Should work fine....but

Interesting idea, but why can't you get the old chokes to work? They are not all that complicated, parts are available, and the rebuild will cost you less than the cables.

Having said that, manual chokes are very reliable, and the good thing is, they won't drift partially closed during operation. The bad news is, if you forget to unchoke the motors, but they'll remind you of that when they warm up and shut down from being overchoked.

Your lawnmower analagy makes me chuckle, thinking of a Murray Ohio approach to my classic looking helm station. I am thinking the choke controls could actually be placed right under the hatch. I ALWAYS lift the hatch for visual inspection and a smell for fuel vapor before firing the motors anyway. The chokes could be placed right under the hatch, where they would force you to open the hatch, inspect, smell, and LISTEN to the initial startup. Normally, a few moments of running, and the chokes could be fully opened and the hatches shut. Of course, there could be a manual choke installation on the helm station, but I have a problem drilling holes for that.

My vote, rebuild the chokes on the boat, they'll work just fine if they are properly set and not corroded.

Tom