# How do you steer a sidewheeler? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669 "2006-02-09T07:41:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/1 "2006-02-09T07:41:35Z")
I can understand how they steer a sternwheeler but steering a sidewheeler has me mystified. Seems to me it would always want to turn toward the paddle sideof the ship. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/2 "2006-02-09T08:00:24Z")
> [@justwannano](#): > > I can understand how they steer a sternwheeler but steering a sidewheeler has me mystified. Seems to me it would always want to turn toward the paddle sideof the ship. Aren’t there paddles on both sides? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/3 "2006-02-09T11:00:14Z")
Yep ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/4 "2006-02-09T11:14:27Z")
So anyway, how is it steered? Are the paddles independently powered, allowing one side to be stopped or run in reverse, to turn the vessel, or are they on a common axle? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/5 "2006-02-09T11:57:27Z")
They steer the same as a sternwheeler with the ability to independantly rotate their axles to augment it. Paddle boats often employ both bow and stern rudders, and sidewheelers are no different, but they are more manuverable (though wider) due to the addition of differential thrust. ---
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/6 "2006-02-09T17:10:39Z")
Hmmm funny. I can still clearly “see” the mental picture from a long forgotten book of a sidewheeler that only had 1 wheel. Its been more years than I wish to think about that I’ve wondered how that thing got around. Thanks all ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/7 "2006-02-09T23:22:59Z")
There’s this old joke: There’s a journalist, a zoologist and a mathematician going north into Scotland for the first time, on a train. Through the train window they see a cow, facing the same direction as the train. The journalist thinks: “Ahhh, cows in Scotland are _brown_” The zoologist thinks: “Hmm, so you \*do \* find brown cows in Scotland” The mathematician thinks: “There’s at least one cow in Scotland that is brown _on one side_” Are you a mathematician, justwannano? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/8 "2006-02-10T00:34:13Z")
> [@justwannano](#): > > I can still clearly “see” the mental picture from a long forgotten book of a sidewheeler that only had 1 wheel. … It should be possible to do this, with a large enough rudder to counteract the offset thrust. It’s the seme with a solo canoe - you only paddle on one side, so each stroke causes the canoe to turn in one direction. So at the end of each stroke you need to use the paddle as a rudder to turn it back. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/9 "2006-02-10T00:59:04Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > … So at the end of each stroke you need to use the paddle as a rudder to turn it back. That would be the “J” stroke, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/10 "2006-02-10T02:21:47Z")
Sorry, that should be: "The mathematician thinks: “There’s at least one cow in Scotland that is brown _on at least one side_” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-steer-a-sidewheeler/343669/11 "2006-02-10T12:00:26Z")
Gondolas are also driven (sculled) by a remo that’s fixed on one side. Gondolas are logitudinaly asymmetrical to counter the sideways drift.