By Pyt Rotary

Ontario

Mike Blouin

Louisiana

For me, fishing from my S4 is therapy.
I launch from my place on Grand Isle, and within twenty minutes I’m out there by myself, with no one else in sight. It’s a unique experience, the freedom I expect.

Best Way To Steer  Your S4 Microskiff and W720 Kayak Skiff

The differences between steering with a U-Jointed tiller extension and steering with a regular extension, or no extension at all.

First, it’s important to clarify here that when you drive using a U-jointed tiller extension, you use both your left hand to grab the tiller handle, and the left side of your body to gain additional mechanical support (leverage).  You can get additional support from your left elbow. In some cases you can even use both hands. This method makes driving easier, and it’s different from steering using a simple tiller extension that you typically just grab with your left hand, unless you have to make a sharp left turn, which may require that you grab the handle with your right hand, and hold it behind your back.

When is steering the S4 or W720 directly with the tiller preferable to steering it with a U-jointed (articulated) tiller extension?

The answer is that typically, driving with a U-jointed tiller extension works best, for the following reasons:

1. If you want to drive standing up, you need a tiller extension, since your outboard’s tiller is not long enough to allow for this.
2. If you’re driving solo, you’d better use a tiller extension because if possible, you want to drive your S4 and W720 from the middle of the cockpit, and not from the stern, since this helps keeping the boat level (trim it), which improves its speed.
3. If you have a passenger on board sitting in front of you, you don’t necessarily need a tiller extension, because the additional weight at the front would keep the boat level, but using a U-jointed tiller extension is more convenient because you keep your left forearm on your side and not behind your back. It’s also more fun, because it allows you to drive standing up when you feel like it.
4. You can drive the S4 Microskiff sitting and facing sideways on its saddle (side-saddle), with both your feet in its left hull, and your left hand holding the tiller handle. There is no major problem with this traditional way of driving dinghies, except that driving while facing forward is more convenient because it offers a better view of where you’re going and what’s going on on both sides of your boat, and not just on its left side. Facing forward with a foot in each hull also makes balancing yourself and the boat easier, especially in choppy water, and when you have to deal with big wakes from fast motorboats.
   Note that the hulls of the W720 are too narrow for driving seated in the side-saddle position.
5. Interestingly, driving with a U-jointed tiller extension is more intuitive than driving without one, because driving with it makes the boat go in the same direction that your hand points to, unlike when you drive without it, and you need to remember that whichever direction your hand will move in, the boat will go in the opposite direction…

The Benefits Of Extending Your U-Jointed Tiller Extension

For years, we’ve been successfully using U-jointed tiller extensions, and recommending them to our clients. We recently outfitted such a device with a short tiller extension at its end, which elongated it by 13 inches.
Driving both the S4 Microskiff and W720 Kayak-Skiff with this extra-long U-jointed tiller extension yielded good results – It enabled the driver to sit further forward, towards the middle of the boat, as well as drive more comfortably standing up.
Therefore, we recommend trying such an extra long U-jointed tiller extension if you’d like to drive your S4 or W720 standing, such as when you’re sight fishing , and in order to slightly improve speed on flat water.

Joysticks, Control Boxes, and Steering Wheels

Steering the S4 Microskiff and the W720 Kayak-Skiff is different from steering a full size skiff, and it typically involves direct steering with the outboard motor’s tiller, or preferably, by means of a U-jointed tiller extension.
The S4 and W720 can be effectively steered both ways.
Other, more complex steering systems include joysticks, control boxes, and steering wheels.

The reasons why S4 and W720 owners don’t outfit their boats with the steering systems are –

1. First, unlike control boxes and tiller extensions, steering wheels and joysticks don’t offer the driver direct control of the motor’s throttle, so the driver has to turn around and grab the tiller handle each time they need to to change the motor RPM. This is inconvenient, and it’s hazardous in case of emergency, or in case of tight maneuvering, when quick reactions are needed.
2. S4 and W720 owners prefer not to outfit their boats with steering systems because they add complexity in connecting and disconnecting the motor, and they take space inside the cockpit. Having a boat that is so simple, versatile, lightweight and portable as the S4 or W720 is very advantageous, and their owners are reluctant to give up any of these advantages.
3. Steering with a wheel, a control box, or a joystick, can work if you’re seated, or standing, but in order for them to work in both positions, you’d need to come up with a special adaptation, which could be tricky.

Steering Console – Yes or No?

The S4 and W720 are the world’s two most lightweight microskiffs, and weight is a very important factor to consider. Even adding just a few dozen pounds to the boat’s total weight can have a serious effect on its portability, both in terms of transportation (e.g. the difference between car-topping and needing a trailer) and carrying, namely the ability to access more difficult launching spots instead of depending on boat ramps –
You want to have as much portability as possible, because it defines your freedom to launch, go, and beach anywhere (coincidentally, this has always been Wavewalk’s motto).
This is to say that adding a console with a steering wheel or control box to the S4 cockpit sounds like a cool idea, but we think that overall it’s not necessarily a good one, unless you intend to keep the boat docked year round, or at least for the entire season, and/or you don’t mind having to transport it on a trailer.

As for adding a console to a W720, it seems excessive to begin with.

Our Experience With Joystick Steering

Years ago, Wavewalk developed a joystick steering system for its W700 series. It was easy and fun to use, and it allowed for intuitive and effective steering both seated and standing, without adaptation. However, we decided to discontinue that joystick product for three reasons:

1. The first reason was that our joystick steering system did not incorporate a throttle function, and in this sense it was significantly inferior to a U-jointed tiller extension, which offers this important functionality in full.
2. The second reason was that it took valuable space in the middle of the cockpit, but steering with a U-jointed tiller extension offers similar benefits, namely that it allows for driving both seated and standing, while taking far less space, located in the rear area of the cockpit, which is less useful for seating passengers, and/or for keeping fishing gear.
3. The third reason was that we didn’t expect to sell many units of that product, and it was rather expensive to manufacture in small series.

Do you have any questions about this article?

The W720 is Wavewalk’s new Kayak-Skiff from the W700 Series. It features an integrated motor mount rated for up to 3 HP, although this video shows it mounted with a 6 HP outboard (Please don’t try this at home!).

The W720 is a truly wonderful kayak that glides and tracks like no other, whether in a solo or tandem mode, and it also works perfectly as a canoe – The best all-around paddle craft.
Its high saddle seat guarantees that the passengers onboard will enjoy a comfortable and back-pain free trip.
The W720 offers a very large onboard storage space in its twin hulls.
It is 12’10” long and just it weighs just 85 lbs, which makes it easy even for one person to cartop.

Driving the W720 is a pleasure – It is very stable and responsive, and it tracks perfectly, like a much longer boat, thanks to its twin hulls.
Launching and beaching it is a breeze – forget about boat ramps!

Things you see onboard the S4 microskiff in this video –

• 6 HP Tohatsu outboard gas motor with a 20″ Long (L) propeller shaft. No other length would do. This motor is outfitted with a 9″ pitch propeller, for maximum speed. 8″ pitch propellers work too.
• There is a towel on the bottom of each rear hull tip. Spray that enters the cockpit while the boat bumps into big waves finds its way to the rear, and the towels soak it, so the bottom of the hulls stays dry.
• A paddle is a necessary item onboard any small boat, especially if you go in shallow water, or launch from a beach.
• 3 gallons of fuel suffice for 12 hours of this 6 HP Tohatsu motor’s operation at full throttle, and much longer at a lower RPM.
• The U-jointed tiller extension enables the driver to face forward while driving, instead of sideways, and it offers to drive from the middle of the cockpit instead of driving from its rear, which makes the boat more level and faster.
• This extra tiller extension added to the U-jointed tiller extension allows the driver to sit or stand more forward, closer to the middle of the boat, and thus further improve its trim and speed.
• Two 5 lbs anchors would keep the S4 in its place in moving water.
• The rope is for pulling the S4 microskiff in water that’s too shallow for paddling, or on the beach, and for attaching it.