Do you really need a lower helm?

Skipperdude.
I write to thank you for taking your time to express your oppinion with respect to a lower helm chair.


I appreciate your recommendation *that the chair should be movable and in our case there is a need to go below in the lower helm area to service the air-conditioner and fresh plunbing water system.


Our present *kitchen wood stool is what it is and no more , as we are not young kids any more standing for long periods , could be a challenge, respecting the fact that you mentioned *the need to stand on occasion.So true.
We were hoping that we could find something soft and comfortable with arms something like a portable Stidd with out that lofty price tag.


Donald & Mavis
Mainship 400
Andromeda

Carl,
I don't want to alarm you but it seems there is an old hippy driving your boat!

Hi Carl. We use the flybridge helm as much as possible, but the Northwest weather frequently forces us to the lower helm. I put the camera back there so that I could easily see what is around the boat and what is going on back on the aft deck when moving to/from the dock. I have played with the adjustment a number of times trying to get the view just right. I am going to visit the boat this weekend. I'll try to take a picture of what it looks like now. I do find it very handy when using the lower helm. I replaced the wooden cross bar (I'd have called it a spreader when I had a sailboat) recently. I made it wider at the middle to accommodate the camera. Both the aft camera and the engine room camera are wired to the lower helm station. I'll probably extend the engine room camera to the flybridge in the future.

I don't really have anything else exciting. I bought the boat last year and set about replacing the electronics. Garmin chartplotters up and down, Garmin radar (I kept the old Furuno too), Garmin radio with the handheld extension on the flybridge, and Raymarine autopilot with the ST70 control heads up and down. Garmin does not make an autopilot that supports a chain drive yet.

I have a few other projects planned. The idea of a piece of electronics with an unused connector just doesn't seem right to me so I keep coming up with things to do.


-- Edited by Rusty Lewis on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 12:55:38 PM

Woodsong wrote:

Carl,
I don't want to alarm you but it seems there is an old hippy driving your boat!

Click to expand...

But Carl doesn't have a ponytail.* I think he merely dreads encounters with barbers.

*


-- Edited by markpierce on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 01:44:39 AM

Charles,*I agree that when the lower helm is a pilothouse, it is much more convenient and the vis is also much better than several other configurations.


We too have a pilothouse, and although we have much less experience on the water than you, when we were travelling up the Hudson River and also through the canal systems, in some areas there was so much debris that we would have been crazy if we had not used the upper helm where the vis so much better.


So, once again, we are very happy to have both an upper and a lower helm!


-- Edited by Delia Rosa on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 10:08:32 AM

Old Stone wrote:*It has been reported that most of them are employed at the Stock Exchange.

-- Edited by Old Stone on Wednesday 2nd of February 2011 08:14:00 AM

Click to expand...

**********In 2010 Wall Street had a record setting 135billion wages and bonus's.

********* That translates into quite a few boat bucks!

********** God Bless America.*** JohnP

*

Yes. I really need my lower helm.* It's the only one I have.

There was a tower with controls*on my Blackfin, but I took it off and replaced it with a T-top.* The kids were the only ones that went up there.* After they moved on to their own lives, we removed the tower.

when i first started looking at boats, i could not figure out why there were controls on the flybridge.
someone told me it was for fish spotting i think. it did and still does seem a little waste of space.
however..
when we cruise, i love being on the flybridge, great 360 view to take in the scenery (and fish/dolphin/whale spotting).
it is the place with best visibility.

but i would not give up the lower helm, we are a family and the salon is the hangout area so this is where the social activities are going on and if you want hot coffee or cold whatever then it is nearby.
i am also much more accustomed to docking from the lowerhelm (i have no stern vis from either station) though it could be just a matter of comfort level vs practice. i do have a door next to the lower station and often jump off onto the dock with a line. going from atop could be hazardous.

Goes this way.
If you want to feel like you are steering a sport fisherman ,then steer from the upper helm.
Up there you can hear the seagulls screaming for lunch.




If you want to feel like you are steering a trawler, then steer from the lower helm.


Down there your can hear your engine *playing the second movement of Beethoven's *5 Th symphony.


Enjoy !


Donald
A n d r o m e d a
Andromeda



-- Edited by SOMERS on Thursday 3rd of February 2011 06:52:24 AM

-- Edited by SOMERS on Thursday 3rd of February 2011 07:00:28 AM

DOES ONE NEED A FLYING BRIDGE?

Cover it up with clear plastic , and you have the marine motorist OXYGEN TENT!