Tiller or wheel

Hi All,
We know that even the 23M (classJ) had tiller, mostly in England, and even small boat here in the US has a tendency to have a wheel.
What do you prefer?
Cheers
Daniel

 

Tillers are so impractical............

on my motoryacht.




sorry Daniel, could´nt resist.

 

The club burgee at the mast of you motoryacht can be considered a sail, therefore your motoryacht is, in that present circonstance, a sailboat with a very large engine, therefore you are absolutly and legaly on your right to vote and express your preferences
Cheers
Daniel

 

Can't vote actually.. I'm putting a wheel in the wheelhouse and a tiller in the cockpit..

 

Teddy, you right, I forget to put both in the poll.
Cheers
Daniel

 

I chose tiller only because the boat I am designing is so small I want it as light and uncomplicated as possible. For a much bigger boat I would definitely prefer a wheel.

 

I prefer to sail with a tiller steered boat. For my power yacht tiller steering would not be a practical alternative, so a wheel.

 

It all depends;
Tiller - Great for pure sailing enjoyment or better fine control while inshore racing but takes up more room in the cockpit and a autopilot is never quite as good. Also hard on the arms/shoulders/back for long hours at sea.

Wheel - Takes up less room in cockpit and pilot can be under the deck. Also easier for long hours on the wheel. More expensive, things to go wrong and harder to reach other controls if short handed.

 

I'll vote tiller, because that's what I have right now on my runabout and on the light little sailboats I'm used to.

The new trimaran will have a wheel (outboard w/ remote steering), because a tiller simply wouldn't work with the layout of this boat.

I'll go for simplicity whenever I can, and if I must replace a tiller with a wheel (for whatever reason) it'll be a simple, reliable linkage that I can easily repair if it breaks.

 

On my old sailing canoe I ran a line through eyelets around the hull and back to the rudder so I could steer from anywhere on the boat. Worked rather well and didn't get in the way. I got the idea from a sailboat that used to take tourists out into the Thames estuary about 60 years ago. Anybody know what that arrangement is called?

 

Daniel quit!

May I inform you peers, that the thread opener Daniel Skira decided to quit his membership on this Forum!

Repeated personal attacks by some of our well known drivel and destruction experts, made him decide to leave.

We have lost a well respected NA with a sensible hand for drawing classical beauties.

A man of good temper and a sense for harmony and nice behaviour.

It is a pity that such people are pissed off here by two or three internet rowdies.

Regards
Richard

 

I hope he returns. His departure is a loss to this forum.

 

Rudder yoke and continuous tiller line is what I would call it; I don't know if there's a shorter, more specific term.

On a flat-bottomed sailing canoe I built years ago, I brought a line up from either end of the yoke, ran them through sheaves in the inwale, and tied them together with a figure eight knot. I steered with one hand wrapped around the knot, taking up the slack toward me and tugging to one side or the other like I was pulling on a balky horse's reins.

It was a small and light canoe that I about half steered by shifting my weight anyway; I don't know if the setup would be practical on something larger.

Let's hope dskira calms down and comes back; he's an asset to the forum.

 

I was hoping the arrangement had a proper name I could use. It worked well for me as it could be reached from anywhere in the canoe and it had just enough friction that the rudder stayed put when I was fooling with the sail. It also did not matter where I sat which was handy when I had was sailing up.

 

It really depends.

Layout, cost, and taste aside:
* tiller is always more direct, easier to make bot "self-steering" with a piece of rope , have less moving parts, and therefore is more reliable.
*Wheel is more comfortable, more powerful, make it easier to switch sides when berthing in tight situations, has more parts to be maintained, create more side loads on rudder bearings, as "steering" moment is exerted by many times shorter lever arm (sometimes it is important consideration).