TOPIC: Steering Wheel Side

Just a random question that made me pause.

Is there a rhyme or reason why some steering wheels were placed on the left and some were placed on the right? You can look at two boats the same year, yet they are opposite each other. Was it a buyer decision?

It stated by putting the wheel on the side to counter the torque produced by the prop.

Looking from the back of the boat

CW would be on the starboard side

CCW Port side

HUH??
Actually it started based on the traffic standards. Boats are supposed to follow the rule pass to the green side. Doesn't your boat have a green/red light lens? So if you're meeting a boat, drivers will pass each other like they do in England-to the green side. I do not know the perversion that would put a steering wheel on the left side unless they thought they were in a car.

Hey! HEY!
PORT and STARBOARD!

You're talking like a bunch of scally wag land lubbers. I bet you say "rope" when you mean "line".

... and the steering wheel is called the helm.

...and boats don't have floors, they have decks.

An old Norwegian told me Starboard was derived from Old Norse for steering board which was traditionally on the right side of the ship for us normal right handed skippers.
Most boats you see have the controls on the starboard side are simply following that tradition.

And those are fenders on the port side, not bumpers.

Terry

jigngrub,

Actually boats DO have floors.
(Btw, what we call a "floor" on landside is called a "sole" on boats.)

yours, satx

satx78247 wrote:

jigngrub,

Actually boats DO have floors.
(Btw, what we call a "floor" on landside is called a "sole" on boats.)

yours, satx

I never heard anyone say "hit the floor" or "hit the sole" in the navy, it's always referred to as a deck.

Sole is a building term and is the lowest horizontal member in a structure, after the sole is installed in a boat it becomes a deck... to me anyway.

Was this string hijacked or what

Here's a link of seagoing terms that I think y'all will enjoy.

www.navy.mil/navydata/traditions/html/navyterm.html

I thought wheels were Propellers,

As my Master Chief told us in Navy Boot camp,
" That is not the floor, its the deck, and that is not the
ceiling, its the overhead. And its not the back of the ship
its aft where the stern is, and its not the front, its forward
to the bow. We do not turn left its "turn to port" and right is
starboard. And if you swabs don't learn that before tomorrow
I will throw you thru that little round window over there"



Danny

As to which side the "helm" is on, at Power Cat if the
customer had no preference it was placed on the "starboard'
side for right handed drivers so the motor controls could
be operated by the right hand. Often though the customer
would request "port" side helm, and mostly it was because
they felt it should match an American automobile.
This was often not something selected at the factory, as
many boats were shipped to dealers without any steering and
the dealer would do the install per the end customers preference.



Danny

Falls Man wrote:

HUH??
Actually it started based on the traffic standards. Boats are supposed to follow the rule pass to the green side. Doesn't your boat have a green/red light lens? So if you're meeting a boat, drivers will pass each other like they do in England-to the green side. I do not know the perversion that would put a steering wheel on the left side unless they thought they were in a car.

Many boats in the 40s and 50s had the steering in the left. I seem many (and own 3 and 2 just happen to be Yellow Jackets) that had Merc installed when the boat was first fitted.
Two has the controls mounted to the floor for right hand use and the other on the side for Left hand use. I have a friend with a 58 Helton with a Mark 58 and the steering is on the left control on the side.

So why would they move the steering to the left and mount the controls to the right......torque

I seen boats with the steering on the right and controls mounted on the floor left of the seat.

I have 4 other Yellow Jackets with the steering on the right. All came with OMC motors

TallTexan,

AS USUAL, you are SPOT ON.

yours, satx

jigngrub,

Fwiw, I know almost ZILCH about the navy or navy jargon.
(What little that I do know came from my late uncle was the "acting COB" for most of WWII on the USS CHAMPION., AM-314)

Nonetheless, IF you look about on internet search engines, you will see that commercial & private watercraft (especially traditional yachts) often DO have "floors" (which are structural members that are located below the sole.) & "soles", too.
(Some years ago WOODENBOAT MAGAZINE published a annotated diagram of a yacht with the various parts identified. = I'll see if I can find/post it.)

yours, satx

Satx, acting COB is a really BIG position. The chief of the boat was the captain's right hand man. Knew the boat aka submarine, inside and out, all systems. COB was the 'go to' guy. If it floats it's a ship, if it goes under, on purpose, it's a boat.

satx78247 wrote:

jigngrub,

Fwiw, I know almost ZILCH about the navy or navy jargon.
(What little that I do know came from my late uncle was the "acting COB" for most of WWII on the USS CHAMPION., AM-314)

Nonetheless, IF you look about on internet search engines, you will see that commercial & private watercraft (especially traditional yachts) often DO have "floors" (which are structural members that are located below the sole.) & "soles", too.
(Some years ago WOODENBOAT MAGAZINE published a annotated diagram of a yacht with the various parts identified. = I'll see if I can find/post it.)

yours, satx

It's your boat and you can call it whatever you want eh?! You can call them "the ground" if you want to, like my wife calls the floor in the house when she drops something on it... she didn't drop it on the floor, she dropped on the ground.

Lots and lots of people have boats with "floors" in them, I just can't get used to calling them that... they've always been a deck to me and always will be.

jigngrub,

Did you NOT understand that "floors" in a traditional watercraft are NOT "decks" or "soles" for that matter??? = Instead they are BELOW DECKS structural members.

Fyi, I'm not interested in an argument with you/anyone on nautical terminology, as I'm NOT "an expert".

yours, satx

satx78247 wrote:

jigngrub,

Did you NOT understand that "floors" in a traditional watercraft are NOT "decks" or "soles" for that matter??? = Instead they are BELOW DECKS structural members.

Fyi, I'm not interested in an argument with you/anyone on nautical terminology, as I'm NOT "an expert".

yours, satx

I guess I didn't, they're all decks to me.

The main deck, the upper deck, the lower deck, the raised deck, the casting deck, the flight deck, the poop deck, the sun deck, the fore deck, the aft deck... and many more:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deck_(ship)

OK guys, let's hit the floor running and go sunbathe on the sunfloor. (even spell check questioned that one)
Anyone for fantail???

Where's the popcorn...

63 Sabre,

My uncle as a "permanent grade" of PO3 (USNR) was "temporarily appointed" as "acting COB" when the "REAL" COB was shot through the neck early in April, 1943 at Tarawa & med-evaced to Pearl Harbor & "pending his recovery".
My uncle was still what we soldiers call "an acting jack" until AFTER VJ Day.
(As my uncle used to say, "During the war nothing was more permanent than a "temporary appointment".)

NOTE: When the CHAMPION arrived back in CONUS in Jan 1947, after "Occupation Duty", my uncle was offered a Warrant as a "pinstriper", which he refused & returned to TX to go back to marry my aunt & then went back to work for the USPO, as a rural mail carrier. He retired from the USPO in April 1977 & passed away in 1993.
(My uncle once said that he often wondered what sort of naval career that he would have had if she hadn't wanted so badly to get married.)

yours, satx

63 Sabre,

At what point do "boats" become "ships" in the USN?
(PT Boats are called "boats". - Is that incorrect?)

yours, satx

Are we gonna discuss floating because of material make-up or displaces water?

"Power-cAT" Has the best answer for the original poster.. Most 60's dealer will tell ya that the stronger arm /wrist of the buyer to operate the shift / control box is the reason a dealer will decide on side... More people are RIGHT hand dominate, thus right side wheel .
. Try to think of the guy teaching his wife to move her left hand to
control the six cyl Merc reversing,, Thus " DOCKBUSTER " nickname.
PS My friend was born with only one arm, thus his wheel was on the left.

Split is right. as a retired "sailor" it's a deck unless you go below decks. For us aviators who flew of the "boat" carrier it was the "pointy end and blunt end"! LOL Just to stir the pot.

Bob

WOW! I feel like I have been decked after reading all this. I'm seeing stars but not sure if they are on the Starboard side or.....

1030hugo wrote:

WOW! I feel like I have been decked after reading all this. I'm seeing stars but not sure if they are on the Starboard side or.....

Are you facing fore or aft?

AHhhh, We can get into celestial navigation now

I'm out here

Fore? Aft? I'm facing up, I have been decked and am seeing stars

20 YR retired US Navy Chef. All I Know is that when I called the bathromm the head, the floors the deck and the walls the bulkheads. etc. was if you call it a head ,deck, etc " then you clean it".

how can boats have fenders they dont have wheels or tires.????? hahaha you walked right into that.

billy