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Old 11-05-2015, 07:50 AM   #10
Blissboat
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City: Jacksonville Beach, FL
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1,252
You can get used to having the helm anywhere. To me, the practical considerations are visibility and access, and for those reasons I tend to favor having the lower helm station to starboard (presuming a door opening onto the starboard side deck).

Every commercial boat I ever ran had centerline helms, typically in an enclosed pilothouse. But then I also had at least one agile, experienced deckhand getting paid to scamper around handling lines. On my personal boat, being able to operate shorthanded or single-handed is important. For the person on the wheel to be able to participate in docking and getting underway, it helps to be able to step from deck to helm while keeping an eye on everything.

A boat that I recently developed a crush on and came very close to buying had a weird lower helm position - not to port, not to starboard, and not even directly on centerline. It was slightly offset to the left of center. It also had a rather pronounced sheer leading to a high bow. Result: lousy visibility from the lower station when approaching a dock. All by itself that wasn't a deal-killer, but it was one more thing on the "minus" side of the balance sheet. I actually looked into re-locating the helm, until I sobered up and reminded myself that there are a lot of boats out there for sale.
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