Convert tiller to Ship Wheel:Has anyone done it and do they have any advice on doing?

[PaulJS]

As sailorman says it is a "motorsailor" thing. Many such boats are fitted with a wheel like that when the boat probably does more motoring than sailing. The downside on a little boat like the Trident is that it is on the lee side on one tack and the small wheel you would have to use lacks feel. Also nowhere to sit comfortably when sailing - motorsailors usually have fair sized wheels and a seat for the helmsman.

Think one has to accept that there are limits as to what is possible in 24'. So if you want a full 4 berth cabin there is simply not enough room for a cockpit for 4 adults and be able to sail the boat. Other boats have different priorities - smaller cabin, larger cockpit, or you have to go up in size.

Thanks Tranona and Sailorman,

I'd assumed your original comment was more in regard to the proposed position of the wheel being unsuitable for sailing as opposed to a tiller, so your comments about the feel of the steering hadn't occurred to me.
Also, I should have mentioned that my boat is a motorsailer, however I'm still definitely considering shifting her wheel to the forward side of the cockpit as the present position is uncomfortable, gives poorer visibility, and is in a damned awkward place! (Mind you it's only been there for about 37 years... Maybe I'll get used to it!)

Paul

 

[Blueboatman]

Why stop at one wheel? His n Hers on opposing bulkheads is so ' on trend'. Give both kids something to do as well..
And the wheels could be doubles, 'inside and out' and each sharing common, through-bulkhead spindles.. Something for every season..

I think 50hp would just add to the excitement

 

[Tranona]

Why stop at one wheel? His n Hers on opposing bulkheads is so ' on trend'. Give both kids something to do as well..
And the wheels could be doubles, 'inside and out' and each sharing common, through-bulkhead spindles.. Something for every season..

I think 50hp would just add to the excitement

Inside/outside on common spindles not as daft as it sounds. Was sometimes seen on wheelhouse cruisers in the 1960s.

 

[Tranona]

Thanks Tranona and Sailorman,

I'd assumed your original comment was more in regard to the proposed position of the wheel being unsuitable for sailing as opposed to a tiller, so your comments about the feel of the steering hadn't occurred to me.
Also, I should have mentioned that my boat is a motorsailer, however I'm still definitely considering shifting her wheel to the forward side of the cockpit as the present position is uncomfortable, gives poorer visibility, and is in a damned awkward place! (Mind you it's only been there for about 37 years... Maybe I'll get used to it!)

Paul

Some French boats (Beneteaus and Amels for example) have bulkhead mounted wheels rather than pedestal, but usually they are 45'+ and have plush captains chairs for the helm. Multihulls also use them as it frees up cockpit space for other activities.

 

[sailorman]

Some French boats (Beneteaus and Amels for example) have bulkhead mounted wheels rather than pedestal, but usually they are 45'+ and have plush captains chairs for the helm. Multihulls also use them as it frees up cockpit space for other activities.

The Amels are designed with ocean passage in mind, when the ap would be steering

 

[scruff]

Thanks Tranona and Sailorman,

I'd assumed your original comment was more in regard to the proposed position of the wheel being unsuitable for sailing as opposed to a tiller, so your comments about the feel of the steering hadn't occurred to me.
Also, I should have mentioned that my boat is a motorsailer, however I'm still definitely considering shifting her wheel to the forward side of the cockpit as the present position is uncomfortable, gives poorer visibility, and is in a damned awkward place! (Mind you it's only been there for about 37 years... Maybe I'll get used to it!)

Paul

If you do fit a wheel and ever want to sell you boat. Make sure your added wheel is very easy to remove leaving no or little trace of it.

Having a wheel bodged onto your boat is only going to negatively effect its value.

 

[Kelpie]

it frees up cockpit space for other activities.

what a strange idea. The primary purpose of a cockpit is for steering the boat from it!!

 

[Blueboatman]

I wonder has the OP been put off the notion yet?

Incidentally, in the best spirit of PBO, some early home built boats, with their transom hung rudders , then went and added simple windvane self steering by the addition of a trim tab hi fed on the aft end of the existing rudder and a small vane and ( proportional) linkage..
.. .. By the same application why not a bicycle cable to TwisterKens joystick idea and voila! Indoors steering at yer fingertips...

 

[PaulJS]

If you do fit a wheel and ever want to sell you boat. Make sure your added wheel is very easy to remove leaving no or little trace of it.

Having a wheel bodged onto your boat is only going to negatively effect its value.

Erm... My boat already has a pedestal mounted wheel, as per the original design (Very difficult having a tiller on a centre cockpit boat!), but I've seen other boats of the same type with the wheel mounted at the forward port side of the cockpit, most likely a conversion in both cases because the cockpit seat was still there rather than having a clear space for the helmsman to stand behind the wheel. It definitely made the cockpit more usable, and greatly eased access to the aft cabin.
If I do decide to move the wheel I know an excellent local glass-fibre fabricator so I'll be tempted to do a proper job and sacrifice the port quarter berth as I'd also like to alter the internal layout. However that's all plans for the future, as I said earlier, her wheel has been in the same place for the last 37 years so I might learn to live with it!

Paul

Sorry to the OP for the thread drift.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Erm... She already has a pedestal mounted wheel,

I think Scruff's comment was really aimed at the OP. This thread has got a bit difficult to follow.

 

[prv]

I think his comment was aimed at the OP.

Yep. Some people don't seem to have grasped the difference between replying to the thread as a whole (and hence implicitly the OP) and replying to an individual post.

Pete

 

[sailorman]

Erm... My boat already has a pedestal mounted wheel, as per the original design (Very difficult having a tiller on a centre cockpit boat!), but I've seen other boats of the same type with the wheel mounted at the forward port side of the cockpit, most likely a conversion in both cases because the cockpit seat was still there rather than having a clear space for the helmsman to stand behind the wheel. It definitely made the cockpit more usable, and greatly eased access to the aft cabin.
If I do decide to move the wheel I know an excellent local glass-fibre fabricator so I'll be tempted to do a proper job and sacrifice the port quarter berth as I'd also like to alter the internal layout. However that's all plans for the future, as I said earlier, her wheel has been in the same place for the last 37 years so I might learn to live with it!

Paul

Sorry to the OP for the thread drift.

Fit a Whipstaff

 

[PaulJS]

As soon as I'd posted my reply to Scruff I realised that his comment probably wasn't aimed at me, even now I'm still sometimes struggling with this forum software and I know I made a few misquoting posts when I joined the forum!

Paul

 

[prv]

Fit a Whipstaff

Heh, good thought. Our yard's workboat has a whipstaff. I also once designed (not in the expectation of ever building it) an ocean-going boat which I wanted to have an occasional inside steering position but didn't have the space for a wheel etc. The solution was a whipstaff quadrant under the companionway, with a removable staff to slot into it through a plate in the raised sole.

I suspect the OP would find a whipstaff just as unfamiliar as a tiller though .

Pete

 

[bendyone]

Easy way would be to fit a hydraulic system with a bulkhead mounted helm and ram onto a stub tiller.
Not a good system for a small sailing boat but it would work.

 

[jwilson]

It COULD be done, by putting a smallish wheel on a small raised section that would have to be created above and in line with the cockpit aft bulkhead, forward of the aft deck and lazarette hatches - you'd then have a central wheel that you would use from in front of the wheel - some USA very traditional boats have this arrangement. The cockpit is far too small for a conventional pedestal mounted wheel, and one on the coachroof bulkhead would be horrible to use.

Although it could be done, I really don't think you SHOULD do it. No-one else will like it, and you'd be very hard pushed to sell the boat with this arrangement. Also a tiller is much nicer to steer with. I actually prefer a tiller to a wheel every time.

 

[lustyd]

Surely with a wheel you'd lose the ability to bum-tack when single handed?

 

[sailorman]

Surely with a wheel you'd lose the ability to bum-tack when single handed?

& change gear with yer foot

 

[lustyd]

& change gear with yer foot

Gears?!

 

[Tranona]

what a strange idea. The primary purpose of a cockpit is for steering the boat from it!!

Was slightly tongue in cheek - but in the sorts of boats I am talking about, steering the boat is an optional activity. Much more important to have space for sunbathing and socialising and let the autopilot do the steering.