Tiller steering

Was wondering if there is a specific reason that manufacturers seem to place the seat for tiller seating on the starboard side of the boat? New to this forum and glad I stumbled on to it. Lots of good information. Thanks in advance for your response.

John

To offset prop torque.


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I hold my rod in my right hand (right handed) and have better feel, I use my left hand to control the tiller.

I think your kidding but if not I don't want to run my tiller in the middle of my back. The seat mount in my Tracker 1648 was in the middle so I mounted one to starboard and forward which makes running the tiller to your side and not behind your back. Much more comfortable and safe to operate. To be fair the seat basses in the tracker grizzly is the fishing position dead center front and back which works great.

I just got done doing exactly what skipper123 did on my 1648 Tracker GRIZZLY, I had to offset the seat the same way he described in order to run the Yamaha tiller jet that I put on it.

To address skipper123. not kidding at all. I never mentioned the seat in the middle. Let me re phase the original post. Why don't manufacturers mount the seat for running a tiller on the port side of the boat?

jabee - that question makes more sense.
to borrow a photo from another new member, Travis,
his boat has tiller seats on both sides.




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It has got to be for one of these two reasons:

1) Most people are right handed. Putting the seat on the right side keeps your sword hand free in case of pirates.

2) You will notice most boats have steering on the right side. I have always been told this is because of prop torque.

I have always ran a tiller from a seat on the starboard side, the one guy I fish with runs his tiller from the port side, we are both right handed and apparently it's just a matter of preference. I could run a 15hp tiller from the center on my 1648 where the factory seat mount was, but when I installed the jet the tiller handle was much longer and I had to move the seat off to the side and forward just like skipper123. Also the tiller handle is angled toward the port side when the motor is centered, much more comfortable to run it from the starboard side because your arm is in a better position when running straight.

Thanks for the responses. LDUBS , keeping the sword hand free does make the most sense to me !!

It also may have something to do with the placement of the tiller itself on the outboard. Since the tiller is on the port side of the outboard, if the Capt. sat his (or her) butt on the port side of the boat, the tiller would be close to the Capts. body, & a turn to starboard would be difficult at best. With the Capt. sitting on the starboard side of the boat, the tiller starts out further away from the body of the operator. I guess then the next question would be, why do the different outboard companies put the tiller on the port side of the outboard?
John