When is your flybridge unsafe?

A boat's motion is magnified the further distance from its center. Waves and wakes can create violent motions in a boat. A flybridge magnifies such effects. So, when do you "abandon" the flybridge for a safer position? or do you just use it in the most benign of conditions? Curious, as I'm flybridge "deficient."

My wannabe flybridge



Hah! Only in the berth.

Our flying bridge is where we sit at the end of the day with a cool beverage. I prefer operating the boat from below for the reason you state among others.

Hope I can get off this hard-rocking flybridge safely! Note "death grip."

when the wind speed hits 25knots and the swells about 8ft

We purchased a flybridge deficient boat on purpose. We failed to find one we liked on a sub 30' boat. Thus far we've had no regrets.

when the motion is great enough to make it so.

could be dangerous in a smaller slop or be perfectly safe in 30 foot swells....there's also a difference between the vessel's entire crew going up and down and lounging all day and the helm watch operating from up there as the preferred station for whatever reason.

it's only as dangerous as the crew is careless.

I love the pilot house. That being said, the flybridge can't be beat for maneuvering in/out of the slip or fuel dock. It's also an excellent place for gatherings at anchor or even at the dock.

Chris

I find the flybridge perfectly safe in most any condition- the height differential isn't that great that I worry about it.

Sportfishers only have a flybridge helm yet they go out in much rougher conditions than trawlers.

mahal said:

Sportfishers only have a flybridge helm yet they go out in much rougher conditions than trawlers.

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Yup- I grew up fishing on Bertram, Skipjacks, and the like. Never had problems, and enjoyed the greater visibility to find the fish.

CPseudonym said:

We purchased a flybridge deficient boat on purpose. We failed to find one we liked on a sub 30' boat. Thus far we've had no regrets.

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Capt. Craig, it is offensive to refer to such craft as "flybridge deficient". We have been fighting against such prejudicial remarks. I am surprised that one of our own would do such a thing.

Capt. Craig, it is offensive to refer to such craft as "flybridge deficient".

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Re-read OP's post number 1.

mahal said:

Sportfishers only have a flybridge helm yet they go out in much rougher conditions than trawlers.

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At much higher speeds. I love being on the flybridge on my sister's Post, not so much my parents Mainship.

I like the flybridge for visibility, particularly offshore looking for crab pots. For safety, I rig jacklines and use tethers and life jackets (suspender types) for the crew to maneuver safely.

It becomes unsafe just before you realize it's too rough to risk the transit from the upper to the lower helm...

Moonstruck said:

Capt. Craig, it is offensive to refer to such craft as "flybridge deficient". We have been fighting against such prejudicial remarks. I am surprised that one of our own would do such a thing.

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Ted, I appreciate the thought but Don is correct as always. I shouldn't have taken the bait.

A thousand pardons Brother Don. What act of penance will be required before I'm allowed to hit 4,000+ RPM again sir?

CPseudonym said:

Ted, I appreciate the thought but Don is correct as always. I shouldn't have taken the bait.

A thousand pardons Brother Don. What act of penance will be required before I'm allowed to hit 4,000+ RPM again sir?

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4000 rpm! Now you're talking. Take her out and enjoy.

I always run the boat from the flybridge.

Fly Bridge!!!

I second skidgear's comment on safety.

The boat will probably make it through weather and waves just as well regardless of whether I'm up top or down below. But, if we can't safely go back and forth, that means it's time to stay down.

I find that the FB is unsafe after 7 or 8 drinks...

I have yet to be in a cruising situation where I thought that it was not safe. I use the PH for overnight passages and bad weather only. Probably the worst time on the FB was on a powercat charter in BVI when the north swell was hitting the north shore of Tortola. The swell was about 12 feet from the north, and the wind was whipping up 5 feet waves in the opposite direction. That induced a lot of slamming and rolling - I remember that as the Christmas Day Hell cruise. That boat only had a FB helm. Even if it had a PH, I would have used the FB for the visibility - I find it a lot easier to judge the waves from the higher vantage point.

Thanks to LarryM for posting this photo in another thread. Fishing one day in 8-10' seas off Cape Lookout, NC in a Bertram like this one, I was running from the only drive station which was the flybridge. We went down the front of a sea. The bow caught buoyancy in the back of the next sea. When the bow rose my head was going forward. The edge of the reverse sloping windshield slammed into my mouth. One tooth broken, one with several cracks, and the lower lip cut clean through. Did we stop fishing. Oh no. We were young and foolish, but we caught a lot of fish. Those were some really expensive fish that day.

Endurance said:

I second skidgear's comment on safety.

The boat will probably make it through weather and waves just as well regardless of whether I'm up top or down below. But, if we can't safely go back and forth, that means it's time to stay down.

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Thos topic is a real golden oldie chestnut. For mine, the above comments are however largely true, although the extra weight up top does not help the cause, but the danger getting up or down is totally relevant, and the fact the motion is magnified at hull speeds. In planing boats the motion is smoother, so less unpleasant, but accidents like Don just described are also more common up there.

I found it interesting how at the latest Sactuary Cove Boat Show I attended a couple of weeks ago an increasing number of the new models on display of the newer trawler style boats were without flybridges.
I often look at mine and think I could do without it quite easily the amount of time we spend up there, and then I'd have room for more solar panels. I certainly think flybridges on a pilothouse model are a waste of space and look like pimples on pumkins...

Moonstruck said:

Thanks to LarryM for posting this photo in another thread. Fishing one day in 8-10' seas off Cape Lookout, NC in a Bertram like this one, I was running from the only drive station which was the flybridge. We went down the front of a sea. The bow caught buoyancy in the back of the next sea. When the bow rose my head was going forward. The edge of the reverse sloping windshield slammed into my mouth. One tooth broken, one with several cracks, and the lower lip cut clean through. Did we stop fishing. Oh no. We were young and foolish, but we caught a lot of fish. Those were some really expensive fish that day.

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Don - That why you write with a lisp!

Art said:

Fly Bridge!!!

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After 23 years of operating a flybridgeless sedan, and now having had a boat with a flybridge for the past few years, I approve of, and totally agree with, this eloquent endorsement.

Don,

I've spent a fair amount of time on a Bertram 31 and am still amazed at how seaworthy and rugged they are. When I read your post, I felt your pain, but had to laugh. I've almost been right there . . .

We continued fishing many times when boats twice our size were returning to port.

Here is a link for your amusement. This is what flying bridges are for!

Extreme shotgun start in the Tuna Jackpot in Cabo San Lucas Nov. 2010 - YouTube

Larry
m/v Boomarang

Yep, been there too.

Running the old Bertram 31s from the bridge Larry probably knows that the wheel is more or less flat (not vertical). Not much to brace yourself with up there especially when having to work the wheel. When the bow goes down sometimes your weight will turn the wheel making you lean that much more. That's when that treacherous windshield would come up to meet you. Had to learn that one the hard way.

I had a friend with a Bertram 38 with a very tall tower. Had to laugh at the sportfishing boat video. It reminded me of tournaments on the east coast. The Bertrams because of their extreme deep Vee hulls would lean drastically in a turn. Coming out of the Fishing Center at Oregon Inlet when the boat leaned into a turn and you were in the tower you would be well out over the water with no boat directly under you. That's crazy stuff.

I think I would have waited 60 seconds for the crazies to get their head start! That's pretty wild!

Up until Bertram moved their factory, my store was right next door. I loved watching them carry the 31's across the road and drop them in the Miami river. I guess that would have been forty years ago. The 31 was the best looking Bertram ever. I know of a beauty that has twin diesels in her and is for sale. If only I had some money.

The problem with the 31 is the bridge is to small to party on.