Which side of boat to operate tiller?

[maxhar]

Which side of the boat are you supposed to sit on to operate the tiller on an outboard?
Opposite the tiller or the same side?

Thanks

[Starovich]

imho
depends on the outboard.
You need to be able to see and operate the gear shift without reaching round the engine.

If the tiller is on the port side, then sit on the starboard, unless the gear is on the tiller too (mercs did this on some), then its up to you.

Some now have the gear and the tiller all on the front, in which case if you can safely reach the gear then its up to you.

[azzurro]

Depends on the propeller.
Torque may tend to lift the starboard. If so, sit there.

[captnjack]

Are you in a right hand or left hand drive country?

[John Kennett]

I always sit on the port side, as I've never got the hang of driving with my left hand on the tiller.

[chris123]

The gear lever is on the starboard side of my outboard, so I sit on the starboard side to drive.

Cheers

Chris

[martini]

You're generally meant to sit on the stbd side, so the gear lever's handy and the tiller doesn't catch your knee so much when turning to port.

But if you have a fairly wide boat like me then the tiller becomes too far away.

So my solution is when manoeuvring etc I sit stbd and underway I go port side.

Just need to think about which way to twist the throttle, can get a bit confusing

[willk]

Originally Posted by martini

Just need to think about which way to twist the throttle, can get a bit confusing

Aye, I understand that if you use your left hand, it feels like someone else....

[Turbodiesel]

I sit on which ever side the gear lever is on!

[spartacus]

On my old Zodiac GT, powered by a Yamaha short-shaft 25hp, I sat on the tubes on the port side and jammed my boots under the tubes on the opposite side. It had an HD (aluminium floor) always felt safe and had great manoeuvrability. I don't personally see the argument for sitting on the same side as the gear-change lever. You're usually at trolling speeds for gear-changes anyway, so moving isn't hazardous.