Do big boats have more friction when turning to left or right?

Question

friend told me that is harder for big boats when turning either left or right. I believe that this makes no sense physically speaking.

Answer 1

Yes.. When pivoting in water, the sides of the boat are pushing through the water - on a right pivot, the right side bow and the left side stern push sideways as it pivots around its centre.  A turn is just a more gentle pivot, so it isn't as bad - but these effects still happen.

Answer 2

It's only on single propeller boats. Kinda works like torque steer on early FWD cars. On 2 propeller boats, the propellers turn opposite directions and the boat can turn just as easily in either direction. Not really noticeable on smaller boats, but they also suffer from the same condition

Answer 3

I believe your question is whether there's a difference in the resistance of a left turn and right turn.  The rotation of the propeller will aid the turn in the opposite direction.  That's the reason a small, single s***w boat can 'walk' sideways with opposite helm.  i.e. clockwise rotation wants the bow to go left while right rudder will drive the stern left.  Result, the boat walks left.

Answer 4

Newtons Laws of motion state that an object will try to keep moving ,once in motion, in a straight line. It takes energy to turn the object

Yes, it is harder to turn than o keep going straight.