1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

P

Pez1704

Cadet
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
9
I have an older electric shift model Century Raven 190, and I'm trying to locate a new electric shift control unit... I really just need a couple parts from it as ours is starting to fail and causing some strange stuff... stays in gear, lets you start the boat in gear etc. Anyone have advice where to find one of these?

Is this perhaps more of an OMC/sterndrive question rather than a Century question? Its a bummer as it will likely be the end of my boat if I cant find a way to fix this.
 
southkogs

southkogs

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
14,805
Re: 1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

I have actually been looking around at the electric shift stuff for mine too. They actually show up on Ebay every so often. It's not crazy to look anyway.
 
southkogs

southkogs

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
14,805
Re: 1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

To be honest, I'm not certain - this is probably more out of my expertise than yours! Mine is a '72 and the controller that it has is this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/OMC-...ssories_Gear&hash=item3a6697360d#ht_688wt_941

The manual says there are four controllers that came as equipment, but OMC considered them an accessory. So, from the looks of it you can switch between them. That would make sense because on the larger boats, the binnacle mount controller would be more popular. The harness plug in the photo you linked to looks pretty identical to mine.

What i did this year was watch Craigslist for one of the "get it out of my yard" boat sales. Picked up a stern drive (for parts) and some other bits and pieces (including some controller pieces) to have on hand. With controllers and such running in the hundreds of dollars, I figured the hassle of getting rid of a boat hull was worth the parts I could scrape off her.
 
P

Pez1704

Cadet
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
9
Re: 1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

Thanks for getting back... I am going to try a couple different things this weekend and then take a look at replacing the unit. I didnt have a meter when I was at the lakes last weekend so I was flying a bit blind. The problem might actually be elsewhere in the electrical as this boat has had several "by god I'm going to finally fix all the wiring on the boat" repairs in it's lifetime. This weekend I'm going to trace all the wiring to the shifter unit and make sure there's not a short somewhere.
 
southkogs

southkogs

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 7, 2010
Messages
14,805
Re: 1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

Definately check that out. The problem that I'm dealing with seems to be the system charging both the forward and reverse gears at the same time. Thanks to several people in the OMC I/O forum, I managed to rule out a bunch of potential problems. I haven't solved it yet (probably going to take it to the mechanic this week), but I learned a lot about the system.

You can see some of the things suggested to me from this thread: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=482971

On the encouraging side: my last boat was a 16' with a 65 HP Evinrude electric shift outboard. After nearly 40 years on the water, transom was just shot ... but the electric shift was still working like a champ. I actually also had a 50 hp electric shift that I used as well (same age) and never had a hitch with that one either. The drives have their problems for sure, but on the overall my experience with them has been pretty good.
 
P

Pez1704

Cadet
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
9
Re: 1977 Century Raven 190 Electric Shift

Thanks for linking to the other thread, very helpful, thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top