Morse D2 controller or...?

[tyro]

I have a single stage scott (early one 510 model) going into a 3.6 boat. The control set up involves a transom ring that has two levers/pivot points built into it. the levers work in the horizontal plane and attach to the bucket and nozzle via two alloy rods with ball joints on both ends.


Anyhow I have a morse D2 controller and i was going to get a d499 series cable to operate the bucket. The bucket (factory ducted scott) is a monster. I notice on recent builds no one seems to be using the morse controllers any more with most using an sss style lever setup (or home made similar versions). The morse has a cast alloy housing and is fairly heavy. What are the pro's and cons of the lever vs morse cog style control mechanisms? should I stick with the morse or flick it and go lever?

[Lincoln]

Is your pivot the same as this Southern Jet one? If so, you can use the Morse lever but really need a brake pack or the bucket and lever will be free to float around as the unit reverse mechanism has no detenting. There is a brake on trademe at the moment - https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/parts-accessories/engine-parts/auction-1432636121.htm

If I was doing it again, I'd use an SSS or similar lever. Set it up so it goes over centre to hold the bucket up, and to reverse you just pull it up and back and keep hold of it as it will see some thrust force from the bucket.

The brakes can be a bit finicky to set up and keep working properly. 

[tyro]

Thanks for your reply it does look a bit like that with two levers (like the bronze one in the photo) except they don't have a clevis pin style end like that one they are merely flat steel bars with a hole in the end. I have never seen the unit set up in a boat and google has failed to reveal any useful pics. The unit is black unlike the newer blue ones. I will try and get some photo's organised tomorrow. You are right I think regarding no detent for my set up too. How does that brake thing work? I can see that that copper clip type thing looks to act as a detent of the shaft. What is that box thing in the centre, an attachment point? Ah ok got it contains tensioner nuts to adjust the detent/friction

[JohnR]

Those controllers can be quite hard to use as the usually have a short lever and theres alot of friction in pushing that cable arround the bend on the cog. They however still work. Morse is the type of cable. (Push pull cable). Up too you both will work but ur looking at big bux for a new lever and cable. Dont use a break thing, overcomplicated and not necessary.

[Lincoln]

Tyro, the square bit is the brake itself. the whole thing runs up and down the stainless rod between the stop collars you can see on the rod. The morse cable is what you see in front of the stainless rod in the photo. Inside the square alloy bit is quite complex. It has a bronze boss in the centre which the linkage to the reverse arm is attached to. Either side of the boss it has a bronze flat with a hole over the shaft. There are set screws and springs to set each of these bronze flats. What happens is if load comes in from the bucket via the centre bronze boss, it kicks the bronze flats over a little so they nip up on the stainless shaft and nothing will move - the more force, the harder it nips. But when load comes in from the lever via the cable, this load acts straight onto the square alloy housing as the rose joint on the cable is attached direct to this. When the square alloy housing moves, it stands the bronze flats up and allows everything to slide up and down the stainless rod. When it's set up right, it works well. It's not heavy on the D2 lever, my young kids can work it no problem. As Johnr says, it's arguably overly complex and there was a fair bit of shagging round and frustration to get it installed and working properly.

[tyro]

Thanks for the explanation

I Rang Scott's today the guy said my early unit/bucket was designed to run with an electric actuator or hydraulic control. Later they switched to a system that can run with a cable.

The guy said the D2 controller would be OK and that I could use the hamilton brake with detent, he said it wasn't a bad idea and it was probably what he would do. I spoke to another jet boat guru who suggested just running with the cable as John suggests. His argument was that for neutral you could just hold the lever and if the bucket was spring loaded up and down fwd/reverse should be OK.