke portions.
5 . The marine vessel according to claim 4 , wherein
the spoke portions including the shift switches are positioned above a virtual plane passing through the rotation fulcrum and parallel to a left/right direction of the marine vessel, and are positioned within an angle range from about 0° to about 60° with respect to the virtual plane in a circumferential direction about the rotation fulcrum.
6 . A marine vessel comprising:
a steering mechanism including a steering wheel; and
the steering wheel includes shift switches to cause the marine vessel to shift to a position maintaining mode to keep the marine vessel at a predetermined position, a bow direction maintaining mode to maintain a bow direction of the marine vessel in a predetermined direction, and a fixed point holding mode to keep the marine vessel at the predetermined position and maintain the bow direction of the marine vessel in the predetermined direction.
7 . The marine vessel according to claim 6 , wherein each of the shift switches is operable to emit a digital signal to a controller configured or programmed to control at least one of propulsion devices or steering units of the marine vessel.
8 . The marine vessel according to claim 6 , wherein the steering wheel further includes thrust level setting switches to set a thrust level to adjust a position of the marine vessel in the position maintaining mode, the bow direction maintaining mode, or the fixed point holding mode.
9 . The marine vessel according to claim 6 , wherein
the steering wheel includes a central portion supported rotatably around a rotation fulcrum with respect to a hull of the marine vessel, an annular wheel portion, and a spoke portion that connects the central portion and the wheel portion; and
the shift switches are located on the spoke portion.
10 . The marine vessel according to claim 9 , wherein the spoke portion including the shift switches is positioned below a virtual plane passing through the rotation fulcrum and parallel to a left/right direction of the marine vessel.
11 . A marine vessel comprising:
a steering mechanism including a steering wheel; wherein
the steering wheel includes a shift switch to cause the marine vessel to shift to at least one of a course holding mode to hold a course of the marine vessel, a traveling direction maintaining mode to maintain a traveling direction of the marine vessel, a position maintaining mode to keep the marine vessel at a predetermined position, a bow direction maintaining mode to maintain a bow direction of the marine vessel in a predetermined direction, or a fixed point holding mode to keep the marine vessel at the predetermined position and maintain the bow direction of the marine vessel in the predetermined direction;
the steering wheel further includes course adjusting switches to adjust the course of the marine vessel navigating in the course holding mode or the traveling direction maintaining mode;
the course adjusting switches include first and second course adjusting switches corresponding to starboard and port of the marine vessel;
the first course adjusting switch to change the course toward the starboard is located on a starboard side of the steering wheel when the marine vessel is moving straight;
the second course adjusting switch to change the course toward the port is located on a port side of the steering wheel when the marine vessel is moving straight; and
when a marine vessel operator rotates a wheel portion of the steering wheel by a predetermined amount or more, the course holding mode or the traveling direction maintaining mode is released.