Things that make you go hmmmm

[FSH 210 Sport]

So my friend and I are talking this afternoon and he says, ever notice how in the US we drive on the right side of the road but the helm in Dual Console boats is on the wrong (starboard) side? In Europe they drive on the left side of the road but the helm on dual console boats is on the left side…. The Euro set up is more correct as the throttles are in the center line of the boat… I’d never pondered that before..

 

[anmut]

I was always told that boats drive on the right to offset prop twist?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’ve never hear that before…

I was always told that boats drive on the right to offset prop twist?

its just something I’ve never thought of before.. my controls are basically in the middle of the boat.. .

 

[Luc Lafreniere]

Why do North American boat manufacturers place the steering controls on the starboard side?

Why do North American boat manufacturers usually place the steering controls on the starboard side instead of where we're used to them (on the left) in

cottagelife.com

 

[tdonoughue]

I think it is because the starboard is the right side.

 

[drewkaree]

Tell Jim he needs to come visit with you this summer. I need weird conversations like this in my life

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

So I did a general search and got the right hand prop torque and prop walk answers as well as religious connotations of the righteous and the fact 90% of people are right handed..

https://boattest.com/article/why-are-most-helms-right

What I didn’t see were these things. In dual engine boats most have contra rotating props, ours don’t, so the prop torque is nullified, in fact a single duo prop stern drive accomplishes the same thing with its contra rotating props, yet helms in those boats are on the right save center consoles. Speaking of center consoles, these boats with a single engine single prop don’t list to the left while underway so I have to kind of poo poo that idea, the prop walk is real though, besides Yamaha makes outboards with left hand rotation down to 115 hp.

If the throttle controls are mounted centerline you can face the stern and control the boat with your hands behind your back for docking and backing down on a fish, but since 90% of people are right handed this would be uncomfortable for most to drive the boat forward using their left hand for the throttles.

Then there are boats like the Pursuit 2670 Denali with it’s center mounted helm and bark a lounger pull out chase lounge and forward cabin. An excellent example of a boat that is great fishing and family cruising craft. Before the market correction of 2006-2008 several manufacturers used to offer several boat designs on the same hull.

I think a lot of the reason helms are on the right is convention as witnessed by the last bit of Captain Steve’s article above, “ There comes a point when the builder just carries on the tradition. When we asked one president of a major manufacturer why he had his boats that way, his response… “because I said so!”

 

[anmut]

I was going to say - in the v-drive industry, Nautique has a counter rotating prop, but still right hand steer.

I'm guessing most of the reasons in 2025 that boats are still built to right-hand steers is because people hate change. If suddenly there were push for left side steer, think of the cost to the manufactures to reconfigure molds!

Also, I like the fact that on the water my wife can be mad at me from my left, and on the way home, she can be mad at me from the right.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I was going to say - in the v-drive industry, Nautique has a counter rotating prop, but still right hand steer.

I'm guessing most of the reasons in 2025 that boats are still built to right-hand steers is because people hate change. If suddenly there were push for left side steer, think of the cost to the manufactures to reconfigure molds!

Also, I like the fact that on the water my wife can be mad at me from my left, and on the way home, she can be mad at me from the right.

Fun fact…in China womens rest rooms are always on the right…

I like the balance there..,you get roached on both sides lol!

People can be funny…. That herd mentality. Herd mentality doesn’t like change, change represents risk, no one wants to be the fat booger eating kid that no one wants on their kick ball team, like a first model year of say a new engine platform, with some companies that could be a problem, if I was in the market for a new boat getting the first model year of the 1.9L engine from Yamaha would have been a no brainer for me as Yamaha is typically very conservative and only releases products they’ve vigorously tested them.

Another example I’ve seen here as in where I live, people have dual console fishing boats, they kinda scoff at my center console, until they’ve fished off of it for the day, then they’ve got a different outlook. To a person, they’ve all said I’d never thought a center console was a good fishing platform but now I see that I was wrong, it’s better than the dual console set up! There’s so much room for everyone to fish.