Tiller or Wheel Steering ?

Tiller steering

All of the above is quite true. However if you like to take a lot of people on board you will find that a tiller steering in tight places and when tacking really takes up room. This especially in a boat with rudder forward of transom and a long tiller. However if you are going short handed or on long tacks no problem in fact as said more feel and easy to fit auto pilot. olewill
 
Scotty_Twister said:
Not sure i understand why/how/
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Because you have the benefit of having two hands in seperated positions for better ability to hang on, and some minor protection from any water washing down the boat from the bow through the pedestal itself... throw a big wave at me, and i'd rather be clinging to a wheel than a tiller...

But don't get me wrong... I stressed it was pretty marginal... and I am a tiller fan as well!
 
Wheel steering can be linked to the rudder by rod ( much the best) or wires or hydraulic and the latter two in partcular lose feel. There is no loss of feel with a tiller.

A decent wheel set up will be quite a bit lighter load than a tiller simply because of the gearing

A wheel clutters up the cockpit in harbour more than a tiller does, but some tillers clutter up the cockpit at sea

Most newcomers feel a bit more at home with a wheel and market preference is for a wheel.

It's a personal choice. Personally I prefer a big racing type wheel preferably one of those carbon fibre types. But then I'm a bit of a tart.
 
William_H said:
All of the above is quite true. However if you like to take a lot of people on board you will find that a tiller steering in tight places and when tacking really takes up room. This especially in a boat with rudder forward of transom and a long tiller. However if you are going short handed or on long tacks no problem in fact as said more feel and easy to fit auto pilot. olewill
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Yes, until people get used to what happens when you tack you'll have to ask them to move out of the way of the tiller. About the only real disadvantage for me, much prefer tiller to wheel. Horses for courses, worst for me was the massive wheel on the training boat when I did day skipper...
 
My ideal helming position would be on the side deck, holding a tiller extension, pretending I was helming a big dinghy.

In reality though, wheel steering has won for the next boat, as cockpit space is important. A tiller takes up the sitting room of 2 or 3 people on each side. My last boat had a cockpit big enough for 6 people to sit down comfortably when moored but only for two under way unless you accept you're going to have to move people about like a slider puzzle in advance of certain manoeuvres.

There was a boat (Elan maybe?) which had a vertical tiller claiming to offer the best of both worlds. I've not tried it myself though.
 
Tiller steered boats of 30-32ft are easier to sail single/short handed as you can reach everything much easier. Often with a wheel you are trapped behind it and the genoa sheets, mainsheet & traveller are all possibly out of reach.
 
Morgana said:
About the only significant advantage I can think of for wheel steering is that I suspect that the helmsman is marginally safer in a real hoolie..... but its marginal....
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Many of the new boats I see look awful exposed round the wheel. No transom, wheel far aft and all the instruments placed so you can only see them if your standing behind the wheel. How does that work out in a blow? Because Jumblie is double ended she has a rather small cockpit, but it's awful cosy and safe feeling in wilder weather. Tiller, by the way.
 
Agree, but that's a different argument from tiller or wheel, that's a more generic cockpit layout issue.... and I agree with you... the open transoms seem very very exposed to me especially in a shallow cockpit.... one of the reasons we like our Oceanis 400 is that the helm is well protected behind a complete transom!

FWIW, my instruments are only visible from the wheel, but i've never found it to be a problem.... I do have a full set at the chart table too though
 
I agree with most of my learned bretherin above ...

on a 10m boat fitting in a wheel can be pretty marginal. You're talking about a 32/33' vessel - as you can see there are plenty of options, but you need to weigh up the quantity, agility and competancy of your crew.

If you've got a lot of crew and intend to cruise longer distances then a wheel may well be better for you as it does give more static space underway, however, if the crew are not very agile then you'll have to evaluate the sheeting arrangements and their ability to take over the controls/move out of the way - and that may dictate a tiller.

We had a tiller steer 30'er and it was like a big dinghy - easy to sail 2 or 3 up, but got a bit crowded with any more - but plenty of room when parked. What was said about having to move people about whilst tacking is very true - we could have 3 people (including helm) sat side by side whilst beating - putting a tack in with a 4th crew member was a considered act requiring prior planning and re-positioning.
We now have a larger wheel steering with coach roof mainsheet - tacking now with 4 people onboard is simple - nobody has to move and the helm is safely at the back and not likely to trip over anyone ...
The other advantage of the wheel on our boat is that it has enabled a walk through transom - very handy when you're parking up in a marina ...
 
A couple more points to take into consideration

1. On boats where you can choose wheel or tiller ..... wheel steering often has an impact on aft berth.

2. Tiller steered boats often have the morse control in a place that puts you head down at the very moment you should be head up ... eg negotiating a tight marina berth (or is that just my boat :-)

You can't beat being out on the coamings, tiller extension in hand in a F5 though (ex Laser sailor)
 
I don't like instruments just behind the wheel - mainly because I spend a lot of my time elsewhere in the cockpit and would like to keep an eye on them! So we have put a tri-data repeater next to the wind instrument on the forward bulkhead and have a second chartplotter on the hatch.

Yes tillers are simple - but not always the best configuration for the crew - as for KISS principle - I don't hear of lots of boats having problems with wheel steering - any more than I hear of lots of boats breaking their tillers - it does happen though ... and an emergency tiller is an easy addition stored in a locker - being stainless it won't break ... well - not before it isn't a problem for me anymore!
 
Wheels are good for three things;

Posing,

Mechanical advantage on REALLY large craft or in shallows where the rudder may be in silt, or;

Posing !

When I did my YMO course at the excellent no B.S. Solent School of Yachting, they had two Yamaha 33's, excellent heavy weather boats; one had a tiller, the other a wheel, when I was there they were planning to get the wheel equipped one converted to tiller, as it's much more instinctive.

A wheel tends to separate the helmsman from the rest of the crew, and the sail controls.

There is the story of the blue water cruiser, when in port the owner had taken off the wheel for parties and chats in the cockpit; when it came time to leave and the lines cast off, motor going, the hero found the wheel was missing, so had to weave his way out between moored boats etc with a mole grip clamped onto the steering nut !

I think the poster who said 'wheel boats carry an emergency tiller, tiller boats don't carry an emergency wheel' summed it up very well...
 
I went through this 2 years ago when looking at mid 30ft'rs and ended up with a tiller on a BeneteaU First 345 and am now very very happy with it. There are 2 benefits I think that havent been mentioned :

1. Mechanically, less to go wrong (also cheaper and easier to interchange autopilots).
2. Sail trim requirements are more obvious.

I was at SIBS with a friend when I was going through the buying decision - he was new to sailing and whilst looking aboard a few yachts, he grabbed the big wheel and said "You have to have one of these", and perhaps thats an issue to consider too - they do look nice, and that may be an important factor to you !
 
I think Twister Ken summed it up pretty well for the most part.

I've had both but my favourite boat was my 32' Pearson Vanguard on which we cruised full time for three years. It had Edson wheel steering. In harbour we would remove the wheel (no, we never lost it or forgot to put it back in place) and the binnacle supported the folding cockpit table.
I've also had tiller steering on a 32' Jeanneau and that was fine, too.

The early OYC boats, 72' cutter headed ketches, had tiller steering but were converted to wheel to provide mechanical advantage - they tell me that with the tillers they'd sometimes have three or four kids manfully trying to fight the weather helm in a bit of a blow!

The location of the gear and throttle is a bit compromised with a tiller, and the binnacle supporting a wheel provides the temptation to hang lots of instruments on it where they can only be seen by the helmsman. So, points for and against.

I don't think tiller versus wheel would be a deal killer for me.
 
Seajet said:
Wheels are good for three things;

Posing,

Mechanical advantage on REALLY large craft or in shallows where the rudder may be in silt, or;

Posing !
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Which rather suggests to me that you don't really understand the positives of wheels in family cruising boats ...

As I said above - I've had both - at times I miss the tiller, especially when beating to windward as with an extension you could sit out on the coaming .. but off the wind I like the wheel.
I have short tacked both tiller and wheel steered boats through a confined space - I found the wheel to be far superior in terms of space - as I was behind the wheel and had my own space to move in - leaving the crew to deal with the sails & sheets.

The only changes I'd make to the steering configuration on our current boat would be either a quickly removable wheel or a folding wheel and an upgraded autopilot which connected to the quadrant rather than the wheel pilot.

The carrying of an emergency tiller is just good practice - perhaps more tiller steered boats should have them - or are you going to start on those who have life rafts and flares when they should have perfectly usable lifejackets and DSC radios?
 
Not considered in the debate is the position of the wheel. Like the OP my requirements are 10m with after cabin which (mostly) suggests wheel steering.
The wheel can be in the centre of the cockpit but also may be on rear of the cabin left or right of the companionway. In that position it is well out of the way and protected.
I do prefer the feel of a tiller, I dislike the low gearing of my last wheel steered boat.
I second the need to get a decent seat behind the wheel ( possibly movable), mostly it may not be required but in bad weather if the autopilot is disengaged then 'standing and spinning' for long periods can be tiring.
Neck ache from looking aloft is another issue.
 
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