"Guidance Systems"
Warning: Steering "Rant."
Interesting how each company selling $teering $ystems keeps coming up with new ways to overcome some of the built-in shortcomings of their devices.
In wanting to: 1) move the "manual guidance" part of sailing deck gear away from the drinking/lounging part of the cockpit, and 2) provide a car-familiar steering sensation to clueless newbies who have never sailed any small boat, the builders have to continually improve the compromised result.
The obvious (!) answer would be to make tiller steering standard again, but that would adversely impact their bottom line at Edson, et al.
Anyone one want to guess what the OEM price is on Edson steering gear? (Hint: there will be little resemblence to the retail prices we see. Kind of like Volvo darned near giving away their diesels to OEM's over the decades and charging a fortune for parts and replacements to make it up...)
And, it's more complicated, even, than that --- To boost sales, since the slump in the 80's, sail boats mostly have hull forms like power boats to greatly increase interior accomodations. This squaring off of the stern causes steering problems that would be glaring to any potential buyer, whether experienced or just starting out. The solution is to put in steering systems, like wheels, that greatly multiply driver input force and negate the feedback.
Your Ericsons, as the general rule, will steer with minimal force due to hull shapes designed for sailing efficiency. If it were not for the need to sell boats to inexperienced beginners in the 80's, they would likely have kept tillers as standard up through the 34 or 35 footers. Note that the Holland designs and the Olsons all had tillers standard with wheels as an option.
Rant mode off. Grumble grumble.
The oblong wheel was on display at Strictly Sail this April at Oakland, BTW.
And, as a counterpoint, in the water there, was a new Hanse 34 with the (optional in the USA) tiller! I do not like everything about the interior layout of that boat, but the cockpit and deck was definitely sailing-influenced, even to having a traveler choice of cockpit-spanning or housetop.
I would love to have seen the later Ericsons with these choices on deck and cockpit...
Oh well.... life moves on.
For the two that read this far, thank you. Time for my morning coffee.
See you at the next rendezvous!
Loren