Replace wheel with tiller?

[Group9]

All other issues being equal, I would much rather have a tiller. It sure simplifies your autopilot installation.

[AKA-None]

Tiller gives more room at rest but takes more room while sailing. Wheel takes more room at rest but is a fixed place while sailing. Choose your poison.

[Captsteve53]

Its all been said, but dealing with a tiller while sailing and any crew in the cockpit is a nightmare to say the least especially in heavy weather, only advantage is when at anchor, I have recently removed my tiller and fitted a wheel (folding type) so gives me the extra room to pass the binnacle, it also has a quick release nut so when at anchor we can remove the whole with in a minute!

[Delancey]

I respectfully disagree with the above commenter.

In heavy weather, and particularly in very large seas with breaking waves, is where having a tiller really shines owing to the speed with which large rudder inputs can be precisely made.

Turning a wheel from stop to stop is comparatively very slow and when done repeatedly can be incredibly tiring. Also with a wheel there is no sensitivity when you need it most.

Break a steering cable in heavy weather once (which is exactly when that kind of thing is going to happen) and maybe wheels aren't so great.

Again, look at the Open 60 class boats which are designed for the exclusive purpose of sailing around the world solo non-stop. Alex Thomson pictured below with his hands on his tiller extension driving a sixty foot sailboat with 6,813 square feet of sail area that routinely does 30 knots boat speed in the Southern Ocean.

http://www.yachtingworld.com/extraor...obe-2016-92713

[Jim Cate]

Turning a wheel from stop to stop is comparatively very slow and when done repeatedly can be incredibly tiring. Also with a wheel there is no sensitivity when you need it most.

I've never had to turn my wheel from lock to lock to control my boat... any of the wheel steered ones, and that includes I-one which was an IOR one tonner, notoriously difficult to steer downwind. And sensitivity? An hydraulic system... sure, no sensitivity there, but a well designed and executed cable wheel system can be as sensitive as you wish.

I've nothing against tiller steering,and have enjoyed it in the past... in fact I-2 has both a wheel and a permanently rigged tiller (originally tiller steered) but I prefer the wheel. Different strokes and all that, but these blanket condemnations of wheel steering do not represent reality to me.

Jim

[Delancey]

Different strokes and all that, agreed and admittedly, though I have spent a lot of time spinning a wheel back and forth making large rudder inputs, I have never had to swing all the way from stop to stop. That said, I stand by my statement that you can push a tiller stop to stop faster than you can swing a wheel.

I also stand by my implied statement that the same mechanical advantage provided by a wheel works against you when it comes to sensitivity or "feel" for the rudder. You can't possibly, in reality, dispute this.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

I've nothing against tiller steering,and have enjoyed it in the past... in fact I-2 has both a wheel and a permanently rigged tiller (originally tiller steered) but I prefer the wheel. Different strokes and all that, but these blanket condemnations of wheel steering do not represent reality to me. Jim

Exactly, judging by the buying market most owners want a wheel, so did I as outlined in a Feb 17 thread:

Cost of parts for tiller to wheel conversion - Page 2 - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Pete

[Mike OReilly]

As with most boat questions, there is no single right answer for everyone. Wheel works fine, as does a tiller. Different trade offs and compromises, so the right answer will depend on you and your needs.

On smallish boats it's hard to see any mechanical need for a wheel, and that would certainly include the OP's boat. My 37', 30,000# full keeler is tiller driven, and I wouldn't want it any other way. But my previous boat (34', 12,000#) had a wheel, and that too was right for that boat.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Captsteve53

...dealing with a tiller while sailing and any crew in the cockpit is a nightmare...

Come on!

[TrentePieds]

Why would a competent crew ever get in the way of a tiller???

It's all in the timing. Place to learn that is in a racing dinghy :-)

TP

[hellosailor]

Granted, if I'm racing and want zero helm so I have zero drag from the barn door in the back of the boat, I want a tiller. And I don't want to hold it, I just want to cradle my fingers around it, and tell the crew who are trimming that we need another point this way or that, to keep the boat trimmed under sail alone--with zero rudder.

But that gets old fast.

Cruising, I won't have dedicated trimmers in the cockpit all day, and I'm not going to be able to maintain that level of vigilance on the helm all day. I want a WHEEL, so I can sit up on the high side, enjoy my lunch, and poke a foot in the spokes to move the rudder a bit when some puff or wake puts her off course.

There's a time and place for precision instruments and a time for simply using the big hammer. Whatever makes the guy in back happy.

[Mike OReilly]

Again HS, it depends on the boat. With mine I sit aft and can see both beams. Or I can sit on the high side. I steer with hip, or hand or foot or even bum. Easy. There's no interference with jib sheets. No problem with crowding.

On my boat a wheel would definitely clog up the works. Nothing to do with performance -- at least not on my boat. It just depends...

[hellosailor]

Gotta agree with you on that, Mike. There's nothing as annoying as having to step UP on the seats and get around past a big wheel in a narrow cockpit when the boat is bouncing around. But then again, like badly angled cockpit coamings that give you an achy back when you sit against them, or hardware that seems randomly bolted down just to guarantee you can stub toes and heels....that's just poor design, to me.

All the little things that make some boats just so sweet, while others are, well, more like the Lada's and Yugo's of the boating world, no?(G)

[TrentePieds]

If you have to have a bunchagerrillas jumping back and forth all day, then you are obviously either outta trim or outta balance. Or both :-)

A tiller is a superb instrument for telling you when you can dismiss the gerrillas :-)

And barndoors following obediently behind are no problem, and they do that when you are in balance and correctly trimmed - as per what your tiller tells you.

TP

[TrentePieds]

How about a bloody big socket for the umbilical just at the ONLY place in the
cockpit where you can -ahem, COULD - comfortably rest your back?

TP