Foot throttle

**wettek** · 04-14-2023, 04:10 PM

Gidday guys.

Looking at putting a foot throttle in my ski boat, as the "slop" in my Evinrude side mount control box makes small speed changes really difficult.
Any recommendations? At the moment I am tossing up between a HotFoot top load so I can run the cable along the inside of my gunwale, or a Sjoberg Racing type, but am more than happy to go with any others

What's the feedback from all the experience on the forum?

Thanks and regards to all.

**Jim Speros** · 04-14-2023, 06:14 PM

I am reluctant to say but, IMO the foot pedal is not for that. I had a hot foot in my STV. The purpose was to keep both hands free to drive the boat. The pedal has a return spring as does the engine. It is easy to hold it wide open: It is not so easy to hold a consistent mid throttle setting for any length of time.

**DangerNewb** · 04-14-2023, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Speros

I am reluctant to say but, IMO the foot pedal is not for that. I had a hot foot in my STV. The purpose was to keep both hands free to drive the boat. The pedal has a return spring as does the engine. It is easy to hold it wide open: It is not so easy to hold a consistent mid throttle setting for any length of time.

Agree. It will be very difficult to maintain steady speed with a foot throttle in my opinion.

**David** · 04-15-2023, 04:23 PM

A foot throttle can be fine for recreational water skiing. I skied with a foot throttle for about 20 years. My brother has skied with a foot throttle since 1989.

It can be hard to finely adjust the speed with the Evinrude stock hand throttle in our current ski boat, so I get your question. But I don’t know how to rig a foot throttle to an Etec. My brother’s current Grandsport/150HO has a foot throttle, but it’s in storage for another month.

**wettek** · 04-15-2023, 04:51 PM

Most inboard ski boats over here have foot throttles, and my dads old Evinrude powered ski boat had one, I am really just chasing what is the opinion on which one to (potentially) use. The Evinrude uses a push type, hooking it up is easy, just a slightly longer cable than the hand throttle. Unfortunately, the stock Evinrude side mount has a fair bit of dead band (even new ones) which make fine tuning difficult.

**David - WI** · 04-15-2023, 06:17 PM

Seastar Osprey side-mount control are ridiculously smooth and work with push or pull cables.

I think foot throttles suck for skiing... especially barefooting; but everybody has their own ideas.

**wettek** · 04-15-2023, 10:42 PM

Thanks mate, I will have a look.

**4Speed** · 04-16-2023, 02:01 PM

If I were going to use a foot throttle on a ski boat I would come up with some type of attachment so I could get my toes under it and assist the "return to idle" if it ever stuck, spring broke or it came out of adjustment as generally you are maneuvering around people in the water and hitting the throttle fast.