Electric actuator for a marine vessel

An electric actuator for imparting steering movement to a tiller of a propulsion unit of a marine vessel, the electric actuator comprising:

• a housing;
• an output shaft reciprocatingly received by the housing;
• and
• a motor disposed within the housing, the motor including a rotor assembly and a stator, rotation of the rotor assembly causing the output shaft to translate axially relative to the rotor assembly and causing the output shaft to reciprocate relative to the housing;
• a coupling assembly mounted to the housing, the coupling assembly coupling the electric actuator to the tiller of the propulsion unit of the marine vessel;
• a magnetic position target mounted on the coupling assembly;
• and
• a position sensor mounted on the actuator, the position sensor sensing a position of the electric actuator based on a position of the magnetic position target.

A marine steering system comprising:

• a propulsion unit having a tiller;
• and
• an actuator for imparting steering movement to the tiller of the propulsion unit, the actuator including:
• a housing;
• an output shaft reciprocatingly received by the housing;
• a motor disposed within the housing, the motor including a rotor assembly and a stator, rotation of the rotor assembly causing the output shaft to translate axially relative to the rotor assembly and causing the output shaft to reciprocate relative to the housing;
• a coupling assembly mounted to the housing, the coupling assembly coupling the electric actuator to the propulsion unit of the marine vessel;
• and
• a steering control unit mounted to the housing, the steering control unit driving the motor to cause the rotor assembly to rotate and cause the output shaft to reciprocate relative to the housing.