Systems and methods for controlling planetary transmission arrangements for marine propulsion devices

A marine propulsion device comprising:

• an engine configured to cause an input shaft to forwardly rotate at a non-zero first rotational speed;
• an output shaft coupled to a propulsor so that rotation of the output shaft causes rotation of the propulsor;
• a planetary gearset coupling the input shaft to the output shaft;
• a band brake actuator configured to actuate a band brake on the planetary gearset, wherein the band brake actuator is configured to apply a full force engagement of the band brake on the planetary gearset and alternately to apply a less than full force engagement of the band brake on the planetary gearset;
• wherein the full force engagement of the band brake on the planetary gearset causes a gear change into at least one of a forward gear in which forward rotation of the input shaft causes forward rotation of the output shaft, a reverse gear in which forward rotation of the input shaft causes reverse rotation of the output shaft, and a neutral gear in which rotation of the input shaft does not cause rotation of the output shaft;
• and
• wherein the less than full force engagement of the band brake on the planetary gearset causes slip to occur between the band brake and the planetary gearset, without causing the gear change;
• and further wherein the slip causes the output shaft to rotate at a non-zero second rotational speed that is less than a minimum nominal rotational speed that would otherwise result based on a transmission gear ratio of the planetary gearset;
• and
• a controller configured to control the band brake actuator according to a trolling mode by applying the less than full force engagement of the band brake on the planetary gearset, thereby causing the slip to occur, which in turn causes the propulsor to propel the marine vessel in trolling mode at a reduced speed.