pros and cons of steering wheel as opposed to a tiller arm

[kalika]

hi i have an outboard engine for my 30ft narrowboat i have just bought it and was pleasantly surprised that the steering is quite easy to set up i was planning on attaching a tiller arm to the outboard for steering the boat but am now toying with the idea of setting it up with the wheel steering. My question is what are the pros and cons of wheel steering and which would best suit my boat. opinions and advice are most welcome and appreciated.

Edited May 2, 2011 by kalika

[NB Lola]

Titanic had a steering wheel!

[Travis]

Travis has a wheel, stick to a tiller.

 

Andy.

[carlt]

One of the problems I found, with a tiller, was that you are directly connected to the prop and engine, rather than a rudder and I found that, at times, the tiller would 'snatch' violently, sometimes, especially when the prop encountered a solid object.

 

Other than that there wasn't much difference, between tiller and wheel.

[sociable_hermit]

I've no experience of outboards but I have used a narrowboat that could be controlled by either a wheel or the tiller arm.

 

Advantages of a wheel are smoothness, lightness of operation, and (for some) the logic of turning the way you want to go, like a car.

 

Disadvantages are lack of feel, lack of immediacy and not knowing where dead ahead is, unless you mark this on the wheel somehow!

 

I must admit I preferred the tiller as I felt more connected to the boat. But maybe that's just because it was what I was used to - if you used the wheel enough I'm sure you'd adjust to it.

 

Re. Carlt's point about snatching, that's true, but from a mechanical point of view it might be better for the boat if the rudder is connected to something flexible that will 'give' (your arm) when it hits something, rather than something solid that won't.

[kalika]

thanks for the replies, the info is very much needed and appreciated