Wheel or tiller steering

[capta]

I think it is about the type of boat one buys and the type of sailing one does.
I have seen a few 40 to 50 foot boats, ocean cruising vessels, with a tiller and I think that is just plain crazy. A tiller on a bigger boat is a big, powerful and dangerous wooden bar that could swing across the cockpit and do one serious harm. However, with an outboard rudder, which often comes with a tiller, one can easily install a trim tab wind vane, which is by far the most efficient and reliable steering gear ever invented, which is a huge plus. Unless the conditions are too extreme for the vane gear. Then, we're back to absolutely insane!
I had to hand steer for 22 hours straight in a storm in the Atlantic on my way to the Canaries. I probably would not have been able to manage it with tiller steering. Perhaps the vane gear could have done the job, but in waves so large that the whole boat (37') fit easily on the face of each breaking wave, I wasn't about to find out.
For day sailing or the occasional coastal cruise on a smaller boat, I see it as a personal choice, but for seafaring I'm a firm believer in wheel steering.

 

[Allowishish]

I actually was thinking about this same thing when I had the boat out this weekend.

There is no way I could see a wheel on our Catalina 27.
...I know that there are 27's out there with wheels but I would not like to loose that space myself.
I could see it on a boat slightly larger though.

 

[Jackdaw]

LOL you guys resurrected a 12 year old thread!!!!

 

[Tom G P-21]

Actually 13 years old!

 

[capta]

Perhaps we should have another button, like the like button, that says "gotcha"?

 

[Will Gilmore]

I don't recall ever having any problems with orientation or transition. I remember my first pram lesson and thinking this push port to turn to starboard would be confusing but it just worked naturally when I actually did it. Our fishing boats and schooner had wheels. As a kid, I had more trouble figuring out which way to turn so I could move the compass then which way to turn to move the boat. I couldn't say one way or the other about feel or agility because the samples I have were between extremely different vessels. Intuitively, the tiller seems more sensitive and connected. But, that's not actual experience.
Then, there are tiller extensions, try that with a wheel.
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Joe]

Geez...... 13 year old comments getting "likes".... that's weird.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Geez...... 13 year old comments getting "likes".... that's weird.

Well, the feelings are new.
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Meriachee]

I actually was thinking about this same thing when I had the boat out this weekend.

There is no way I could see a wheel on our Catalina 27.
...I know that there are 27's out there with wheels but I would not like to loose that space myself.
I could see it on a boat slightly larger though.

The cockpit is designed around a wheel on the Catalina 270. It's not the wheel that's the issue, it's the steering gear cover in the berth that's a pain in the rear. Literally.
Nice to see things haven't changed in 13 years Joe!

 

[Joe]

Nice to see things haven't changed in 13 years Joe!

Oh, how I wish that were true for everything.

 

[Canuman]

First, I have to say I have never owned a boat with a wheel, although I've steered quite a few. Never had a problem switching back and forth.

For my home waters of Lake Champlain, a shoal-draft boat of 30 feet and under makes sense, and many are equipped with tillers. If you've ever had to short tack around Ticonderoga, you will understand why.

This year, I had to replace a worn tiller on an O'Day. Found a nice laminated one for about $60 surplus. That's a fraction of what most wheel parts cost. I also ran into a fellow who was using a very attractive grub hoe handle ($16), and another far more frugal fellow who had whittled down a beech sapling (free).

It's things like this that give the Newport Yacht Club fits.

You have to be pretty unhandy not to be able to rig up something that will serve as a tiller in a pinch.

My tiller pilot only cost $400, and I can swap it between boats at will. I have a tiller extension that lets me choose just about any place in the cockpit to sit. With a few pieces of surgical tube, I can set up a self-steering system.

Previously, I had a gaff-rigged catboat with a huge barn door that developed fearsome weather helm. I was considering fitting an Edson rack and pinion until an old cat boater showed me a few tricks that made her as docile as a kitten. The same fellow schooled me on the gaff rig, which I've come to appreciate.

For my money, give me a tiller on a boat under 30'. Cheap, reliable, and easy to repair. The yachting set might sneer, but as the skipper of a gaff-rigged cat ketch, I tend to get some peculiar looks anyway.

 

[h2o_snow]

Wheels on small boats under 30' seem silly. They take up a lot of space and limit where you can sit. We have a tiller w/ extension on our H260 and really like it but it took a while to find one. Were not interested in the Edson pedestal.

Auto pilots work better w/ wheels. Once double handed a 42' South African steel hulled cutter w/ a tiller from the Chesapeake to the Bahamas Liked the ability to huddle under the dodger steering when using the extension. As noted - the auto steer ram would get overpowered in heavy air but the wind vane worked well. Also - don't like chasing a compass heading while using/a wheel.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Auto pilots work better w/ wheels.

Really? What's so special about a wheel? Trim tab weathervane self steering works really well on either, I should think.
- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Canuman]

Currently have a 30' steel Van De Stadt on the hard outside the shop, which did a trans-Atlantic six or so years ago. It's a keel-centerboard rig with dual balanced rudders. It's tiller steered. I honestly don't see where one fit a wheel without making the cockpit uncomfortable. This one has huge rudder area, but the tiller is no larger than you would find on a 22 footer.

 

[Canuman]

The Dutch boat also had a tiller pilot. Really not much difference in the systems between tiller and wheel. If a tiller pilot is overwhelmed, may be too small for the job. With a tiller, you don't need a rudder indicator, as the point is obvious. If the autopilot is working hard, the first thing to check is trim. You wouldn't steer a badly trimmed boat for hours, and George doesn't care to either.

 

[Davidasailor26]

LOL you guys resurrected a 12 year old thread!!!!

Geez...... 13 year old comments getting "likes".... that's weird.

It was the “featured archive post” in this week’s weekly site newsletter email. It’s happened a few times in the last few weeks.

 

[agprice22]

Some of us weren’t sailing or on the forum 13 years ago, so it is actually nice to hear from people on various topics. It makes for a good Winter pastime too!

 

[Jackdaw]

Back in the olden times, unbalanced rudders (normally because of skegs) needed the leverage of a wheel turn bigger (+35 foot) boats.

Modern balanced spade rudders make tiller possible on all size boats these days. I've driven a Pogo 50 with a tiller and its like SILK. Fingertip control.

USA builders sold the wheel as a 'big boat feel' option on smaller and smaller boats. That never caught on in Europe.

While a transom-hung rudder can make a AP more difficult, there is nothing about the tiller per se that makes AP mounting hard. On most modern tiller boats the mounting of a below decks AP is exactly the same as it is for a wheel.

Big boat feel.

 

[h2o_snow]

Really? What's so special about a wheel? Trim tab weathervane self steering works really well on either, I should think.
- Will (Dragonfly)

Will,

Sorry - a sweeping statement. In my experience above deck GPS based AP's seem to work better with a wheel. Although all the rams/w tillers I have used have been aged.

Cheers. JT

 

[Canuman]

Tiller pilots have not come a long way -- they are a simple device, and are more or less shined up versions of the original. If you are not in tight quarters, the simplicity can be refreshing. Set a compass heading and let George steer.

GPS, on the other hand, has come a long way. I remember navigating by ADF, VOR and LORAN in the air and on water. My first LORAN was set by three switches (dip switches!) and simply returned a deviation from a pre-set course. More or less. Now, many GPS units use both GPS and GLONASS (the Russkie version.) Some additionally use a Chinese system, which is not fully on-line, and others will add triangulation off cell towers for inland and coastal work.

If you're brave enough to do the wiring (most tiller pilots will accept NEMA code), you can run down buoys. There's one particularly battered can on Champlain that seems to be in a sweet spot for accuracy. It also seems to be in a spot where some skippers turn George on and call the Doublemint girls on deck for sundowners. One side is heavily carved with prop marks. That gets expensive in a hurry. When I am advising people on GPS course building, I advise them to set their waypoints off the bouy rather than right on top of it.