Vintage linkage ?

[nali]

There s a mystery for me.
It seems the early runabout came circa 1920.
Some inboard, some outboard.
I can’t find any pictures of vintage outboard with a steering wheel ..

Just like this one, from http://www.acbs.org/ :

Just the steering part is not difficult to build. In fact,the other linkage not so complicated too.
But how did they do it really ?

Any pictures ?
Thanks.

PS : my goal is to build a small runabout with steering with a 1930 engine.
I don t really enjoy the later ones.

[Mumbles]

You needed two hands to operate the old motors, one on the tiller, the other adjusting the carb and operating the magneto advance so steering from up front wouldn’t be very practical. Lots of old boats equipped with a steering wheel had it mounted in the rear cockpit so the driver could rope the motor over and adjust it with one hand while steering with the other. Remote controls allowed the steering wheel to be mounted up forwards.

When I was a kid, our Newfie neighbor would take us out crabbing in his old clinker boat. It had a green Johnson motor, probably a TD or TN, and had forward steering. It looked like a fence picket mounted to the side of the boat on a hinge. The cables from the motor laced thru the boat and were tied onto this piece of wood. When it was pushed forward, the boat would go one way and when pulled back, it would go the other way. The boat probably had proper cable steering at one time but I bet he didn’t want to buy some new clothesline when it broke and came up with this fix. I don’t remember ever seeing a steering wheel or cable drum in it so he might have taken that out at the same time.

[garry-in-michigan]

That was a feature of Ole Evinrude’s 1921 ELTO Light Twin (AKA rudder Twin.) The rudder had arms out each side so you could attach a rope to each end and steer from the forward part of the boat. Early race boats ( and most still today) use a steering bar across the motor to turn it. The front steering popular today only came into wide use in the mid ’50s. It is easier to detach, but requires more pullies. . . 🙂

[nali]

Ok, I thought that maybe they had a clever way to move the magneto handle …
If there’s linkage just for the steering, it’s easy.
Of course the driver seat has to be on the back.
But since I plan to take my young kids, it’s already planned this way. I prefer to keep an eye on them 🙂

[amuller]

Side stick steering is still around–there is a company that makes it. http://www.ezyglide.com/. The US Navy has used it on boats but I forget the details.

Can do it either with push-pull or old style wire and pulley.

[nali]

I didn’t know this exist.
Interesting.

Thanks for all the information.

[Tubs]

Although it may only have been holes for a rope
many early motors were equipped for remote steering.

A "Boat House Repair" is one that done without having tools or the skills to do it properly.

[westwind]

I think the Fence Picket steering is referred to as a Whipstaff. Works good and takes up little space on a work boat. Easy to grab and steer while doing something else. I was thinking about setting up a boat with a center seat for the controls with a Whipstaff in front more like an Airplane control stick. Maybe one day I’ll get to it.

[garry-in-michigan]

The electric start Evinrude and Elto outboards of the 1930s could be equipped with remote controls for operation from a forward position. . . 😉

There were several ways to attach a steering bar to these motors. Some used the motor rest pegs on the back of the muffler. Some extended the back two studs that bolt the powerhead to the driveshaft housing. I saw one Evinrude Speedifour with steering bars threaded into the bottom spark plug holes on the ends of the cylinders. . . 😀

[nali]

Electric start in 1930 ???
I like this 🙂

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