Show your helm!

Donsan said:

Beautiful boat and beautiful helm. I love those GH47's. Out of curiosity, how did you get in to Indiana or do you keep it in Florida?

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Jacksonville FL to Indiana via Tenn-Tom

The nerve center.

Tonic

We thought you upgraded the helm and had not built the new boat around it

Wayfarer said:

42 feet... wide?

Some of these superyacht bridges are just bananas. I don't even know what all of that stuff does! It reminds me of the Monty Python hospital sketch, where they wheel in all of the machines (including the one that goes PING!) for no reason, other than to look impressive.

I work on a 730 foot cargo ship, and our stuff is light years behind yachts. The monitor we use for the chart plotter is fuzzy, and it's got duct tape holding it to the coffee stained formica countertop that serves as an entirely too small paperwork station. My autopilot is a 30 lb chunk of lead with a lever and a knob, and there are 4 switches to to turn it on or off. the pilothouse rattles and squeaks, and I have to pee out the door. The most important piece of equipment here is the coffee pot. Oh, and don't turn the big radar up past the two mile scale, because it makes the TV cut out in the galley.

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That is funny!

Being brought up on boats in 1950' and 60's with a dad who was well trained navigator as a pilot from RCAF (before U.S. entered war WWII) and U.S. Navy thereafter... we ran all over New England Coast off shore with no land in sight. Our tools were paper chart, knowing tide flow and current speeds, compass, watch, time trials that had firmly established boat's rpm to speed traveled, depth sounder, and celestial bodies. He was damn accurate, often exactly hitting our mark; I learned a lot! We were intrigued with Loran when it became easily available to the pleasure boating market. Used it as backup/check-up regarding our other plotting sequences - nothing more, nothing less.

Old School's helm.

Puget Star's helm

Multi purpose

Ours doubles as a spot to listen to some tunes!

sailtones said:

Ours doubles as a spot to listen to some tunes!

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That's one of best pictures ever on TF! - Thanks!

Multi purpose

And to eat oysters.....then spit them out again when you realize that you are not so keen on them!! :lol:

sailtones said:

And to eat oysters.....then spit them out again when you realize that you are not so keen on them!! :lol:

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sailtones


Those picts are classic! We have 5 grand kids ranging from < one month age to 14 yrs on Christmas Day. 3 girls, 2 boys. Been there in recent times... similar to your girls oyster reaction. Best learning/fun ever! - LOL


Personal memory:


When I was about the age of your older girl, on board a boat in power squadron raft up, I bit into anchovy on cracker with cheese... To transom I ran with much spittle to ensue and nearly a vomit occur. Wasn't till I hit my 40's that I again tried that delicacy. Now I love them as a side with pizza. Most think I'm nuts! Well... they are correct to a certain extent; but, not for reason of enjoying anchovies.

Happy Kid-Learnen Daze! - Art :lol:

Under the faded green octopus cover is my compass. Usually to the left would be my netbook with OpenCPN. There's plenty of room for the full size chart as you can see. And, finally, the picture is called Throttle Cues because:

#1) See the red on the throttle knob? That means that I'm to keep the red markers to port.
#2) The blue one is one the wheel meaning to open the thru-hull for water before starting the engine. (Eventually I'll paint that one green so I have a green and red pair)
#3) Also on the wheel is a wire tie that shows me when the rudder is dead center.

In the lower right is an old cleat with a bungee cord. The theory was that I could tie off the wheel and she'd go straight -- an autopilot for the low-cost cruiser. The unfortunate thing is my bottom is curvaceous and she won't track.

The bungee allows for turning the wheel when a crab pot appears. And I'm still working at that tracking thing. Towing the dink at the far corner (versus dead aft) helps, but not enough. Actually, an autopilot would be ideal.

Nope - not one of the starship Enterprise (er, Voyager if you please!) variety, but a simple one that will steer a compass course. That's how I do most of my navigating anyway...

There's nothing fancy about Seaweed, but she works.

janice142 said:

Under the faded green octopus cover is my compass. Usually to the left would be my netbook with OpenCPN. There's plenty of room for the full size chart as you can see. And, finally, the picture is called Throttle Cues because:

#1) See the red on the throttle knob? That means that I'm to keep the red markers to port.
#2) The blue one is one the wheel meaning to open the thru-hull for water before starting the engine. (Eventually I'll paint that one green so I have a green and red pair)
#3) Also on the wheel is a wire tie that shows me when the rudder is dead center.

In the lower right is an old cleat with a bungee cord. The theory was that I could tie off the wheel and she'd go straight -- an autopilot for the low-cost cruiser. The unfortunate thing is my bottom is curvaceous and she won't track.

The bungee allows for turning the wheel when a crab pot appears. And I'm still working at that tracking thing. Towing the dink at the far corner (versus dead aft) helps, but not enough. Actually, an autopilot would be ideal.

Nope - not one of the starship Enterprise (er, Voyager if you please!) variety, but a simple one that will steer a compass course. That's how I do most of my navigating anyway...

There's nothing fancy about Seaweed, but she works.

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I concur, to much in your post!

Here is Boomarang's helm. The pilothouse is really small so the equipment is concentrated on and immediately surrounding the helm station. It would be nice to have more room, but I have to work with what I have. At least everything is convenient, and feels natural and intuitive in use.

It is so tight that I actually selected the steering wheel because it had no dish, and I just modified the helm seat with a hinge so it can be flipped up to give more standing room behind the wheel.

This is the price I pay for being a big guy with a small boat. It IS easy on the wallet though.

Larry
M/V Boomarang

LarryM said:

Here is Boomarang's helm. The pilothouse is really small so the equipment is concentrated on and immediately surrounding the helm station. It would be nice to have more room, but I have to work with what I have. At least everything is convenient, and feels natural and intuitive in use.

It is so tight that I actually selected the steering wheel because it had no dish, and I just modified the helm seat with a hinge so it can be flipped up to give more standing room behind the wheel.

This is the price I pay for being a big guy with a small boat. It IS easy on the wallet though.

Larry
M/V Boomarang

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Larry - your photo did not appear... at least for me...

Wayfarer said:

I've noticed on several boats, especially Grand Banks, there's a brass or metal tube that runs from the middle of the lower helm up to the overhead. What is that??.

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As others have stated, it carries the steering cable for the upper helm. Most Grand Banks boats have cable-chain steering. For the upper helm, a stainless cable wound around the lower helm's shaft runs up the tube (cable chase), takes several turns around the upper helm's shaft, and then runs back down the chase to the lower helm shaft. There is tension on the cable, so turning one wheel turns the other.

Very early Grand Banks--- mid 1960s--- used a rod that ran up the chase. My understanding is that, a bit like the driveshaft on a vehicle, this rod connected a simple gearbox on the lower helm's shaft to a similar gearbox on the upper helm. Judging from occasional posts on the Grand Banks owners forum, this system has some drawbacks. Fairly soon after American Marine began producing their Grand Banks line, they dropped the shaft in favor of the cable system.

In our experience, the cable chase does not interfere with the sight picture from the helm at all. Starting from the first time we took our boat out, we simply don't see it. From where we stand or sit at the helm, the cable chase is somewhat lined up with the mullion between the starboard and center windows, so the chase simply "disappears." We've never found ourselves wishing it wasn't there, and friends we've had drive the boat took no notice of it either, even though none of them had ever steered a GB before.

We do not sit or stand rigid at the helm; we're always moving a bit so things like the pulpit rail, handrail and stanchions, cable chase, and window mullions are never static. So we have never had a problem seeing whatever is on the water in front of us.

An advantage we've taken of the cable chase is to use it as a bulletin board. If we want to remind ourselves to do something the next time we're up at the boat, we put a sticky note on the chase: put new snap on such and such a cover, top off battery water, and so forth.

We color coded our all-chain anchor rode when we bought it but the paint soon wore off and neither of us could remember the code anyway. So taking a cue from somebody experienced over on the GB forum, I simply put a plastic cable tie on the chain every ten feet leaving the tails untrimmed. You want 180 feet of rode out, count off eighteen ties as the chain's going out. You can even do it without looking at the chain or in the dark simply by resting a finger on top of the chain as it's running out to the end of the pulpit. But to make sure we remember how much is out, we put a sticky note on the cable chase with the footage count.

Art said:

Larry - your photo did not appear... at least for me...

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Can no longer edit, so here it is again. Thanks for the heads up.

Art said:

sailtones


Those picts are classic! We have 5 grand kids ranging from < one month age to 14 yrs on Christmas Day. 3 girls, 2 boys. Been there in recent times... similar to your girls oyster reaction. Best learning/fun ever! - LOL


Personal memory:


When I was about the age of your older girl, on board a boat in power squadron raft up, I bit into anchovy on cracker with cheese... To transom I ran with much spittle to ensue and nearly a vomit occur. Wasn't till I hit my 40's that I again tried that delicacy. Now I love them as a side with pizza. Most think I'm nuts! Well... they are correct to a certain extent; but, not for reason of enjoying anchovies.

Happy Kid-Learnen Daze! - Art :lol:

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Our kids are really quite adventurous when it comes to food. We cooked up a trout the other day, the eldest decided she wanted to try the eye ball, which we encouraged. Same result as the oysters, but at least she is keen to try!

helm

We are adding some new electronics to the lower helm. Note we retained the pole, as Marin explained, the cable steering runs to the upper helm. It can have other uses, however!

Rainha Jannota comand station.

Doesn't get much simpler than this...LOL

Greetings,
Mr. P. That young lady looks like she belongs in that spot at the helm. Very nice.

bnoft said:

We are adding some new electronics to the lower helm. Note we retained the pole, as Marin explained, the cable steering runs to the upper helm. It can have other uses, however!

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:lol::lol:

Portuguese said:

Rainha Jannota comand station.

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Looks great Fernando and what a fitting helm for that special wheel

LarryM said:

Here is Boomarang's helm. The pilothouse is really small so the equipment is concentrated on and immediately surrounding the helm station. It would be nice to have more room, but I have to work with what I have. At least everything is convenient, and feels natural and intuitive in use.

It is so tight that I actually selected the steering wheel because it had no dish, and I just modified the helm seat with a hinge so it can be flipped up to give more standing room behind the wheel.

This is the price I pay for being a big guy with a small boat. It IS easy on the wallet though.

Larry
M/V Boomarang

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I like it ... very neat, compact but all is placed well ...

LarryM's handle to hang on is a smart addition. I like that idea. The essential beverage holder is convenient too.

Thanks Janice and Richard,

The handhold was installed within a few days of my purchasing the boat. On my first trip, I was waked by a pretty large cruiser that really rolled Boomarang violently, and I had nothing to hold on to. The next trip I did.

RAM mounts have made it very convenient to attach instruments, controls and accessories around the helm, and change the positions as needed.

Larry
M/V Boomarang

We had a break-in last spring, the perps levered out the RL80C and the RN300, breaking up the mounting panels and rendering the gear non-functional. A protracted battle with my then insurance carrier ultimately resulted in a mid-level refit, and a makeover of the helm- and cancellation of my policy.

Had some help on the carpentry, the rest is DIY.

Maerin said:

We had a break-in last spring, the perps levered out the RL80C and the RN300, breaking up the mounting panels and rendering the gear non-functional. A protracted battle with my then insurance carrier ultimately resulted in a mid-level refit, and a makeover of the helm- and cancellation of my policy.

Had some help on the carpentry, the rest is DIY.

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Is that a 46 Nordhavn?

43 Selene/Solo

Beautiful job on it, Maerin.