Any ideas for the most compact console?

John Robinson

John Robinson

Well-known member
On my mini-Honker I was planning on going with tiller steering to leave my cockpit as open and unobstructed as possible. My buddies Snow Goose has it's console almost mid boat and it's a large one to boot; it really limits the boat to two hunters even though the cockpit is about 9' long. Anyway I have a line on a free 45hp Mercury from a former boat captain friend of mine, but it is set up for console steering. So, I am thinking about building the smallest steering console possible. I am thinking about cantilevering something off the stb. aft deck just big enough for a small steering wheel and a couple of gauges. I would mount the shift/throttle lever on the side deck. No seat, I could build a small movable chest that would work as a bench.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome, especially with pics.

Thanks,
John
 
There used to be a company called Lee Boats that made a duck hunting boat. I did a search and all I could find was a used one for sale. But it doesn't have i steering consol. So i'll try to describe it. They had a small consol made just big enough for thr steering wheel at about a 45 degree angle to the side of the boat that was tucked about half way under the upper deck. I'll look through some os my old papers and see if I have a pic. Sincerely, Tom.
 
Here is a picture of an old boat I use to have. The console is cantilevered of the side. It worked very well.

boat2je9.jpg

 
John,

I just built a console and I love it.

But, it comes at a price. Hunting with 3 would be uncomfortable because the console and the dodger take up a lot of room in the 9' cockpit. I don't like hunting with 3, so for me it doesn't matter.

Google pics of old boston whaler 13 footers, they are outfitted with a the design that you mentioned.

I was going to do that as well... however I realized that if I hung a wheel off the side deck, I wouldn't be able to use the Dave Clark blind. So I put the console to the right of the middle of the boat.

Anyway, I researched the hell out of this, if you want more info just PM.
A.
 
John,

I switched from tiller to remote this spring. I went with ezy-glide stick steering mounted horizontally under the bow deck. it's great, doesn't take up any room at all. it's designed to mount on port side, so I had to fashion an adapter to connect the steering. I just used a deep well socket and put in a breaker bar wrench for the "wheel". it's really like using a tiller in the front and it can easily be removed.
I'm not familiar with your boat. don't know if you have a deck or not.or if you want to ride that far foreward.
 
I'll second the use of the Ezy-glide for boats with limited space for steering. One of my gunning partners recently went with the Ezy-stik III, model 870 for his 12' homemade duck boat. He ran the boat for a few seasons by the tiller until the motor went south last season. He found a used motor, but it had cable controls. He was going to try a small console, but we mocked it up with cardboard and it took up too much realestate in the cockpit. I remembered someone here discussing the Ezy-glide stick steer and we realized that it would work. And work well it does! He's more than happy with his new mods. It allowed him to move his weight forward to balance out the boat while underway, which was a problem before steering from the tiller. He does have one small complaint. It's awkward picking up dekes, but he's getting the hang of it. Best of luck. http://www.ezyglide.com/
 
Hi John. When I built my Snow Goose back in 2000, I transferred my 28 hp Evinrude Special from my old boat to the Snow Goose. It too was a steering wheel model, but I didn't have the money to buy a proper tiller motor nor did I want a console in the boat. So did what I always do when faced with rigging up something odd, and went to the local hardware store and stood in the middle of the hardware aisle and contemplated my options.

What I came up with was buying the largest door hinge they had. It had a long strap on one length (about 10" long) and the other side of the hinge had a small 2"x3" strap like you would use to mount the hinge to a door molding. The outboard had 3 tapped holes in the front handle part where the steering cable mounting piece would attach. 2 of the holes in the small end of the hinge matched up with the outboard holes, and it was a simple matter to drill out a hole in the hinge for the 3rd mounting hole.

On the long end of the hinge, it also had 3 holes streched out over its 10" length. I took a 14" or 15" long piece of 1"x2" oak board and bolted it to the hinge. That gave me a tiller handle plenty long enough to control the thrust from a 28hp outboard. Because I couldn't leave well enough alone, in order to get the handle out of the way while hunting, I took a piece of cloth bungee cord and attached it to one end of the oak tiller and the other end to a hook which I placed around the grasping handle on the back of the outboar motor cover. That way I was able to have a tiller that was always pointed upwards and out of the way when I wasn't using it and was always available when I wanted it. As far as motor controls I "C" clamped them to the gunnel on the starboard side. Easy Peasy.

While it looked a little odd, I can tell you in 8 years of hunting with that motor on the Snow Goose, it never failed me once, and saved me from having to buy a proper tiller motor.

Several guys from the forum have hunted with me and that set up, Dave Diefenderfer from Va, Cheech Kehoe here in Vt, and I think Andrew and Dave Morton saw in when they came to Vt for the Champlain Waterfowl Festival.

Something to think about...
 
Capt. Jeff, that is a nice, clean solution that I think will work on my boat, I'll have to mock up to be sure. I like the way it is cantilevered, leaving lots of room below.

John, I'd like to a picture od your home made tiller set up, it sounds interesting. What do you do for a throttle?

Thanks, John
 
Hi John. I got my son to crop a picture I had on my computer that will show (although from a distance) the tiller extension I made, the first version of the collapsable blind I used for 4 or 5 years and the interior of my Snow Goose.

xll7ie.jpg


If you look at the motor, you will see the bottom face of the hinge, the piece of oak I used, the bungee cord and something I didn't talk about, the second piece of oak in the tiller, the one that points vertical so that I can stand up and steer without having to lean over, or have the tiller at an awkward angle while I stand. As you can see the bungee cord always stays attached, allowing the tiller to stay out of my way when not in use.

In looking at the picture, I realise I probably underestmated the length of the hinge. Its more like 12 to 14 inches long plus the length of oak.

I would go out and measure the whole rig but I sold the motor and tiller to a guy in Me. to defray the cost of a new ETEC :) :)

Its a funny looking rig, but I liked it alot, and it held up well. I hunt the boat often and use it as much as possible in the summer, fresh water and salt, and it never failed me.
 
John B. , Did you have to shorten your throttle and shift cables? I have a 20hp Johnson off my mom's pontoon that I was thinking about putting on the BB2 but it is electric start only and the lower pan isn't for a tiller. I was thinking along the lines of what you made up. I'd hop up the 20 to a 25 and maybe 30. Any negatives about having the remote throttle with the tiller...other than getting used to it? Did you make a safety switch in case you got knocked off the tiller?
 
Here are a couple of other options: a Merc can readily be converted to tiller steering by investing in a tiller handle. New ones are likely to be pricey, though. My Yamaha tillers have run about $500 new from the factory. But with that particular motor, if it's the four-cylinder model I think it is, you should be able to find a used one in the Midwest as that was a very popular motor for walleye guys as it would troll very slowly. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find one for under $100 (or even less).

The second option is less elegant. Mount the motor with the throttle and ignition switch close to where you will be sitting in the tiller position. Then jury-rig a steering handle that will bolt to the front of the motor. You'll then steer with the tiller but control the speed with your other hand, just as if you were using a wheel. Like I said, it's less elegant but very inexpensive.

Back in the day when we had long salmon seasons in this neck of the woods, I knew a guy who would do just that. He'd buy old motors or strip old boats, and then mount the motors the way I described. When the motor had problems, he'd toss it as he had very little invested.
 
Do you really need a console with a wheel at all? A lot of people who crab with a trot line use a stick steer setup. Mount the gear shift/throttle to the side of the boat and a stick mounted vertically for the steering. Push the stick forward, boat turns left. Pull the stick back, boat turns right. I don't have any pictures but I have seen both hydraulic and cable versions. Tracker has this as an option on some of their smaller fishing boats. Also if you look up Crab Alley Customs, This guy builds a skiff that has this steering as an option.
 
John,I agree with Mike.Check out the easy glide.They have a mounting plate that goes under the port side deck.Various cable lengths allow you to place the helm as far forward as you want.You could stand or kneel,and the motors tiller could be removed or just folded up,(my choice)rather than installing additional throtle controls,and you could still have a remote cut-off switch.The bonus is,you can load the decoy rack and they won't interfer with a tiller.


http://www.iboats.com/Ezy_Glide_Stik_Steering_Products/dm/keywords.stik--session_id.947286938--cart_id.517992081--view_id.5967--dz.12794?kcid=ezy%20glide|913250899
 
John,
i have to agree with some of the other guys, as far as the "most compact" remote steering set up, stick steer! no console is smaller. i have a boat that had a remote steer 25 johnson but the side console took up to much room for me in such a small boat(15' x 44") so i bought a used tiller bracket and handle from a parts engine at a marine salvage yard and just made my motor a factory tiller, this may be an option for you as well, but if you have your heart set on a console, i have the whole side console set up i took off my jon boat with cables and all i would sell cheap, if your interested send me your email address and i can send ya a picture. best of luck!
 
Hi Lee. If I recall correctly, a 20 hp Evindrude and my 28 hp are very similiar in size and configuration. What worked on mine should work on yours. As to the cable lengths, since my motor's shift lever is external to the hood of the motor, mounted on the starboard side of the motor, I disconnected the shift cable and did all my shifting at the motor. The throttle cable was the same cable that came with the motor. I think it was between 6 and 8 feet long. Being the cheap guy I am, I didn't want to buy new a new throttle cable, so I ran it in a circuitious (sp?) route from the motor to the gear shifter just so that I wouldn't have a bunch of cable on the floor for me to trip on.

As to me getting used to the throttle and tiller being in 2 places was very easy. I put one hand on one and the other hand on the other. I found it to be an easy adjustment. The kill switch came from the factory mounted on the remote control. I left it there and never felt the need to change it.

There was another aspect to this set up that I found by accident, that I liked a lot. Since the shift cable was no longer hooked up between the remote control and the motor, I found that I could start the motor in gear, which I sometimes did (always at idle), and secondly, you can use the choke control lever as a "fine control" for the throttle. The choke lever moved through an arc of about 45 or 50 degrees, but only increased the engine rpm's by about 800 to 1000 rpm through that arc. THAT was massively helpful when I only wanted to adjust the speed a little tiny bit.

The whole rig shouldn't cost you more that 10 or 15 dollars. For that amount of money, you can give it a try, and if you don't like it, try something else.
 
Hey John R, one other thought...Billy is right about the stick steer used on Cheasapeake Bay work boats and smaller crabbing skiffs. I've used them many times growing up, and felt that they are really the cat's butt for a convienent steering method. They have the added benefit of moving your weight somewhat forward. Depending on how heavy of a motor you mount, and where you put your fuel tank, that may work well for your boat.

The only reason I didn't use one on my boat, is that I like to work over the stern for pulling decoys, and the stick is not convienent for that.

Choices, choices, choices.

John B
 
Thanks John. I didn't think about just shifting by hand. I have the controls and everything off the pontoon and will give this a try next summer.
 
Hey Andrew, I'm curious, why did you convert from a tiller to a console? Your's is a good example of a guy who has gone both routes with the same boat.

Right now I'm leaning toward either the Capt. Jeff mini-console approach or the eze-glide stick steering lever. If I go with the lever I have to decide where to set it up. When I was down in Tahiti, Bora Bora and the other Society Islands, their fisherman used these cool hand built wooden boats inside the lagoons. They sat or stood at the very forward end of the cockpit, maybe 6' from the bow, and ran at high speed, at night with a stick type steering like the stick of a small WWII fighter plane. My visability would be much better in the front of the boat. I could offset the weight by putting more of the load aft.

John
 
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