Steering Pedestal

[f_cousin]

I am thinking about replacing my tiller with a Steering Pedestal and Wheel.
Any recommendation as far as a provider and other ideas?
Thanks

[jbanta]

My recommendation is that you rethink giving up your tiller for a wheel. You most certainly are asking for alot more maintance and repair issues. And you know a tiller is closer to the water closer to what sailing is all about.. Think again

[geohan]

If a small boat is kept in balance by sail selection and trim, a long tiller that sweeps the cockpit may not be necessary. Try sailing with the tiller cocked up at a higher angle which effectively reduces its length. We routinely sail our 30-foot sloop with the tiller at a high angle reducing its effective length to about 2-feet and this is with a keel-attached rudder which is about 30 inches tall by 24 inches wide. We maintain just enough weather helm to assure good feed back. When the air is heavy and we can''t keep the boat off of her ear, its an simple thing to lower the tiller for greater leverage. If this works for you maybe you don''t need wheel steering or a long tiller unless, of course, you want the wheel steering for its own sake. If the short helm is too heavy for comfortable steering, a simple and inexpensive whipstaff can convert the horizontal arc to a vertical arc requiring a lot less space and with lots of mechanical advantage depending upon its geometry. Just a thought. Regards, George

[couzensj]

I thought it would be nice to have a wheel also until I thought about the fact that most of the time I sail by myself. With the tiller in one hand I can tack the boat myself but if I had a wheel it wouldn''t be so easy.

FYI, you can write Edison and if you tell them the type of boat they will sent you an estimate along with drawing.

[f_cousin]

I was thinking about the wheel pedestal for the following reasons:
- Free some space in the cockpit.
- Since I am planning on getting a break, sailing my boat by myself would be easier.
- Have my instruments and controls centralized on the pedestal.
- Being able to set a table in the cockpit, on the pedestal.
- Better visibility (can easily steer standing up).

I got the information from Edson. This project would run around $900.
Again, I am still balancing the pros and conts and haven''t made my mind yet. I need some feedback.
Thanks,
Fred

[jbanta]

Wheels are great if that is what you want I feel it''s closer to sailing using my tiller. matter of preferance I guess. That and a till has alot less to go wroung. I like things simple.

[Jeff_H]

I am not sure how big a boat you have, but I find a tiller, especially when combined with a tiller extension works much better for single-handing. It allows you to move about the cockpit much more easily and to put your body where you are most comfortable seeing and trimming sails. When you centralize your instruments on the binacle you are forced to remain behind the wheel to see the gauges. It is much better to mount them on the aft end of the house or over the comanionway so that you can see them from more places within the cockpit and are not confined behind the wheel. Using a tiller extension you can steer standing up if that gives you pleasure and when you get to port you can tilt up the tiller out of the way and have the whole cockpit clear instead of having the wheel and binacle occupying prime real estate. You can add a tiller extension, build a table and add shock cord across the cockpit to hold the tiller and still have $700 to $800 left in the cruising kitty.

Jeff