Steering wheel location?

Most boats have right to steering like the weights to smooth the engine torque which is many times clockwise. If the engine is anticlockwise then I think the wheel should be left after the trend of the torque in the opposite side. This applies to vessels 10-12 meters since the larger the phenomenon there are

 

OK, I'll take a shot at this...

Modern boat design, like many things, has its roots based on history.

Back in the old days, before powerboats, the captain steered his sailboat (or rowboat, such as Vikings longboats) from the right side, as most folks are predominantly right-handed. The captain also navigated from this helm position, often using his sextant to gauge the stars at night. Thus, the right-hand side of the boat became known as the "steering board", and later as "starboard".

Since the helm was positioned on the right-hand side of the boat, this left the left-hand side of the boat with an empty space in which to carry cargo. The boat would arrive at port with that side of the boat to the dock so that cargo could be easily loaded/unloaded. Thus, the left-hand side of the boat became known as "port".

As boats became more numerous, there arose the need for traffic rules. Since the captain/helm was on the starboard side, maritime rules were developed to take advantage of this fact. Hence, the captain is able to see other boats on his right and is able to "give way", whereas with highly-stacked cargo on the port side, a captain may not see boats on his port side, so he has the "right-of-way". Green and red lighting then followed suit in this manner. These rules also formed the basis for land-based traffic rules which came much later. This is why you "give way" or "yield" to the person on your right (right-of-way) when you meet at right angles at an unmarked intersection in your car/truck (at least, in the U.S.).

Later, as motorboats came into existence, the engineers, realizing that in an empty boat most of the weight is concentrated at the helm (starboard side), designed props (actually, the propshaft) to rotate in a clockwise fashion (when viewed from the rear of the boat), so that prop torque would be somewhat cancelled by the weight of the helm. As you know, or at least now realize, counter-clockwise rotating props (again, propshafts) were/are designed to counteract prop torque in twin-engine setups.

Now, why were there LH-steering boats? These became popular after WWII, when the country (USA, that is) prospered, people had money, and manufacturers wanted to get people into boats. The easiest way, they figured, was to configure the boat much like an automobile, so that new boaters would not be intimidated. A typical case where marketing dominated over "form follows function", and resulted in boats that likely performed below what they optimally could have.

Anyway, that is my $0.01 <=== deflation (still a bad economy, ya know)

 

ooh ooh - can I have a go ?

I don't think the 'highly stacked cargo' theory, 'holds water' VI.

There were no container boats in those days, and the goods were safe and dry in the hold, the decks were clear for the rowers and /or sail handlers.

eg

Or, more importantly, VI the rudders weren't stern hung, they were big oars hung over the side near the stern, and the Port side was created, because if he docked on the starboard side, he would smash his 'steering board' on the pier.

Highly stocked cargo ? No, it was the fact that sailing ships, when they heel to Port under sail, the sails hide the view of the ocean on the left, when viewed from the right side, whereas, even while heeling to Starboard, the steersman can see boats coming in from the right hand side, as the sails don't obscure the view.

I don't know that there was any 'function' to be overridden - with a motor, and no sails, boats could have the wheel anywhere. The obvious thing is to mimic land vehicles for plain old convenience.

 

I can attest to the RH torque being a significant factor on small light boats. My 16' Aluminum skiff has a 40 Evinrude w a big prop and a 2.67-1 lower unit and a RH prop. I thought it was odd that I had to get my wife to sit in the center of the boat to achieve trim. And w just me in it it trims perfectly w me over on the stbd side. I steer w the tiller and the long handle is required w the big prop and low gear. Now most inboard engines are CCW rotation and I'm guessing that they are because of the standardized stbd helm. But it could have more to do w trucks than boats ???

 

I always love this arguement.

I frequently get asked the question as to why jets are predominantly LHD.

A 16' vessel is likely to be trailered, therefore the side of the dock he comes alongside is of no consequence, as most boat ramps cater for both.

Rule of the road at sea are the same regardless of the country you are in. Most may know this, they were set in France many years ago (not America as is frequently argued, here and Aust at least).

Most small vessels have a hand-throttle remote type set-up, predominantly they are a side or bulkhead mount, and as has already been established, most people perfer to operate that remote with their right hand. As the side of the boat is an easy place to mount said remote it is more a case of form following function in setting the vessel to be RHD.

Small waterjet driven vessels differ here as most tend to be operated with a foot throttle. Originally when waterjets were being first applied to boats the throttle was a bunch of push-rods and linkages, and the easiest place to put this was alongside the inner-most stringer, putting the driver on the port side of the vessel. The convienance here is that when navigating up a narrow river you treat it as a narrow channel and keep to the starb'd side of the river, and any oncoming vessels come down the port side of the boat, just like driving in mainland Europe.

Perhaps all small vessels should be LHD to overcome the navigation confusion it causes when the lane is not clearly marked with dotted lines?