Free: Contests & Raffles.
Tiller all the way in a boat that size. A wheel wastes so much room and reduces overall utility, imho. Ride is WAY better in the back in rougher water, far less amplification of movement. Been there.Get whatever floorplan you like, you're not going to be busting through an honest 2' chop in either. In a light sub 1' wind chop that will still allow you to plane, the hull form of the 15' will ride significantly better.
ditch the wheel and get a stick control, they're quick as a tiller and you can sit forward and enjoy the better visibility over the bow. http://www.boatstoreusa.com/steering/ezy-glide-stick-iii-boat-steering-model-870/Also not all steering wheels have a lot of turn lock to lock, I've driven a 14 foot aluminium jet boat over 500hp and the wheel didn't make a full turn lock to lock, it was about 3/4 turn. You did not take your hands off that wheel when driving to "spin the wheel around" like a typical pleasure boat. Your hands stayed put at the 10 and 2 position lock to lock (they had too, or you'd loose your grip). It's all about the ratio and many steering systems have different ratio's available. edit I see he's talking about salt water though, so I agree with a tiller. I watched those Alaskans out of Seward go in pretty rough water with a small tiller that left me shaking my head but I suspect it was pretty normal for them. I don't have a lot of salt water experience. I'm used to rivers with logs in them so I like to see. My favorite is a stick control with stand up center console. Your legs are shock absorbers and you can see everything.
Sorry Alchase, I will still disagree with you. On a boat of that size reaction time is much more important and having to turn a wheel 3-4 turns lock to lock is a huge hindrance when you need to make quick corrections. I have always preferred having an anchor and rode in the bow and fuel amidships. Ride is smoother in the stern with a tiller and you have more flexibility on how you trim the boat. There is also the consideration that if you put on a console you typically gain weight in an already load limited boat with the addition of a console, battery, hydraulic trim/tilt, and electric start. You can run without all that with a console but it is a pain, or have the same stuff with a tiller unnecessarily. When seas are really nasty and I need to react quick there is no comparison between a console and a tiller, and having the ability to get the bow up easier when necessary is big. A console on a small 15’ or less boat is more of an affectation or a way to feel like your boat is bigger than it really is. My .02...
This is what I useYou want to make sure you get a rope lock that you can use on multiple lines, a lot of anchor pullers stay on one line..but the orvals ez pull snaps on and off so you can use it on multiple lines. The rope lock I use stays on the anchor line and would be difficult to switch from line to line, I haven't tried the orvals ez pull but it has good reviews I wouldn't hesitate to try it on crab pots.
I used a similar unit and it worked very well for an anchor but I did not have great luck using it with pots. I used it on shrimp pots in 400’ of water and the pot just has too much drag for the systems I have tried. For small pots it would probably work fine, but I would just prefer to hand pull with light pots under 100’. One way I did use it pulling pots was as a brake so I could rest. Whatever you do, don’t try one of these line pull systems tied off to the stern! Always pull tied to the bow.
