US Patent 11851151 Outboard motor and marine propulsion system

An outboard motor includes an engine, a generator to generate power by driving of the engine, a driving force transmitter to transmit a driving force from the engine, a propeller shaft to rotate by being switched from a neutral state in which a clutch is disconnected from the driving force transmitter of the engine at idle to a non-neutral state in which the clutch is connected to the driving force transmitter, and a controller configured or programmed to perform a control to reduce a rotation speed of the engine by regeneration of the generator based on a user's switching operation on a shift operator to switch the outboard motor from the neutral state to the non-neutral state, and then connect the clutch to the driving force transmitter while rotating the engine.