Back in Montana for summer (trout fishing) and fall (hunting) seasons. Despite some issues was able to get the new boat equipped with a joystick out for 8 trips.
Following up on a bunch of threads about anchoring offshore and point lock features on electric motors. Enough experience with the position holding feature (“fishpoint”) to develop some opinions. I now have a i-Pilot on my bay boat so have some experience with this as well.
On a new boat the joystick did not add much to the cost and adds a lot of value. If adding to an existing boat, don’t believe the cost is justified because it is much more expensive. Yamaha now has a single engine version which I have not used, so cannot comment.
It takes a bit of practice to set up the boat to use fishpoint, similar to getting a line of drift when anchoring. Once you figure out how to set up, the tool will hold position in most seas. I found 3 feet was about the limit to hold consistently.
For bottom fishing, the fishpoint is like anchoring with a tiny fraction of the hassle. Find the vermillion/triggers, etc and can catch a bunch quickly. Water depth is not a factor - just as easy in 200 feet as 50 feet of water. The boat driver (me) also gets to fish, not just handle the boat. This is a huge positive, I think. More time with lines in the water.
Pay attention to where your line is or the props can take it away. Once this happened before we figured out you had to monitor and once thanks to a shark going where you couldn’t stop him.
I do have concerns about wear from the constant shifting in and out of gear when using the joystick. Too early to have any sense of impact.
The benefit to bottom fishing or jigging is real. Not as certain the joystick has as much value for docking a twin engine boat, takes some time to master using the joystick for docking. Handy but the benefit for docking only might not justify to cost.
If a boat can use an electric motor for position holding, that would be my first choice. But for a bigger boat, I think the joystick is worth the roughly 5k additional cost on a new boat, especially given how expensive boats are, the cost of fuel and limited days conditions let you go out in our area.
