I decided to remove the standard (1982) engine control lever assembly that was positioned next to my left foot when standing behind the wheel. In it's place I installed an Edson Standard Clutch and Throttle Control (#870ST-45) on the pedestal. The Edson control assembly can be obtained from Edson or Catalina Direct.
The Edson controls mount under the compass in the pedestal-instrument-compass stack. I had to assemble the two cables together in the mounting clip, secure them in place with the cotter pin, and insert the cables upward into the pedestal. They would not fit past the lower steering cable bracket without first loosening the steering cables and lowering the bracket. Each clevis must be guided along side of the upper wheel shaft and the 1/4x20 screw inserted outward through the hole in the pedestal. I replaced the existing throttle and shift cables with 16' (Teleflex #CC63316) cables.
I covered the old control mounting ring with a white ABS plastic cover. I left the original aluminum mounting ring in place because it appeared to be well attached with some sort of adhesive and I didn't want to risk ripping gelcoat by removing it.
The problem I encountered with the throttle linkage is that when the control level is pushed forward (to full throttle,) it pulls the engine lever aft (to idle.) Thus, I had to reverse the linkage direction by creating the gold-colored assembly in the photo. The control cable enters at the lower left and is held by a brown assembly that was created from a piece of the old control assembly that I removed.
If you look closely you'll notice that there is no idle stop spring in this arrangement. When you pull back on the throttle lever at the pedestal, you're able to pull it right back to "zero" and kill the engine without feeling any resistance at the idle point. The reason for removing the idle stop spring was that I didn't want to transfer the added tension caused by the spring through the control cable and put wear and tear on it's internal swages (which happened once before and it broke unexpectedly). To prevent inadvertently pulling the throttle below idle and stalling the engine I added an idle stop assembly in the Edson control as follows.
I created a spring loaded plunger that engages a detent in a brass piece that is attached to the throttle bell crank in the Edson control. It stops the lever from being pulled back below the idle position. To stop the engine, the knob is pulled which allows the lever to be pulled all the way back.