Operate boat while sitting down?

[jsc7]

Most boats have chairs behind the wheel, but whenever I watch videos of people operating boats, they are never sitting down, but always standing up. This is hardly surprising because the chair and wheel rarely seem to be in any configuration even remotely convenient to be used at the same time. The only time I see somebody sitting down is when they operate a tiller.

For example,

in this video of a guy parking a Tiara

the chair is a good three feet behind the wheel--no way you could even reach the wheel sitting in that chair.

In a car the wheel is mounted on a tubular axis called a "steering column" which adjusts up and down. The car seat is positioned below the wheel and the driver's legs fit under it. The wheel comes between their legs and is right in front of their chest.

In a boat, the configuration is nothing like this. The wheel is fixed in position, often lower than the seat, and much lower than the captain's chest. I have never seen a boat console that allowed the captain to position their legs underneath the wheel. This obliges the operator to stand up and over the wheel. Even on big military ships it is the same, the helmsman standing in front of the wheel. On submarines, however, the helmsman sits and operates the yoke as in a car.

What is the story here? Is this just a design failure that is perpetuated for historical reasons? Are there any boats that have a car-like wheel?

[thinwater]

My opinion is that many are design fails. I steer for many hours, comfortably in my chair.

And then there are these: (Practical Sailor) It looks like a scene from "Honey, Who Shrunk the Kids?"


Sometime I stand beside the seat when backing, but not on my boat. I don't need to stand up to back my car or a truck. You just need to learn where the corners are.

With a runt box, even my 4-foot-something daughter is comfortable.



So no, I don't understand the point of wasted hours on my feet.

[jsc7]

Another issue I might mention is security. In aircraft we have harnesses that fasten us securely in the seat and that is for good reason. On boats I never see seats with harnesses or other security measures. If someone is standing at the helm and the boat lurches they could be thrown from the helm or dashed into a hard object, while the wheel spins out of control. It seems inadvisable to me to have a pilot standing at the wheel completely insecured.

[a64pilot]

Only time you would really need a harness is a good fast boat that gets hammered in rough seas, in every go fast boat I have ever been around you stand and let you knees take the shocks, if you were sitting down, better have a good Chiropractor.
My boat you sit close to the wheel, a little hunched over, cause the wheel is just a little small.
I thank God for the day I finally got my autopilot though, now I am almost never sitting behind the helm, why would you want to?

[Panope]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE-nfzcUiPk

[StuM]

No problem on the Belize.

[Kokanee]

My helm chair is positioned about right, but I probably spend less than 10% of the time in it when cruising. On autopilot, I'm usually moving around the boat checking on things or relaxing on the foredeck.

I have considered a seat belt for when seas are extremely rough, but I generally sit in the chair wedged diagonally with my feet against the bulkhead to hold me in position.

[Jim Cate]

Some reasons:

1. In many boats, one can't see forward very well along the center line, due to mast and coiled halyards and perhaps a dinghy on the foredeck. If imprisoned in a chair, moving side to side to overcome this issue is difficult.

2. In many boats, one must stand to see over the dodger, and many dodgers have poor vvisibility through their clears

3. When seated, one lacks good leverage to apply torque to the wheel, and some boats require considerable effort when the wind gets up.

4. If short handed, the chap driving must also work winches, etc, and this is not possible when seated.

So, IMO a helm that allows one to stand comfortably whilst steering is necessary. If it is feasible, a seat that allows a relaxed watchstanding and casual steering position is a good addition, but of only secondary importance.

Jim

[StuM]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I thank God for the day I finally got my autopilot though, now I am almost never sitting behind the helm, why would you want to?

Second that!

[jsc7]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

...
I thank God for the day I finally got my autopilot though, now I am almost never sitting behind the helm, why would you want to?

Because I don't want to stand up for an 8-hour watch?

[a64pilot]

Stretch out in the cockpit and Meercat every once and awhile.
Not on the ICW etc of course, open water

[thomm225]

I'm usually sitting or standing some place away from the tiller because the boat is usually on autopilot if i'm sailing more than 5 miles or so since I'm cruising and not racing and it's a heavy monohull with lots of ballast

[zeehag]

tight places i stand...open ocean i sit and let otto pile it
niiice sofa in my cockpit behind wheel. lovely way to spend watch.

[TrentePieds]

I've followed the OP's sundry threads with interest since they all seem to be motivated by some desire to go fast for reasons undisclosed, indeed for reasons obscured when directly queried. And because one of those threads started with a direct question about the laws governing the "salvage" of vessels. Fascinating :-)!

I have provided an example of a fast - very fast -vessel available on the second hand market in Sweden, a vessel designed and produced originally for decidedly aggressive purposes, a vessel that might make an excellent modern day privateersman. More commonly, however, these vessels, when they retire from their original commission under the auspices of a nation state, are used for such honourable activities as Search and Rescue and maritime ambulance service under the auspices of various benevolent NGOs .

I'm sure similar vessels must occasionally be available in the US as military surplus.

As for sitting down at the helm, I believe that in all such vessels the steersman not only sits down but is in fact strapped in by a harness the mate of those used in aircraft, as is the steersman's seat itself. On this coast the majority of SAR vessels are RIBs, and in the larger ones, carrying a crew of four or six men, every man is strapped in while under way at 40 knots or thereabouts. I believe you'll find that the same is true of the vessels operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. If my eyes don't deceive me, it is also true of, say, the USCG vessel operating out of Newport OR.

There is solid reason that such vessels are selected by knowledgeable, experienced people for the service they are intended to perform. I think the OP would find an answer to his sundry queries by looking around him, and - as a desperation measure - enrolling in a school of naval architecture.

TP

[Bluebeard]

Miouw