pros and cons. cc vs sc vs ss

[hipster dufus]

pondering selling my 1648 tiller. wondering about the usefulness of center console vsside console vs stick steer. anyone own all 3? opinions wanted. thought my tiller was gonna b my last boat. like i said pondering,

 

[matt.probuilder]

Also question I'd like to learn more about. I enjoy my tiller but at the same time I think a stick steer would be very efficient in a lot of ways.

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[RiverBottomOutdoors]

I hate side console boats.

 

[Stumpalump]

I've had all three. All have pros and cons. Best handling and room goes to the tiller. In a small boat it's the most fun and my favorite of the three. Problem is you can't stand and hang on but with your body in the stern the ride is smooth enough to sit. It can get tiring. It's not cool and lumps you in with the dingy crowd. With one hand on the engine and one on the hull you are locked in for best control.
The side console is nice because it's tucked against the side and takes up little room. Port starboard balance needs to be considered but that's obviouse. Look for ones that you can still stand while operating the boat. The fore and aft weight is a concern as well so look for side and CC that don't put the wheel too far foward. A lot of the newer ones put the driver too far foward to compensate for a heavy 4 stroke. If it looks too far foward then it is and you will take a beating over wakes. Stick steer sucks according to Rich so that's good enough for me.
Center console like I have now is the best if you have the room of 17-18' or above. You can walk all the way around it to fight a fish or dock the boat. Generally you stand to see really well and absorb shock. Port/Starboard balance is fantastic with minor shifts of your stance. You are mostly out of the wind if you sit and most will have room to sit two side by side so you can talk and balance the weight aft. If a CC is just physically going to take up the room you need to move foward then look to the side console. Both center and side are a waste of space, weight and complexity in anything smaller than an extra large and roomy 16 footer.

 

[Tinny Fleet]

I've also had CC, SC, but not a stick steer. Of them the most comfortable to fish out of is my 18' center console, but only because of the reasons a previous member stated which was roominess to walk around. However my current major project is a 16' tiller boat, which could go to CC or Stick depending on how it fishes. The reason for the smaller boat is that it is an easier size to handle the older I get. I plan to have it for a while.

 

[surfman]

I have a friend that has a 15' Carolina Skiff, he went with the center console and he likes it, I don't, hard to move from the front of the boat to the rear the boat is too small IMO for a CC. So what Stumpalump says covers it pretty well, size matters to me.

 

[WALI4VR]

B 4 u condemn a tiller drive a couple. Very comfortable to drive and if boat control is important to u can't b beat. On rivers lakes big water makes no difference. I can hold mine in a 3 ft diameter circle with a 5 to 10 mph current on top of a 20 mph cross wind. Plus the whole rest of the boat is good 4 whatever u want to do with it! Have fun.
ps learn to run a tiller with your left arm and hand right from the get go.

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[LDUBS]

ps learn to run a tiller with your left arm and hand right from the get go.

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Oops -- delete. Sorry

 

[LDUBS]

For 1) my small boat, 2) my shoulders, and 3) the kind of fishing I do 99% of the time (trolling), a side console works best.

 

[earl60446]

I have a side console on my 16, it is ok but it takes up a lot of room and sitting on the side means the boat leans to the side.
I used to have a tiller and I wish the boat I have now was a tiller. Always keeping my eye out for the parts to convert my outboard.
Tim

 

[JL8Jeff]

I prefer to stand while under way so a center console is my preference. I've had 4 or 5 CC boats and liked all of them. I can read the ripples ahead of me easier while standing. But there can be limited space to get around them depending on the size of the boat. I have a Lowe 1652 and the center console is pretty narrow (about 19" wide) and there is enough room to get around each side for an average size person. A 1648 could get tight and I think a 1660 is the best size smaller boat for a CC.

 

[onthewater102]

I put a SC on my little 1436 so the kids could drive it, which has been fun for them but a waste of space even tucked as tight to the side as possible.

Running rivers and reservoirs I really like a high stance for visibility in case of debris in the water - can't do that well with the side console. I really like my friend's 1652 CC for that reason so I think I'd prefer a center but my boats are too narrow (1436 and 1648.) Unless I build a very skinny CC for the 1648 that isn't much wider than the steering wheel I'm probably going to end up leaving it as a SC.

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

One thing that is a must for CC on small boats is a good grab rail.

 

[DaisyCutter]

I'm 6'1" and 210 lbs, and I have to shoehorn my legs into any side console that's in a boat less than 19', and even then some are a PITA.

I have ample legroom with a tiller steer.

Yeah, the tiller swings, but I have urangutan arms too so it's not a problem.

Some of them consoles have the bottom of the steering wheel 4" from the front of the seat... Sized for a 1st grader.

 

[turbotodd]

No doubt about the consoles. I'm 6'7 and about 240 currently, so there's not a single console out there that I can comfortably sit in/under/behind. I have run 4 major kinds. CC. SC. Tiller. And stick.

CC is good for bays and flats but you lose half of your boat to the console. So if you have to move around any, you have to walk around the console. That's one reason they're usually larger (20'+) boats.

SC is what most tins are, at least the ones that have consoles. They're better than CC in my opinion, and a good option for those who want to comfortably sit for a long distance boat ride. That is, of course, if you can comfortably sit. I can't. Or at least I haven't found one that I am comfortable with-yet.

Tiller is more for smaller boats that need maneuverability. People laugh at me sometimes when I show up at the lake with my little 15' tin/tiller steered 25hp motor (sometimes everyone else at the ramp has 10x or more the HP), but they usually shut up when I come back an hour later with a cooler full of crappie (limit here is 40 per person). IF the GF goes, we can fill the freezer, and quickly. But we can get back in that creek that most won't go.

Stick steering is for the crappie/panfish angler mostly. It enables a person fishing alone to sit in one seat, fish, then start the outboard and motor to a different spot-without having to leave the front seat. I personally don't care for stick steering but I haven't gotten used to it either. I suppose if I ran one/fished out of one long enough I may get used to it. Or maybe not.

There's also a guy local that has a one-of-a kind boat. It's a console turned sideways. Helm is facing to the side, on the right side of the boat. It's weird, but it's the best of both a stick steer and a side console; not a lot of room is lost and it allows the operator to sit in the one seat. I have never seen another one like it; and I can't remember who built it. Maybe G3. I don't remember. Has a F70 Yamaha on it which purrs like a cat; honestly the quietest motor I've ever heard. Take the cowling off and you can hear the injectors ticking. Put it back on and you hear pee water hitting the lake surface, and nothing else.

 

[LDUBS]

I'm 6'-4" & more than 200#. Happily, I have no legroom issues with my side console.

 

[JL8Jeff]

Here's a picture of my Lowe 1652 with the center console to show how much room there is on each side. My boat has the floor and sides (which I don't really care for but I bought it used and it already had the sides). I added the grab rail which really is a must when you're standing and driving.

 

[richg99]

" Stick steer sucks according to Rich so that's good enough for me."

Nice to be quoted but I think I have to explain why I said what I said.

The only stick steer that I ever had was on a Gheenoe Classic. It is a narrow, pointy-bow boat. The stick steer was positioned way up front, and a small thwart/seat was right in front of my too long legs. I had no room to stand and fish. I had little room to slide out and move anywhere.

So, in that configuration, and for this big old guy, stick steer didn't work at all. In another boat, and set up without the front seat jammed against the driver, stick-steer might work out OK.

I presently own two SC tinnys. I've owned a number of CC boats in the past. I truly like the CC best, but, as everyone has already said ....unless you have a wide boat, A CC makes getting around a bit tough.

Nothing on a boat is anything but a trade-off versus some other design. No boat is perfect, at least not any I've ever owned.

 

[PsychoXP18CC]

I'm going to fall into the "too tall for a side console" crowd. I'm 6'3" and 200lbs. Been boating all my life, and never found a side console rig that I was comfortable driving. Either I don't have enough leg room, or if I do the steering wheel is out of reach unless I'm leaning forward. That holds true for small rigs all the way up to fly bridge offshore boats. Just never found one with the adaptability necessary for me to be comfortable at the helm.

Tiller is a great option, but one I assign to smaller rigs where usability suffers from having a cc or sc helm. Every smaller tiller rig I've fished tends to be stern heavy, which contributes to many negative characteristics. Engine, battery/batteries, fuel tank, operator, operator gear, etc, all tend to gravitate toward the rear of the boat. No doubt this can be overcome to an extent, but it's still an issue for me.

So you can see where I'm heading with this.

I currently own what is my first enter console, purchased after fishing out of many of them or varying size and composition. Mine is an Xpress XP18cc, basically an 1860 mod-v. True enough, it is pretty tight getting around the console, but not enough to be a deal breaker for me. In a narrower rig, I could see the problem being much worse. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

My first and most important "pro" of having a center console; I can run the boat and fish at the same time. I fish alone often because a lot of my trips are last minute evening runs to the lake after work, when the weather and conditions are optimal, and doing so in a side console or tiller (admittedly less of an issue) means I either get to fish, or run the boat, it is a complete PITA to try and do both. With a center console I can fish a shallow windblown point, and am able to catch fish while keeping the boat from being blown aground. Or I can manage the boat in current and am able to fish. Simply not possible in a side console boat, and less than desirable in a tiller steer boat. Sure, a trolling motor on the front is a vry nice tool in these, and other, situations. But with a tiller I would have to traverse the length of the boat to get to it, not as big an issue on a sc rig. And lastly, if/when trolling, a side console is terrible because I have to sit down to run the boat, which requires a lot of effort, more-so when you have to contort your legs under a console and out again every time.

As mentioned above, weight distribution is 10x easier to manage in a cc rig because everything is center-based, thus more consistent from trip to trip as load requirements might change. Fore to aft distribution becomes more of a concern than port to starboard.

Visibility, as mentioned earlier in the thread, cannot be beat with a center console rig. Another advantage of being able to stand and run the boat, is being able to absorb the shock of rough conditions with your knees instead of being forced to sit and having my back take an unavoidable beating. I suspect this directly contributed to having two discs in my neck replaced 6yrs ago. Another reason I gave the wife for needing a new boat.

Running a cc does lead to some changes in the way you fish a boat. All my life, on every side console rig I fished, whether mine or someone elses, the driver of the boat fishes the front. Myself included on my past sc rigs. Now, my passenger is already at the front of the boat, so it makes more sense for them to stay put and fish there as well. I fish the back of the boat, and glad to do so because aside from the common sense factor, I don't have to remember to take any personal items with me to the front every time we stop, and I don't need a FF on the front for me to watch. Basically, from the helm aft on my boat is my domain, from the helm forward is my passengers'. Much like it ends up being on a tiller rig. The console becomes a point of demarcation for us, an obvious advantage when it is tight getting around the console.

Fighting/landing a big fish.....I fish trophy blue cats quite a bit. When fighting a fish like this on a tiller or side console boat, it is a pain negotiating the equipment and possibly even other angler on the boat. On a cc rig, that is almost 100% eliminated. We regularly have fish that will run us completely around the boat before we can land them. This is where the cc is a huge bonus. It allows the co-angler to run around clearing lines and gear without getting in the way of the angler. And it allows the fish to be landed from any point on the boat.

So in general, on a rig size 1860 or larger, I will go cc every single time. I simply don't see where it has any disadvantages for the style of fishing I do. Smaller/narrower than that, I would have to reconsider my outlook, and most likely would end up going with a tiller over side console.

As for stick steer, while they might be useful to many others, I see no practical use in having one over a center console for what I do. And running one in chop or heavier water puts a major beating on the driver since they are forced to be on the front of the boat. Another drawback to me, is the possibility that something happens to me while on the water and my passenger, if present, would have to get me back to the dock. Putting a novice at the helm of a stick steer rig in a chaotic emergency situation could be a disaster for all involved.

 

[surfman]

I have a tiller and I stand, I have a grab rail that I had made.