I finally got the new Barefoot Model Dyna-Ski in the lake. It has an Evinrude 250 HO and their I-Conn Control (drive by wire) and I-Command engine monitoring system. The I-Command is Evinrude's digital engine monitoring system. There are lots of things it can be hooked up to do. We have been using the I-Command System as a stand alone GPS Speedometer for several years. I think it is the best one made at this point. I use Livorsi GPS Spoeedometers also. I have not done a side by side comparison to the two. I do have a Livorsi GPS and a 60 MPH Airguide in my personal boat. Maybe I should add the I-Command system to my boat? Two GPS Pucks will look weird though . . . . . . The I-Conn control system has to be added on to 20" shaft motors. The hard part I'm told is removing the cable throttle and shift mechanicals on the motor and replacing them with the digital control stuff (not sure what they are called). The rest is plug and play as long as the motor has the correct software. The throttle looks exactly like the mechanical style and uses the same hole. The first thing you will notice when you put the motor in gear is there is very little resistance to movement of the throttle control. It is easy to give it to much throttle in reverse compared to the mechanical systems. I'm not sure why just noticed that backing off the trailer initially or maybe I was too excited (?) . . . . . . . it seems fine and very smooth now. The engine control is awesome. I can easily adjust the motor speed 50 rpms using the throttle. There also are a pair of buttons that will increase or decrease the engine speed in 1% increments. So at 2000 rpms a push of the button raises the rpms to 2200 or down to 1800. There is a slight delay but not much of one. The manual throttle control seems to have no delay at all. The water ski prop is a 4 blade 17 pitch. The observed top speed on the GPS is 57 mph at about 6000 rpms with a brand new motor. Normally they loosen up some after a few hours are on them. We have skied with it a little bit. My 9 year old 60 lbs son goes 12 mph on a pair of skis and my wife swivels at 14 mph. Speed holding is very solid at these speeds. More real world testing as weather and available skiers allows. Pictures to follow when we have a nice calm day for taking them. All in all it is a pretty sweet system!
Pictures. The more I drive it the more I like it. Everyone that has tried it cannot believe how smooth and precise the control is. The key swith turns the system on and off. The button to the left starts and stops the engine. The center button is a neutral button. The button on the right bumps the throttle up 1% or down 1%. It is 1% throttle opening and not RPMs. The control looks like all the other Evinrude recessed mount controls. The electronics replace the standard shift and throttle hardware. One data cable connects the motor to the system. No bulky cables in the harness! Sweet!
