Wouldn't it be easier to control a long narrowboat by steering from the front, rather than the back?

Question

How come they only have a tiller right at the back, and not, say, a steering wheel at the front? Wouldn't steering from the front be easier?

Answer 1

Ahhh. A very good question. My first instinct is to visualize the rear of the boat not under control during a sharp turn. Even swinging out too wide and not following the line of the front. Maybe a deep keel could correct that. I don't know.

Answer 2

The short answer is no.

The longer answer, speaking as someone who lived on a narrowboat for several years and has a degree in, amongst other things, fluid mechanics, is that I don't know why. And the more I think about it the less sure I get. I'll follow this question with interest.

UPDATED INFORMATION - going back to when narrow boats were first designed, if you have a man with a horse  and a barge pole about 40 yards in front of you pulling you along and tending to pull the bow toward the tow-path, you need a rudder at the back.

Answer 3

If the steering wheel was at the front you would have to take into account 57 feet behind you, this would require wing mirrors like lorries also when changing course in a boat the normal way is to put the bow to the inside of the curve, if you are sitting there it is much more difficult to judge. As a Merchant Mariner who has commanded both vessels with the bridge on the bow and stern the stern is always a much easier position to work from, also just think of all the unnecessary wire that you will need to reach the bow steering position.

Answer 4

just to complicate matters further, there are some narrow boats with a centre cockpit steering position! Best of both worlds perhaps. Or perhaps the worst.

Anyway, answer to your question is no, its easier to steer from the back and if it wasn't, narrow boats would be being steered from the front by now.

Answer 5

your right but how would you get it on a trailer  hmm

Answer 6

When a boat turns it more or less pivots at some point in the middle, the stern goes to one side and the bow to the other.  Both motions must be assessed  by the pilot, especially in tight quarters.

Steering from the front would require the pilot turning around to visually assess the swing of the stern, and thus causing inattention to his/her surroundings.  This is not the case when piloting from the stern as the whole vessel and it's surroundings are in sight.

Answer 7

Yes, but it would lose it characteristics, it would never fell like a narrow boat ever again!

Answer 8

there have been narrow boat for a couple of hundred years and they seem to be doing ok so why change something that aint broke

Answer 9

It is steered from the back because it is a narrow boat, and you can gauge the right time to alter direction taking into consideration the length of the boat, which you couldn't do if it was steered from the front.

Answer 10

Unlike a car, airplanes and boats (both using FLUID dynamics) steer better from the rear.  The reason is that if you try to turn from the front (boat or airplane), the steering mechanism "digs into" the fluid (air) stream and will easily do a 180.

Good Luck...

Answer 11

No it would not the propeller is always in front of the rudder so that the rudder can vary direction easier, if the propeller was behind the rudder you have to have a variable angle propeller such as out board motor.  I hope you never design an aircraft carrier or a supertanker

Answer 12

On normal narrow boats the tiller is usually attached directly to the rudder which is a very simple and cheap system.

A wheel at the front would involve cables and pipes going the length of the boat which takes up presious space and adds expece.

also when manourvering it is easier at the back as the boat is in fron of you, rather than having to turn round to see where the back of the boat is.

Answer 13

This is a thoughtful question.   In fact steering from the front is not only possible, it's used in some cases.  Bottom line its visibility that is most important.  However, communication, type of power....length of the boat and other factors have influenced how most boats are steered.   If you've ever seen some of today's tankers, you'd say, how can the pilot even see whats right in front of him, over a 1000' feet away.  Truth is that other crewmen are up front and they use radios to act as his eyes.

Answer 14

No. If you think about it if you controlled from the front you would be constantly looking back to check that the back end isn't swinging round.

Answer 15

If you are referring to the difference between helm and tiller steering,  it is much quicker to make steering adjustments with a tiller than helm(steering wheel) steering.This is an essential when dealing with fast water and rapids.  We have guys on our river running up to 115 hp outboards on tillers.  Perfectly safe, if they are set up correctly.