Greetings Steven:
Roberta is trying to create an "old boat" feel to the interior. Thus, she was highly opinionated as to the right look for the steering wheel. A smaller dash mounted wheel wouldn't match what she was trying to create.
In "real life," the steering wheel doesn't get used very often. I spoke recently to one Nordhavn owner who doesn't even have a steering wheel, except stuffed away in a drawer in case it were ever needed. At slow speed, I'll maneuver the boat with the thrusters, and by adjusting the twin engines. Under way, steering will typically be done with the auto-pilot.
Additionally, all of the exterior drive stations have jog levers for rudder control, and I'll normally be outside during tricky maneuvers.
A side story: It was possible to hand-steer our 62, but it wasn't comfortable. In fact, it was downright miserable. Hand-steering a long distance, in any kind of seas, would be very difficult. I mentioned this to Nordhavn, and their reaction was "the 62 wasn't meant to be hand steered. That would be really difficult." On the NAR, one of the N62s, Autumn Wind, lost their autopilot on the run into the Azores, and had to hand steered nearly a thousand miles. It was not a fun experience. The guys said they couldn't steer more than a couple hours without being worn out.
-Ken W
| Williams, Ken |
2007-01-18 11:10:43
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Ken,
I was looking at the most recent pictures and I saw the 30" (plus or minus) wood steering wheel. I was surprised. I was thinking it would be the smaller dash mounted style. I pulled out my standard spec sheets on the 68 and I see the 30" wheel is standard or at least was standard. Did you look at both types? Did you have any opportunity to steer with both systems?
Steven | Rames, Steven |
2007-01-17 22:12:28
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