Rudder arm?

A curious question here,

Sometimes we see a rudder arm straight off the rudder over the stern, other times... we see the arm coming off from a 90 degree angle (to the rudder) and then coming more over the side of the stern. my thinking is this is so you can sit back further in a small boat.

Pro's and con's?
any thoughts would be apprieciated.
thanks

DE

 

It appears that you are talking about a rudder yoke as opposed to a straight tiller. The purpose of a rudder yoke is to either:
1.) get around an obstacle that can block the free swing of a conventional tiller, such as a mizzen mast, or
2.) to run a push, pull rod or steering lines far forward of the rudder, where a straight tiller would have to be too long to be practical.

I use this approach in some of my designs, so I can get the skipper, the heaviest object on a small boat, in the middle of the boat where his weight does the most good, or the least harm.

In one of my designs, I run the steering lines all the way to the mast, so the skipper can still steer the boat while he is raising or lowering the sail.

The straight tiller is the simplest and the most reliable system and it should be used when ever practical. Steering lines can stretch, jump out of their blocks, or jamb. Push rods can buckle and there can be some play where they connect to the yoke, depriving the skipper of some accuracy of control.

 

Thanks very much Sharpie,
I think you've pretty much nailed it for me.

DE