Remote Controls for Tohatsu 9.8

Sep 11, 2013
242
Catalina 25 6106 Lake Erie Metro Park
One of my (many) winter time projects will be to add remote controls to my Tohatsu 9.8 outboard on a '90 Catalina 25. I've ordered the kit from Tohatsu with 10 foot cables. Can anyone offer any advice in regard to the placement of the control box and routing of the cables? I was thinking of putting the control box on the starboard side of the cockpit near the deck (motor is on strbrd side as well).

Thanx,
Tom G
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Sorry Tom,
No suggestions, but I am interested in seeing what you come up with. Thanks for posting.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
Sep 11, 2013
242
Catalina 25 6106 Lake Erie Metro Park
The project most likely won’t start until March or thereafter. Temp was 20 F here this AM. I’ll post the results. My main concern is routing / length of the cables. My outboard drops rather low on the transom to keep the prop in the water. I’m concerned about cable binding and hoped someone had been down this road before and could advise.
 

Gunni

.
Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Try the small-boat forum where these outboards-hanging-on-the-transom live.
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
The project most likely won’t start until March or thereafter. Temp was 20 F here this AM. I’ll post the results. My main concern is routing / length of the cables. My outboard drops rather low on the transom to keep the prop in the water. I’m concerned about cable binding and hoped someone had been down this road before and could advise.
My suggestion is to place the box on the cockpit's wall at or below bench height. Midway, fore and aft, convenient to your normal steering position would be my preference. The run back to the motor can be routed behind the wall. in a separate conduit, or simply bunched together.... there are a variety of "cable clams" that can facilitate this.
The method of avoiding kinks in the cable is to configure them in a big spiral near the motor connection. When you raise and lower the motor the spiral allows the cable end to move without binding. Actually, the cable manufacturer will instruct you to add an extra couple of feet to your measurement to account for the loop.
This picture isn't that good, but you can see the loops at the bottom.... that's the idea anyway.Impulse aug 04 027.jpg
Don't forget, the Tohatsu equipment should have adequate instructions to answer most of your questions.. The biggest decision you'll make is where to place the box.... I set mine a little too high, but lowering it requires some contortions that don't warrant the added convenience. You're trying to avoid snags.... but in truth, knowing the culprit (control arm) is there motivates you to keep your sheets tidy in the cockpit.
Lastly..... this upgrade will vastly improve your sailing life... I do not even have a tiller.... the motor rotation is tightened and I use rudder and prop wash to maneuver.... just as if the boat were equipped with an inboard. Have fun.
 
Last edited:
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jcb2

.
Jun 5, 2012
51
Oday 31 Bayville, NJ
An elderly fellow in my marina added this on his Catalina 25. He found a used throttle and starter from a power boat. His son installed it on the starb’d side of the cockpit near the wheel. This allowed him to singlehand well into his 80s. He sold it and then bought a small Ranger tug boat because he was having trouble handling the halyard and sheets but didn’t want to give up boating. Sorry but I don’t know the details.
 
Sep 11, 2013
242
Catalina 25 6106 Lake Erie Metro Park
Thanx for all the input...I'll post pix, as long as it doesn't turn into a disaster.

Tom G
 
Sep 11, 2013
242
Catalina 25 6106 Lake Erie Metro Park
Update on project Remote Control
Spoiler: If I had to do it again, I would sell my outboard motor and buy one already configured for remote control rather than try to convert a tiller model like mine.
The whole point of this exercise was to eliminate the need to lean over the transom, especially in choppy water. I choose to use the Tohatsu remote box rather than a generic product. Tohatsu sells a "kit" that consists of all of the gear shift and throttle linkage parts but it unfortunately didn't include the choke solenoid or its related parts. The "kit" leaves the choke operation manually actuated, even though the remote control box has the capability to activate the choke electrically by pushing in the key switch. They also failed to mention that the carburetor is different in that the choke lever on the tiller model is designed to close the choke plate when pulled forward as opposed to being pulled up as it needs to be when activated by a solenoid. This necessitated making some small linkage rods from brass rod stock to reverse the motion as shown in the pictures.

Choke solenoid and linkage.jpg


A spring had to be added to hold the choke plate open when the choke solenoid is deactivated and another to keep the manual choke throttle advance lever out of the way.
Other than that, the rest went fairly smoothly. The remote box was mounted on the starboard side of the cockpit foot well.

Remote box installed.jpg


A 1 1/4" hole was drilled in the transom to allow the cable to pass through. I used a CV joint boot to cover it.


Transon hole.jpg


The cables pas through the foot well wall into the rear bunk area, then out through the transom.

Interior view 2.jpg


Motor shown in the operational position, fully lowered:

Motor at operational position.jpg


Motor fully raised and tilted up.

Motor raised and tilted.jpg


If anyone is interested in pursuing the same project, it set me back about $700. PM me and I can provide Tohatsu part numbers and more details about modifying the choke linkage.
So far I've only tried it out with the boat on the trailer and the motor in a barrel of water. Launch day is still two weeks away....

Tom G
 
Mar 20, 2018
1
Catalina 27" San Diego
Hi!
I have started on this project myself, a bit more custom than yours. But I would love to see what parts you ordered. I'm having trouble finding the right shift/throttle cables at the moment. And I'll need the brackets.
Thanks for any help!
 
May 22, 2011
9
catalina 25tall rig city island, bronx
Update on project Remote Control
Spoiler: If I had to do it again, I would sell my outboard motor and buy one already configured for remote control rather than try to convert a tiller model like mine.
The whole point of this exercise was to eliminate the need to lean over the transom, especially in choppy water. I choose to use the Tohatsu remote box rather than a generic product. Tohatsu sells a "kit" that consists of all of the gear shift and throttle linkage parts but it unfortunately didn't include the choke solenoid or its related parts. The "kit" leaves the choke operation manually actuated, even though the remote control box has the capability to activate the choke electrically by pushing in the key switch. They also failed to mention that the carburetor is different in that the choke lever on the tiller model is designed to close the choke plate when pulled forward as opposed to being pulled up as it needs to be when activated by a solenoid. This necessitated making some small linkage rods from brass rod stock to reverse the motion as shown in the pictures.

View attachment 163627

A spring had to be added to hold the choke plate open when the choke solenoid is deactivated and another to keep the manual choke throttle advance lever out of the way.
Other than that, the rest went fairly smoothly. The remote box was mounted on the starboard side of the cockpit foot well.

View attachment 163628

A 1 1/4" hole was drilled in the transom to allow the cable to pass through. I used a CV joint boot to cover it.


View attachment 163629

The cables pas through the foot well wall into the rear bunk area, then out through the transom.

View attachment 163630

Motor shown in the operational position, fully lowered:

View attachment 163631

Motor fully raised and tilted up.

View attachment 163632

If anyone is interested in pursuing the same project, it set me back about $700. PM me and I can provide Tohatsu part numbers and more details about modifying the choke linkage.
So far I've only tried it out with the boat on the trailer and the motor in a barrel of water. Launch day is still two weeks away....

Tom G
 
May 22, 2011
9
catalina 25tall rig city island, bronx
I just purchased an elec start tohatsu and when i said i wanted cockpit controls. they said i would lose my tiller. is that true/
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Did you ever find out what they meant by losing the tiller? Were they referring to steering or was there some reason the tiller would be in the way of a remote control console?

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
Sep 11, 2013
242
Catalina 25 6106 Lake Erie Metro Park
I looked at the parts lists for my motor, the 9.8 model, and then compared the throttle and gearshift parts between the tiller model and the remote control model. There was a conversion package but IRC, not everything was included, most notably the electric choke solenoid and its linkage and that the carburetor choke lever was different. I figured that out the hard way when I attempted to assemble the choke linkage.

As noted above, I had to fabricate part of the linkage. I’m not familiar with the 9.9 model, I don’t know if it’s carbureted or fuel injected. I would start with the exploded spare lists and compare the rc model with the tiller model. I was able to retain the tiller after converting.

There were two controller boxes for the 9.8. Get the one with the tension adjuster and the wiring harness plug. You’ll also need the corresponding harness for the motor but it will make removing the motor in fall a lot easier


PM me if you have any detailed questions

Tom G
 
May 25, 2022
1
Lindenberg 26 Jefferson Beach Marina
Update on project Remote Control
Spoiler: If I had to do it again, I would sell my outboard motor and buy one already configured for remote control rather than try to convert a tiller model like mine.
The whole point of this exercise was to eliminate the need to lean over the transom, especially in choppy water. I choose to use the Tohatsu remote box rather than a generic product. Tohatsu sells a "kit" that consists of all of the gear shift and throttle linkage parts but it unfortunately didn't include the choke solenoid or its related parts. The "kit" leaves the choke operation manually actuated, even though the remote control box has the capability to activate the choke electrically by pushing in the key switch. They also failed to mention that the carburetor is different in that the choke lever on the tiller model is designed to close the choke plate when pulled forward as opposed to being pulled up as it needs to be when activated by a solenoid. This necessitated making some small linkage rods from brass rod stock to reverse the motion as shown in the pictures.

View attachment 163627

A spring had to be added to hold the choke plate open when the choke solenoid is deactivated and another to keep the manual choke throttle advance lever out of the way.
Other than that, the rest went fairly smoothly. The remote box was mounted on the starboard side of the cockpit foot well.

View attachment 163628

A 1 1/4" hole was drilled in the transom to allow the cable to pass through. I used a CV joint boot to cover it.


View attachment 163629

The cables pas through the foot well wall into the rear bunk area, then out through the transom.

View attachment 163630

Motor shown in the operational position, fully lowered:

View attachment 163631

Motor fully raised and tilted up.

View attachment 163632

If anyone is interested in pursuing the same project, it set me back about $700. PM me and I can provide Tohatsu part numbers and more details about modifying the choke linkage.
So far I've only tried it out with the boat on the trailer and the motor in a barrel of water. Launch day is still two weeks away....

Tom G
[/If anyone is interested in pursuing the same project, it set me back about $700. PM me and I can provide Tohatsu part numbers and more details about modifying the choke linkage.]



Hi,
I am in exact same place. Just purchased what i was told from the local Tohatsu rep only to find out that the conversion kit was not going to have all the parts to perfectly convert my EFT 9.8 a3 model.

I would appreciate if you could send me as many details/notes as you can. Im not a mechanic but with little guidance im confident i can complete this project.

Thank you kindly!
 
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Likes: Will Gilmore