Steering: Tiller to Wheel? Or...?

[Chief Engineer]

You should have a bigger boat.....I read somehere that the minimum lenght for whhel steering is 32 feet. I suppose it has to do with all the room a wheel takes up in the cockpit.

Anything aft of the wheel is wasted cockpit space .....or sumtin like that.

[CalebD]

Originally Posted by clockwork orange

Or you could think outside the box and design yourself a whipstaff tiller arrangement,this is where the tiller is hinged on the cockpit sole and swings vertically while connected to the rudder with low stretch line.I dont have the details worked out as obviously it varies from boat to boat.It is not a common arrangement but ive seen it used on some Newick Val class trimarans with the center cockpit.The beauty is it does not sweep the cockpit at all,just vertically from side to side and could probably be removed altogether while at anchor,would be cheap to settup too.Probably a little far out there for most folk though.
Merry Christmas,
Steve.

There is a launch boat at our club that has this arrangement for steering. The lever moves forward and aft which moves the rudder to port or stbd. It is right next to the throttle and gear shift. Folks who drive this launch seem to like this set up as it gives you a visual clue as to what setting the rudder is at whereas with a wheel you have to find the mid point and calculate how far over (which way) the rudder is.
I have no idea how this would be set up mechanically.

[barnakiel]

Vertical tillers - one can see them (as an option) on ETAPs too. The reviewer said weird at first but works very well, so probably just the issue of getting used to the different system.

b.