Wheel steering on a 26' boat??

[Dyflin]

Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

A boat we hope to have a look at in the new year has wheel instead of a tiller. I have only sailed on a Sadler 32 which had a wheel retro fitted (and still had the tiller as a back up). Is it going to be a PITA to have a wheel on such a small boat? What about an autopilot for wheel steering? How complicated are they in relation to tillers? Bizarre system, but there you go.

 

[Perry]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

There is a Centaur around last called Eos that had wheel steering, it had an auto pilot that had a ring fitted behind the wheel with belt drive to the electric motor. A super little yacht that my uncle used to keep at Hythe Marina until he sold her.

 

[sailorman]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Hi is she an Oyster26

 

[MoodySabre]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

I also know of a Centaur worth wheel steering but it seems to take up a lot of cockpit room. Personally I can't see the point on a small boat.

 

[Krusty]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

''Is it going to be a PITA to have a wheel on such a small boat? ''
Probably! - if you have learned to sail with a tiller, and are happy with one.
A wheel is only needed when a boat is so large (or so unbalanced!) that an adequate tiller would be too long.
IMHO, a wheel fitted to a yacht small enough to have a tiller is an indictment of the increasing design trend away from well-balanced underwater shapes in pursuit of volume below deck.
However, standing at a wheel does allow a helmsman to maintain a better lookout, and in crowded coastal waters that may be a critical safety feature: and (for some) it looks more macho than snugging down behind a coaming with a tiller!

''How complicated are they in relation to tillers?''
Considerably! And they violate the KISS principle. There is always a price to pay for that, sooner or later.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

A bit small for a wheel I would imagine.
My 30ft has a tiller which giong from a Shetland Black Hawk with a wheel to the tiller was very strange for me, and sometimes it can be quite a handful with weather helm, but the Elan 36 which I done the DS practical on had a wheel which I foung hard to adapt to as it was the first wheel steering sail boat I had been on.
On two occasions she rounded up on me and others despite every effort to prevent it happening, I also find my tiller stg a lot more precise with no feeling of slop or lost motion.
I know someone else who had a wheel on his HB30 and couldent wait to remove it and revert back to tiller.
Someone mentioned about been able to stand at the wheel, but that can be very tiring, when sitting can be more pleasent, especially in the open waters.
Could you not revert back to a tiller? if there was one on it originally.

 

[joewalsh]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

It looks like an Oyster 26 or a legend 26, I own one of these boats and find it tight enough around the cockpit area without having to work around a wheel. Its a great boat though

 

[sailorman]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

PLEASE dont mention Oyster & legend in the same sentence /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif.
if Don Pye saw that wheel /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Bajansailor]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

A wheel on a lovely wee yacht like this (deffo an Oyster I think) is probably an indication that her crew could only drive cars and / or had never sailed dinghies, and hence couldnt get their heads around tillers.
Many small (even under 25') American sailing yachts have wheel steering.
Conversely, Stormy Weather has a tiller, and she is a real joy to steer - all 54' and 24 tonnes of her.
Re autopilots, a simple tiller pilot is bound to be easier and cheaper than hooking up a wheel pilot.

 

[Dyflin]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Thanks for the responses, she's a one of a kind as far as I can ascertain, a leisure 26. Only one (or two) were ever built, almost identical to the Oyster 26, but I am a bit dubious about the boat as she may have been a "prototype" for Leisure in the final days and any problems not worked out (or some other wacky ideas thrown in?).

 

[sailorman]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

phone Holman & Pye @ West Mersea Essex

 

[Bajansailor]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Obvious solution - just buy that lovely Frances 26 you were hankering after a while back!
And then you definitely will not have any dilemmas about wheels vs. tillers /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
(Her designer would probably want to shoot anybody who decides that they need to put a wheel in her cockpit).

 

[Searush]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Westerly Chieftain was a centre cockpit version of the Centaur & needed wheel steering because of aft cabin. I have a wheel on my Pentland. It gives it a lovely "big ship" feel. VERY easy for novice crew to use. I like it. There is an emergency tiller in the aft cabin, but it is difficult to see where you are going when you use it!

Wheelpilots have no problems with wheels, mine is an early one which uses a remote motor with a band driving the wheel via an add-on pulley. Later models use direct gear drives to the wheel.

 

[srm]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Why add complications that will break at inconvenient moments?

You still need a tiller as back up so I would suggest removing the wheel and its gear. Every wheel steered yacht I have owned has had a linkage break or disconnect at sea (or worse while entering harbour), at an inconvenient moment. If you insist in keeping the wheel make sure you can change over to tiller and use it effectively without any hassle.

 

[freeman]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Having had a tiller on a 31 ft boat and a wheel on a 36ft My advice is that a tiller is far better unless the tiller pressure is too strong.

with a tiller you can easily go forward to do things and can even steer with a foot while you do so.
sunbird

 

[steve_cronin]

How does one....

...tell someone that what they suggest is a case of aspirations beyond their boat's physical constraints and/or resources and totally inappropriate, without insulting them or hurting their feelings?

If I knew, then I would. Otherwise, I can only say that to me, it's just like putting wide low profile tyres and a "Big Bore" exhaust on a Fiat Topolino.

I'm with Larry Pardy on this one. Tillers give the best control for boats around 30' and remember, the first Open 60s were tiller steered too.

Steve Cronin

 

[Searush]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

[ QUOTE ]
Having had a tiller on a 31 ft boat and a wheel on a 36ft My advice is that a tiller is far better unless the tiller pressure is too strong.

with a tiller you can easily go forward to do things and can even steer with a foot while you do so.
sunbird

[/ QUOTE ]

I can leave my wheel to put the kettle on, have wee or check the charts. Provided the sails are reasonably balanced she will sail on course for a minute or two without problems.

And, in answer to an earlier post, mine has not (yet) let me down in 15 years, so I suggest that an annual maintenance inspection may pay dividends.

 

[VicS]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Leisure 26 (hope the link works) taken from the owners association website Clearly tiller steered in this picture

A very lttile info and some poorly scanned images of the sales brochure on the L26 page of the website. Deck layout drawing also shows a tiller.

Confirms that it came from the same mould as the Oyster 26

http://www.leisureowners.org.uk/site/contents/leisure26.shtml

 

[sailorman]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

the Oyster 26 is still made in Holland /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Dyflin]

Re: Wheel steering on a 26\' boat??

Yeah, I am a member of the LOA and have been talking about the boat with some long standing members, but their experience of this model is about zero.