Tiller or Side Steer

C

cjduncan

Member
With the responses form my earlier post another question has come up.

I am removing the Dual console from a 2007 20 foot lund. I want to go to a tiller but some say side steer is better.

I can keep it a side steer by just removing the other console.

What are the benefits of having a side steer over a tiller?

What are the advantages to Tiller over side steer?

What are the down side to either?
 
With the responses form my earlier post another question has come up.

I am removing the Dual console from a 2007 20 foot lund. I want to go to a tiller but some say side steer is better.

I can keep it a side steer by just removing the other console.

What are the benefits of having a side steer over a tiller?

What are the advantages to Tiller over side steer?

What are the down side to either?
Click to expand...


From reading your other post, I understand why you like a tiller. I do too on most boats. I think I'd stay with the console on that boat, however. Benefits of the console is that it gets you forward on the boat. You are going to get soaked with a tiller (you will get soaked in any seas with the console, but triple soaked with the tiller). Second, you are going to have to adapt your decoy picking up technique to accomodate the beam and length of the Lund, using a hook with the side console is a good way to go and it works well in larger boats.

I haven't driven a large rig with big a tiller (75-100). My snowgoose is a 40 and is a tiller. I'm really getting too old to get soaked driving a tiller boat every day there is more than 10 knots of wind. Having fished in a Lund 20 a few times, I always ended up wet in the forward seats adn I can't imagine how wet you woudl get with a tiller.

I don't know if you can take just one side out.

T
 
My 18' Alaskan has a side console and we can comfortably hunt 4 guys and a dog. I feel more comfortable in rough seas having one hand on the wheel and one hand on the throttle. The only boat I hunt out of regularly that has tiller steering is John Bourbon's Snow goose with a 40 etec and he does very well with it. However, when setting and picking up decoys in a big boat in rough conditions, I would be hunting with 3 or more guys. When we put out the lines, I drive while the other 2 guys work over the stern. I actually think having the driver out of the way while the other two guys pull the decoys works great. It works well if we approach the decoys from the downwind side. I like the console also because when it is 10 degrees out and we need to motor four miles, the other guys usually face the stern with hoods on and I can hide my head behind the windshield. I am sure that there are tons of guys on this forum alone that can handle a 20' boat better with a tiller than I can an 18' with a console, but I like the console.
 
Tod, how is it that you get wet with a tiller?
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Water Phil, that is how I get wet :). Your experiance obviously differs since you are asking, but I don't go anywhere in the salt water and not end up with a ton of spray in an open boat, no matter what boat. Spray tends to go over the rear corner of the boat and thus the captain of a tiller boat bears the brunt of the spray. Moving forward allows the driver to miss much of that. I'm assuming that you don't get spray into your Honker or TDB, but every Lund I've been in on saltwater (that is 3, I think) took spray over the sides in all but the most mild conditions. I was basing my suggestions in this thread based on knowing that he plans to use the baot as a seaduck boat in MA, which woudl experiance pretty snotty conditions frequently.

I looked up Slough Creek and that does look super cool, thanks for the suggestion.
 
Can I get some Lund Alaskan owners to post some photos of their boats? How they set up the deck with decoy storage, dog ramps and blinds.

Need some ideas on setting up the boat for sea duck hunting.
 
With out a really good spray rail the stuff gets up in the wind on nasty days and you get wet. Happens. Esp on the Lund hull in a cross wind.
Thats why Tolman adds the 1 1\2 rail to the Skiff he builds and carries it all the way to the stern.

I love a tiller, BUT in a bigger boat a helm set up with no feedback that holds the motor on course when you take your hand off is really nice.

Some day I want a 120hp tiller just to have.

Right after the unlimited hydroplane.

Bob
 
With out a really good spray rail the stuff gets up in the wind on nasty days and you get wet. Happens. Esp on the Lund hull in a cross wind.
Thats why Tolman adds the 1 1\2 rail to the Skiff he builds and carries it all the way to the stern.

I love a tiller, BUT in a bigger boat a helm set up with no feedback that holds the motor on course when you take your hand off is really nice.

Some day I want a 120hp tiller just to have.

Right after the unlimited hydroplane.

Bob
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I need to put spray rails on my snowgoose, no question. The mods I made to improve the ride a couple years back altered the spray situation for the worse. I just need to do it.

I'd like to drive a boat with a 120 hp tiller, just to see. I grew up driving 10 and 15 hp tillers on little tin boats, but I can say that the F40 I have now really has no downside as far as the tiller (other than spray).
 
I used a 20 hp merc tiller and later a 20hp tiller Nissan on my old 14ft starcraft for years and then got a 16 ft Tracker Griz and put the 20 Nissan on it. I didn't mind the tiller and also figured I would save floor space. The 20hp Nissan was way under powered for the 16ft so I traded/bought a rebuilt 1997 60hp Evinrude that was set up for steering console. So I ordered a small console/steering unit for it. The convenience of facing forward was well worth the little bit of space it took up! Plus, if you put a windshield on the console you have wind and further spray protection. I don't know about you, but moving at 30+ mph across water in freezing temps killed my eyes. I personally think you would be happier with console steering.
 
Tod, you are correct.... When there is a wind the spray does get me a bit wet.... and a windshield would be nice. I guess, buecause I have always had a tiller... the spray is just something I have accepted as normal. I have not gotten wet in the 14' TDB... But ont he Honker with a cross wind I do.

I would choose a center console if I had my choice.. but it would have to be a arge enough boat to hold the layout with inthe cockpit when going down the road. My only problem with consoles is that the take up room in the cockpit
 
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side counsel on both my boats. 16' alumacraft and 19' crestliner nordik. I could not imagine big boats in big water backing around with a tiller. My fat but and 275 hanging on the transom is not what I want. I like my weight centered, use a boat hook to catch the decoy line off the bow/side. For ME, much more control of the overall situation. But then, different strokes.

both bro in laws have lunds. One with a 40 hp, wet.....that is all i can say. I echo Tod's comment on them. the other has the alaskan, 75 hp, counsel, still wet, but less so, however, neither is a hull I would own based on riding them on the bay.
 
I had a Lowe Jon boat with a side console. I found that it took up valuable hunting space for a possible third person in my boat. I since sold that boat and went to a tiller, much more room to maneuver.
 
My vote is tiller and the main reason is the extra space in the boat not taken up by a console, I pulled the console out of my 16' lund and changed the 75 Evinrude to a tiller, never looked back. The only thing I would have done different is to use the tiller off a 85 hp. Backtroller which is longer. Remote steering has advantage but not for me. My .02
 
I am removing the Dual console from a 2007 20 foot lund. I want to go to a tiller but some say side steer is better.

I can keep it a side steer by just removing the other console.
Click to expand...


CJ,

I will have to join the guys encouraging the side console. I have had boats set up both ways and for this size boat, used in bigger waters, you will be happier with the side console.

You will stay drier. You will have better driving visibility. You already have the twin console, remove the other side, leave the driver side and give it a go. I really think it is the best choice.
 
I love the tiller steering in my Snow Goose, but I could see the advantage of a side console about a third of the forward of the stern. Cheech is right, when its bitter, snotty cold, being able to hunker down behind a windsheild for a multi mile run on a single digit temperature day is nice. And yes, I'm one of the guys sitting with my back to the bow with the hood up on my parka. :) :)

Having said all that, I sometimes wonder if the best all around comprimise is a steering stick on the starboard side, like the waterman on the Cheasapeake use on their work boats. Years ago Dave Diefenderfer owned a wooden barge of a duck boat that had a 50 Evindrude on it that was controlled by a steering stick. I think it was a commercial unit by Teleflex. It had a cable that ran from it back to the motor and connected to the motor in the same way a cable connects from a steering wheel. Like a motor mounted tiller, you had instant knowledge of the position of the motor and going from full left lock to full right lock was only about 90 degree movement of the steering stick. I really liked that set up.

John Bourbon
 
I'm with John, I think you'll be happier with the console.
I have a 14' boat with a blind and a tiller. Visibility on even my small boat makes picking up in bad weather challenging.
I'm looking into putting a stick steer on my boat to ease the space requirements of the console yet move me forward.
A 20 footer is a pretty big boat. John
 
Cj, I would say side console all the way. I had a 20' Alaskan with a side console and now run a 18' with a tiller. Working around the tiller can be a pain at times and upon approaching things you will appreciate being mid-ship with the console, unlike a tiller.

I posted some pictures on one of your other posting's. Good luck with your make-over and post up before and after shots.
 
The stick steering on the starboard side of that garvey really was a slick set up. When I build out the Cackler on Steroids hull, it will be with a stick for sure. I had mine mounted about 5 ft from the transom, close enough that I was within a step of either the transom or the controls for picking up decoys. I could run the boat with the blind up. The boat was big and stable enough I always ran it standing which I really like too. I suppose if you want a tiller in a big boat for space you could still use the tiller extention for running the boat, but the longer the tiller, the more throw you need. The tiller extension on my sneakbox is just over 2 ft long and when turning more than slight adjustments, I need to back up and choke up on the extension. Not a problem in a 12ft sneakbox, but in a 20 ft hull in waves, doubt I would see over the bow much.
 
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