I have a 1977 Cal 30 which has a tiller. Am contemplating changing to a wheel. Is this practical / possible? Could I do it myself? Cost? Thanks.
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Joe
Why?
I will never understand why people put a wheel on their older 30's at least to me there are many more advantages to keeping the tiller. Such as room in the cockpit, especialy when you are at anchor by swinging the tiller up and out of the way. Better control of the boat. Better feel of the boat if you are the least bit concerned about performance. Less maintemance. Not much to ever go wrong and cause loss of steering. Think twice about why you want to do this. You may regret it someday. Joe
I will never understand why people put a wheel on their older 30's at least to me there are many more advantages to keeping the tiller. Such as room in the cockpit, especialy when you are at anchor by swinging the tiller up and out of the way. Better control of the boat. Better feel of the boat if you are the least bit concerned about performance. Less maintemance. Not much to ever go wrong and cause loss of steering. Think twice about why you want to do this. You may regret it someday. Joe
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Steve
Let's be honest...
Joe... when you think about it, there is really no practical reason to own a sailboat in the first place. Although ease of maintenance is certainly a rational reason for NOT putting pedestal steering on a sailboat, you have to admit that those destroyer wheels look really cool and cater to our male egos. I think the main reason people own boats at all and lay in bed at night dreaming of infinite ways to waste their hard-earned money on add-ons is ample evidence that "because its cool!" is frequently a valid justification. Steve in Portland (with apologies for my run-on sentences)
Joe... when you think about it, there is really no practical reason to own a sailboat in the first place. Although ease of maintenance is certainly a rational reason for NOT putting pedestal steering on a sailboat, you have to admit that those destroyer wheels look really cool and cater to our male egos. I think the main reason people own boats at all and lay in bed at night dreaming of infinite ways to waste their hard-earned money on add-ons is ample evidence that "because its cool!" is frequently a valid justification. Steve in Portland (with apologies for my run-on sentences)
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Allen
I'd Consider it
I have a 1977 C-30 (we're talking Catalina, right, not Cal?) that has had the steering upgrade. It's not too difficult to do it yourself, but I bet it's going to be expensive. I prefer wheel steering over a tiller, personally. I belive resell value for a boat with wheel steering will be higher than with tiller. When I looked at new boats, I wouldn't consider a boat with tiller steering. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think so. If you go to http://www.edsonmarine.com/ you can see their online catalog. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if the hardware alone cost over $2k, but in my view it's worth it. Good luck with your decision! Allen Schweitzer s/v Drambuie, Hull# 632
I have a 1977 C-30 (we're talking Catalina, right, not Cal?) that has had the steering upgrade. It's not too difficult to do it yourself, but I bet it's going to be expensive. I prefer wheel steering over a tiller, personally. I belive resell value for a boat with wheel steering will be higher than with tiller. When I looked at new boats, I wouldn't consider a boat with tiller steering. I may be in the minority here, but I don't think so. If you go to http://www.edsonmarine.com/ you can see their online catalog. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if the hardware alone cost over $2k, but in my view it's worth it. Good luck with your decision! Allen Schweitzer s/v Drambuie, Hull# 632
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Joe
Exactly
"those destroyer wheels look really cool and cater to our male egos" I bet this is the #1 reason people make the change. I can certainly understand buying a new 30 with a wheel but changing an older one over just doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Besides the cockpit on the older 30's is not designed well for a wheel. Joe
"those destroyer wheels look really cool and cater to our male egos" I bet this is the #1 reason people make the change. I can certainly understand buying a new 30 with a wheel but changing an older one over just doesnt make a lot of sense to me. Besides the cockpit on the older 30's is not designed well for a wheel. Joe
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LaDonna Bubak - CatalinaOwners.com
Don't
Often, new owners get really intimidated by tillers and feel more comfortable with a wheel. If you change over, you may never have a catastrophic failure but you will be out of quite a bit of cash for not much of an increase in value. Joe's post lists very valid reasons not to convert to a wheel. My suggestion is to sail with the tiller a good 20-30 times before making the decision. You may just find that you like the tiller better and then you'll save yourself a good $2K!! LaDonna
Often, new owners get really intimidated by tillers and feel more comfortable with a wheel. If you change over, you may never have a catastrophic failure but you will be out of quite a bit of cash for not much of an increase in value. Joe's post lists very valid reasons not to convert to a wheel. My suggestion is to sail with the tiller a good 20-30 times before making the decision. You may just find that you like the tiller better and then you'll save yourself a good $2K!! LaDonna
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Chris Gonzales
Want mine?
My '79 C30 has a wheel. It looks so cool! Now I can drive my boat like a car or power boat! Wow! Seriously, this is my fourth sailboat and my second one with a wheel. She came that way when I bought her so I enherited a nice 4 month old $2,000 Edson installation. My '85 C25 had a wheel. My Capri 25 and C22 had tillers. I would not purposely buy a C30 with a wheel. Here's why: 1. A wheel fails miserably communicating the feel of the boat to the helmsman. 2. A wheel clutters up the cockpit and makes it difficult to move around. 3. Regular inspections are critical and they aint easy do. Repairing is even more difficult. 4. A good, long tiller is much easier to use when fighting weather helm. 5. I like (used to like) sitting high on the weather coaming and use a tiller extention to steer. Beats sitting midships and steering by a mile! Of course, the size of the cockpit, location of the wheel, etc. somewhat modifies the above. This has been an issue discussed many times here before. My suggestion is to be sure you are familiar with steering your boat with the tiller and then go "drive" another C30 with a wheel. Spend enough time at it to get a good feel for both. Let us know what you think! Chris
My '79 C30 has a wheel. It looks so cool! Now I can drive my boat like a car or power boat! Wow! Seriously, this is my fourth sailboat and my second one with a wheel. She came that way when I bought her so I enherited a nice 4 month old $2,000 Edson installation. My '85 C25 had a wheel. My Capri 25 and C22 had tillers. I would not purposely buy a C30 with a wheel. Here's why: 1. A wheel fails miserably communicating the feel of the boat to the helmsman. 2. A wheel clutters up the cockpit and makes it difficult to move around. 3. Regular inspections are critical and they aint easy do. Repairing is even more difficult. 4. A good, long tiller is much easier to use when fighting weather helm. 5. I like (used to like) sitting high on the weather coaming and use a tiller extention to steer. Beats sitting midships and steering by a mile! Of course, the size of the cockpit, location of the wheel, etc. somewhat modifies the above. This has been an issue discussed many times here before. My suggestion is to be sure you are familiar with steering your boat with the tiller and then go "drive" another C30 with a wheel. Spend enough time at it to get a good feel for both. Let us know what you think! Chris
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Rob R.
Amen Chris
I thought I wanted a wheel, then I got my C-27 with a tiller. Yeah, it can be a pain shifting from one side to the other, but it really does save on space. Besides, how else are you going to get to know everyone in the cockpit intimately? Fall into someone's lap sometime - you'll be friends for life! Seriously - I like the advise that LaDonna gave. Take her out a good 20 times or so, and you may find that you really like the tiller. I know I am glad I stuck with it! Let us know how you make out - Rob
I thought I wanted a wheel, then I got my C-27 with a tiller. Yeah, it can be a pain shifting from one side to the other, but it really does save on space. Besides, how else are you going to get to know everyone in the cockpit intimately? Fall into someone's lap sometime - you'll be friends for life! Seriously - I like the advise that LaDonna gave. Take her out a good 20 times or so, and you may find that you really like the tiller. I know I am glad I stuck with it! Let us know how you make out - Rob
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John M.
Look in Archives
I agree with Allen, Redfish. I converted my C-27 from a tiller and have never been happier. To each his own, that's why we have options. As I recall my edson conversion was about $1,00.00 and I did it myself. If you want more room in the cockpit (not less as others suggest)and don't particularly like falling into other people's laps, get a wheel. Indeed there is some loss of "feel" from the tiller option, but there is certainly no loss of control - I think control is enhanced by a pedestal with a brake to tension the the wheel to one's liking. You might consider a quicker ratio to your pedestal to increase lock to lock speed, and that elusive "feel". look back in the archives for other posts describing install. Good Luck with whatever choice you make.
I agree with Allen, Redfish. I converted my C-27 from a tiller and have never been happier. To each his own, that's why we have options. As I recall my edson conversion was about $1,00.00 and I did it myself. If you want more room in the cockpit (not less as others suggest)and don't particularly like falling into other people's laps, get a wheel. Indeed there is some loss of "feel" from the tiller option, but there is certainly no loss of control - I think control is enhanced by a pedestal with a brake to tension the the wheel to one's liking. You might consider a quicker ratio to your pedestal to increase lock to lock speed, and that elusive "feel". look back in the archives for other posts describing install. Good Luck with whatever choice you make.
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Michael Hagerman
Take WHO Out?
Let's be specific here: Take WHO out 20 times - LaDonna or the boat? No wonder Lloyd's of London has switched to gender neutral pronouns....
Let's be specific here: Take WHO out 20 times - LaDonna or the boat? No wonder Lloyd's of London has switched to gender neutral pronouns....
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