Cars Drive on Left & Boats Drive on Right ???

[solbes]

My wife and I were having this discussion. Couldn't figure it out. Probably a very simple explanation for it though.

Cars, we drive on the left. Makes sense since we drive on the right side of the road. We get better feeling of where the car is on the side that approaches opposite traffic.

Boats, we drive on the right. Don't know the reason why? Anyway we were watching an old James Bond movie where they were in England. Sure enough their boat console was on the left, so they are also opposite of the orientation of their cars.

[Pat K]

My father in law, an old navy man, claims it goes back to the old sailing ships. Before they invented steering wheels the control arm for the rudder or the steerboard was on the right side of the ship near the transom.

The term starboard for the right side of the boat also comes from steerboard.

[jtroop]

I was told it was to counteract prop torque. If you look at a boat from the rear the prop usually has RH rotation - causing the boat to "rotate" left.

[french_lake_kid]

This was brought up at tourney this wknd, I was thinking maybe that most people are right handed so thats why the trotle was on that side? Who knows

[traveler]

Mine's a center console....I drive from the middle!

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

The wheel is on the left in a car so the driver is at the most risk if crossing the center line. Helps keep you on your toes

[ac777]

It has to do with way back in the day and how they would sail there boats. When meeting they would each veer to the left and then the person driving would be on the right to see the other boat coming better.

[Ed Carlson]

A bit of all of this I think, depending on the boat. Countering torque on smaller craft often dictates weight to the right. Larger duel motor center council craft run counter rotating drives to offset this.

"Right of way" by maritime law is a big part of it, viability for the captain. Even large tankers with top bridges set the Captains helm to the Starboard for this reason. When motorboats meet head on they pass port side to port side.

This link will prove informative on the rules on the water and answer a lot of questions and clear up many misconceptions.

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/navrules_faq.htm

[hydro]

My old boat (seen in my avatar) had the steering on the port side. The boats that it was derived from, mod VP race boats in the '80s, were designed to turn left. There was no noticeable listing due to torque from the prop, but then the prop ran halfway out of the water lots of the time.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I think it boils down to we, or they, always do the opposite.

We use imperial measurements, they use metric. We drive on the right, they on the left. Wheel on the right, left for them. Blue prints are even rotated differently between views.

It's like for some reason it needs to be different. Blame it on the queen

[solbes]

Most of this stuff makes sense to me. Countering the prop torque, Port to Port side passes, etc. Thanks for the repies.

As to why things are always opposite on the other side of the pond, maybe it's our side that always has to be different? The whole standard metric thing is pretty infuriating. Metric is so much better, but we will never be able to make the switch now. Way too costly.

[Jiggin4eyes62]

Thing that makes the most sense to me is being right handed and having the throttle on the right side. Odd that it would be different in England though.

[blue_healer_guy]

Not to give away what I do for a living, all travel should be driven with right hand steering. Easier on all aspects plus head on collisions both drivers are away from direct impact.

[Phred52]

YA!!!!!...HOW COME IS THAT??? I WANNA KNOW!!! Phred52

[GunDr]

Not sure about the prop torque thing, could be true, but this is what I was told about "us" and "them" when comes to driving on the "right" side of the road.

Apparently, passing on the left goes way back to the days of carrying a sword in Europe. Because most soldiers were right-handed, they carried their swords on their left hip. When approaching an adversary, passing them on the left allowed them to draw the sword with their right hand and commence to fighting.

With the coming of firearms here in the early USA, again most were right-handed, but instead of a sword they carried their muzzleloader. Because many of these rifles were quite long, the gun would lay across the rider's lap, with the muzzle facing to the left. This allowed the rider to control the lock and trigger with their dominate right hand. To make this efficient, the riders would pass on the right side.

So, I guess the US was better at adpting to change than the Brits.

[Phred52]

Makes sense and could well be. Hey GunDr... Where ya located in Backus?? I have a place out on Little Lake Hattie. By any chance, do you have the shop out along 371?? If so, you may have Bear hunted on my property about 6 years ago! I'm right by Tamarak creek. Phred52

[GunDr]

My shop is just south of Backus, along 371, but I've never bear hunted here in MN. I did bait for my bride one year, up around the Foothills, but were unsuccessful.

[Nick Kuhn]

You know what the simplest explanation is (and probably the correct one)? We are used to the controls (ie stick shift, accelerator and brakes) being on the right. It is simply easier to mount the controls near the gunnel as opposed to adding a whole console in the middle and driving on the other side. There would also be a few complaints about the throttle being on the left.