Tiller Vs Wheel?

[thvoyager]

I really want a boat with a wheel, from my experience a wheel just makes you feel a lot more connected and fixed to the boat? A tiller, if you are stood up how do you stay on your feet in challenging conditions? I have used wheels but not tillers.
Any experience / advice welcomed!

 

[Bobc]

Wheel for cruising, tiller for racing.

 

[Poignard]

I don't understand.

You say a wheel, from your experience, makes you feel a lot more connected etc. but then you go on to say you have never used a tiller.

Why not try both before you decide?

 

[thvoyager]

I don't understand.

You say a wheel, from your experience, makes you feel a lot more connected etc. but then you go on to say you have never used a tiller.

Why not try both before you decide?

Good shout, I will try to get access to a boat with tiller, head out with someone. I was just going off of assumptions, big error. ??

 

[blush2]

I prefer a tiller. You don't have to stand up. We have a forty foot ex-racer with tiller. A lot of our sailing now we use the autopilot but if things get too frisky the helm can sit down and use the tiller extension.

I do a fair bit of sailing holding the tiller between my knees. It makes it easier to multitask, for example, when hoisting the main I steer, operate the engine control, take in the slack on the main halyard as my other half hoists at the mast, and manage the main sheet as required.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I prefer a tiller. You don't have to stand up. We have a forty foot ex-racer with tiller. A lot of our sailing now we use the autopilot but if things get too frisky the helm can sit down and use the tiller extension.

I do a fair bit of sailing holding the tiller between my knees. It makes it easier to multitask, for example, when hoisting the main I steer, operate the engine control, take in the slack on the main halyard as my other half hoists at the mast, and manage the main sheet as required.

We are tiller steered. Your description there fits our sailing too, a bit of multitasking is possible when you can use your knees to steer. I think if we had a wheel, we might need to use the autopilot rather more.

 

[ithet]

Previous boat was tiller, current one wheel with console. On the tiller boat there were more options of where to steer from especially sitting down. On current boat even though one can sit alongside the large wheel it is not totally comfortable so one tends to stand behind more. Other than that I would say 50/50 and other factors would be more of a deciding factor.
Added - sitting behind the wheel on my boat is not really feasible because the console blocks the view.

 

[thvoyager]

Yep I guess it's just a case of be grateful there are 2 options and not just one, find out what you need out of your preferred system and choose one!

 

[RJJ]

Both can work. With a tiller you typically steer sitting on the seat or coaming. On smaller boats you get to fold the tiller up so you can use the whole cockpit for sundowners.

You can very quickly get used to either. Most people would say a tiller gives a more direct feel to the helm...that can be at the expense of being rather physical as there's often less gear advantage.

More important if choosing a boat: is she balanced (both in terms of weather/lee helm and the design of the rudder itself)? Is the steering position comfortable with good visibility, including when leaning over? Is the construction of the steering system adequate and in good repair?

Remember a wheel steered yacht has some contraption under the cockpit that you can't see and is to some extent able to fail. Some are better than others (many are of course very good). We once had a charter yacht where the steering cable ran around large diameter plastic pulleys which duly shattered...cue returning to port with emergency tiller for two days which was no fun at all. But at least the emergency tiller was present and correct!

 

[geem]

Depends on the boat, yout intended use, distance you are planning on cruising. Its often easier to get a good below decks autopilot on wheel steered yacht. It's easier to steer a tiller steered yacht by servo pendulum wind steering. Tillers can take up a lot of cockpit space when sailing but easily swung out of the way at anchor. Tiller connected autopilots are usually unreliable and lack power. It's often easier to mount a chart plotter on a steering binnacle and other instruments. Not so easy with tiller. What is your intended use?

 

[jamie N]

I've a Folkboat with a tiller (of course) where I find I get good feedback on 'how' the boat's doing, and am able to get it trimmed more easily this way.
My experience of a wheel was very much less satisfying, in that I might just as well had power steering for all of the feedback that I got, albeit this is based on a few hours and not years of tiller helming!
When sailing heeled, on a Folkboat it's easy as the cockpit's proportioned so as to be able to balance against the leeward side, but this is boat/design dependent of course.

 

[Poignard]

There is less to go wrong with a tiller and it is easier (and cheaper!) to fit an autopilot and a windvane steering system .

 

[Stemar]

Both can work. With a tiller you typically steer sitting on the seat or coaming. On smaller boats you get to fold the tiller up so you can use the whole cockpit for sundowners.

You can very quickly get used to either. Most people would say a tiller gives a more direct feel to the helm...that can be at the expense of being rather physical as there's often less gear advantage.

More important if choosing a boat: is she balanced (both in terms of weather/lee helm and the design of the rudder itself)? Is the steering position comfortable with good visibility, including when leaning over? Is the construction of the steering system adequate and in good repair?

Big +1 to this. Far better to have the right boat with the "wrong" steering than the wrong boat with the right steering.

 

[thvoyager]

.... What is your intended use?

Definitely offshore, the Channel, Med, Atlantic, North Sea into Scandinavia, I have a long way to go before I get there, but I am trying to future proof myself as best as I can, namely I don't think I would enjoy a tiller, a wheel just feels more like the kind of sailing I want to do.

 

[geem]

Definitely offshore, the Channel, Med, Atlantic, North Sea into Scandinavia, I have a long way to go before I get there, but I am trying to future proof myself as best as I can, namely I don't think I would enjoy a tiller, a wheel just feels more like the kind of sailing I want to do.

My view of long distance sailing is that steering is over rated. On long passages leaving it to the autopilot or wind self steering is the way to go. A powerful autopilot is important to the kind of sailing we do so for me the wheel allows this more reliably in most cases. What size boat?

 

[KevinV]

My view of long distance sailing is that steering is over rated.

This - I did the Atlantic on a boat that didn't have enough battery to run the autopilot much. With just two of us on board that meant being tied to the wheel for four hours at a time, with nothing of interest to look at or do.

 

[geem]

This - I did the Atlantic on a boat that didn't have enough battery to run the autopilot much. With just two of us on board that meant being tied to the wheel for four hours at a time, with nothing of interest to look at or do.

Not really a fault of the steering system though is it. Boat prep for such a trip normally includes system upgrades

 

[lustyd]

Definitely offshore, the Channel, Med, Atlantic, North Sea into Scandinavia, I have a long way to go before I get there, but I am trying to future proof myself as best as I can, namely I don't think I would enjoy a tiller, a wheel just feels more like the kind of sailing I want to do.

MJ sailing (YouTube) chose to rip out the wheel steering and put a tiller on their aluminium boat to do exactly that sailing. Wheels generally make people stand, standing tires you out for very little benefit. As others have said, steering is for the first and last hour of the trip anyway

 

[mrming]

I prefer a tiller (and have one), but ultimately I would choose a boat with a wheel if, overall, it was the better boat for the job.

 

[johnalison]

There isn't a right or wrong answer and much depends on the boat as well as the type of sailing done. I think that any sailor ought to be comfortable with either when well fitted to the boat. A tiller is generally regarded as being better for windward work as well as taking up less space in the cockpit in harbour and giving the helm a more snug place to helm from. A wheel may be more comfortable downwind as well as less tiring but it is harder to steer and do other jobs such as eat a sandwich, and isolates the helmsman at the back of the cockpit. Many tiller boats have a quadrant-based autopilot, so this is not a factor. Although my cockpit rod pilot works perfectly well on my 34-footer, I would have chosen the quadrant version if I had thought about it at the time.