Speed, acceleration, and trim control system for power boats

A trim control system for a power boat having a hull mounting an outdrive propulsion comprising:

• an inclinometer for producing information on the inclination of a hull of a boat relative to level, the inclinometer comprising:
• an electrically conductive fluid;
• a conduit for channeling the fluid in a flow path spatially oriented so that the fluid will assume different positions in its flow path under gravitational forces due to inclination and acceleration forces due to acceleration to which forces the conduit and its channeled fluid are variously subjected at various times;
• a multiplicity of electrically conductive elements within the conduit in a multiplicity of positions located along the fluid flow path;
• and
• electrical means for detecting whether ones of the multiplicity of electrically conductive elements at corresponding ones of the multiplicity of positions are, or are not, electrically connected by a presence of the electrically conductive fluid at a particular position within its flow path that spans between said ones of the positions within the conduit, therein establishing electrical conduction between the ones of the multiplicity of electrically conductive elements, and
• a trim controller, receiving the inclination information from the inclinometer, for automatically adjusting a trim angle of the outdrive propulsion of the boat responsively to the inclination information in order that the trim angle of the boat's outdrive propulsion may better be maintained at a predetermined angle relative to level.

A trim control system for a power boat having a trimmable propulsion drive, the system comprising:

• an inclinometer for sensing the inclination angle from level of the power boat along its fore-aft axis to produce inclination angle information, the inclinometer comprising:
• an electrically conductive fluid;
• a conduit for channeling the fluid in a flow path spatially oriented so that the fluid will assume different positions in its flow path under differing vector combinations of gravitational forces due to inclination and acceleration forces due to acceleration to which the conduit and its channeled fluid are variously subjected at various times;
• a multiplicity of electrical connections to the fluid within the conduit in a multiplicity of positions located along the fluid flow path;
• and
• electrical means for detecting whether ones of the multiplicity of electrical connections to corresponding ones of the multiplicity of positions are, or are not, electrically connected by a presence of the electrically conductive fluid at a particular force-vector-determined position within its flow path that spans between said ones of the positions within the conduit, therein establishing electrical conduction between the ones of the multiplicity of electrical connections;
• and
• a trim controller, receiving the inclination information from the inclinometer, for controlling the trim of the power boat's trimmable propulsion drive in accordance with the inclination angle information to exert propulsive force in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the water through which the power boat is propelled.

A speed control system for a power boat comprising:

• speedometer means for producing information on the speed of a power boat that is driven by a propulsion source;
• data entry means responsive to manually entered data of an arbitrary magnitude unrelated to the current speed of the power boat for producing information on any desired speed of the power boat within the total speed range of the power boat;
• processor means, receiving the power boat speed and the desired speed information respectively from the speedometer and the data entry device, for producing speed error information on the direction and magnitude by which the power boat speed differs from the desired speed;
• and
• boat propulsion control means, receiving the speed error information from the computer processor, for controlling the power boat propulsion source to make, over time, the power boat speed to become more nearly equal to the desired speed, howsoever great any initial difference between these speeds.