Joystick controls on outboard boats have grown shockingly popular, and using joystick outboards while fishing delivers a number of additional advantages. Most importantly it gives you virtual anchoring abilities so you can press a button and the boat hovers in place, and you can also control your drift. Too bad you need multiple outboards to run a joystick system… right?
Nope! Once upon a time that was the case, but several years ago Yamaha designed a single engine joystick system. And now, for 2025 Mercury has introduced one of its own: Joystick Piloting for Single Engine Outboards.
Although you don’t get as many advantages with a single as you would with twins, having the Joystick Piloting for Single Engine Outboards does deliver dynamic positioning abilities with Skyhook (like Spot-Lock for outboards) and Drifthook (which allows you to control the way the boat drifts). It also aids with close-quarters maneuvering because the system can turn the outboard far faster than a human can spin a steering wheel. And Mercury designed this system to work in concert with bow thrusters. Thruster compatibility ranges with various CAN-based variable-speed units, and when they’re tied together with the outboard it becomes joystick-easy to spin your boat, slide it sideways, or ease it into a slip.
The simple, button-free joystick incorporates all forms of control, including throttling, shifting, and steering. Power is applied proportional to how hard you apply pressure to the joystick, and it even incorporates autopiloting features and can follow a route set up on the chartplotter.
Joystick Piloting for Single Engine Outboards is available for Mercury Verado and Sea Pro systems with their V8, V10, and V12 outboards equipped with electric steering, from 250- to 600-hp. Pontoon boat owners will be thrilled to hear about the Joystick Piloting for Single Engine Pontoons, which can integrate a pair of retractable 36-volt, 105-pound thrust Motorguide (saltwater compatible) electric thrusters which deploy and retract up under the deck at the press of a button.
Who says you need a multi-engine boat to enjoy joystick control? Those days are long gone, and now Mercury is in the single engine joystick game, too.