kickingfrog Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinio...article1372332/ Philip Jackman From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 8:08PM EST Last updated on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 8:32PM EST Welcome to Collected Wisdom’s new luxury cabin cruiser. Now, relax while one of our minions pours you a drink and CW figures out how to drive this thing. THE QUESTION: Ted Holmes of Toronto asked: “Why is the steering wheel in a pleasure boat on the right side, when the steering wheel in a North American car is on the left side?” THE ANSWER: For this one, we hand the wheel over to Gregory P. Katchin of Richmond Hill, Ont., who draws on more than 40 years of boating experience and his Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons classroom training and teaching. “Looking at a boat from the stern (rear), the propeller in most single-engine setups rotates clockwise,” he writes. “This clockwise rotation sets up an opposite-direction torque reaction that tries to rotate the engine and boat counter-clockwise, and thereby lift the starboard (right) side and ‘steer’ the boat to the left.” By having the driver seated on the right side of the boat, he says, the driver’s weight counteracts, to some degree, this torque reaction. “In dual or multi-engine installations,” he says, this torque is less of an issue, “but the right-side steering-wheel standard was set many years ago in single-engine installations.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radnine Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 Hey, that's cool. Thanks for posting. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Clemens Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 Interesting read Rob. I guess someone has to think about these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POLLIWOGG Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 The rest of the story.... A starboard steering position gives the driver a better view of the starboard danger zone"your give way zone". If the steering was on the left, when you turn a hard left you loose sight of the danger zone when the boat rises up on the right side. Some speedboats like I think Donzi 16 running volvo outdrives with left props had steering on the port side. They ran left props because left turning gear in the upper gear case is under the oil level and the right turning gear is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted November 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 The rest of the story.... A starboard steering position gives the driver a better view of the starboard danger zone"your give way zone". If the steering was on the left, when you turn a hard left you loose sight of the danger zone when the boat rises up on the right side. Some speedboats like I think Donzi 16 running volvo outdrives with left props had steering on the port side. They ran left props because left turning gear in the upper gear case is under the oil level and the right turning gear is not. Thank you Paul Harvey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misfish Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 Interesting. Now how does this effect the center consol steering boats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted November 21, 2009 Report Share Posted November 21, 2009 oddly enough, my old mans 24ft Fairline had the controls on the left. Great boat! S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POLLIWOGG Posted November 22, 2009 Report Share Posted November 22, 2009 Center console might be compensated with battery box or fuel tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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