Wheel or tiller on Cape Dory 27

[VegaIII]

My CD-27 #109 has a wheel. I've owned her since 1993 and cruised her all around the NE coast. I chose a wheel version originally because I had small children and I figured in a small cockpit the wheel option would work out better. Would I have preferred a tiller? Yes. However, I am now so used to her the way she is I cannot imagine it otherwise.

I now have three grandchildren under six and find that the wheel option works well again for the reasons cited above.

I also have a Dyer sailing dinghy as a tender so that the kids can learn to sail in that. It doesn't have a wheel.

[Bob Condon]

I have a wheel on Really Muggy and like it very much. I sailed the same boat with a tiller in Maine and did not find it as relaxing as having a wheel.

I like the wheel very much!

Really Muggy is for sale in Salem Harbor, Mass as we are in fresh water in Maine with a smaller boat

[winthrop fisher]

both wheel and tiller were both used on the CD27...
Win

[North Branch]

Our CD 27 has a tiller, and it is one of the main reasons I bought the boat. My previous boats had tillers, and I prefer a tiller to a wheel. I can feel the boat better and to me it is part of sailing. I've sailed similar-sized boats with a wheel and find wheels too static. With a tiller you can sit in different places in the cockpit, stand up (even on the cockpit seats for better visibility when motoring in a calm), and reach into the companionway. You can steer with your hands or feet. Your weight is further forward in rough weather.

When anchored or at the dock, you can lift the tiller up and lash it to the main sheet to provide more room in the cockpit. A wheel will give you more room in the cockpit when sailing, but less room when in port. Since we do mostly daysailing, weekends, and cruises up to two weeks on Chesapeake Bay, I find a tiller more enjoyable. If we were doing long distance ocean sailing on a bigger boat, I'd probably prefer a wheel. Let me know if you have any other questions about the CD 27. It is a great boat!