Do You Need an Assist Knob on Your Boat Wheel?

Assist knobs (also commonly called “suicide knobs” and “power knobs”) make it easier to turn your boat’s steering wheel quickly. Some steering wheels come with an integrated assist knob, or a clamp-on knob can be added to an existing wheel. The positive is obvious: in docking and other tight-quarters situations, the ability to quickly and smoothly spin the wheel can be very helpful.

But what about the downsides to assist knobs?

First, for novice boaters, the ability to spin the wheel rapidly isn’t always a good thing.

Second, in some applications, assist knobs can create clearance problems. Specifically on boats that are designed to be driven standing up with wheels that are mounted vertically or close to vertically, an assist knob can sometimes hit you in the thighs or “below the belt” when running rough seas. Make sure there’s enough room between your leaning post and steering wheel that the knob is unlikely to hit you when it’s positioned near the bottom of the wheel.

Third, assist knobs are most helpful on boats with fairly “open” helm areas. On many bass boats, runabouts and ski/wake boats, where the driver sits low to the floor and close to the dash and the starboard side of the boat, there isn’t enough arm room for an assist knob to be very helpful.