Stidd vs director's chair

Not a totally fair comparison, but I do see a number of FD 40' ish trawlers with one or the other at the PH helm. I"m looking to buy, so I'm curious.

Can a directors chair be stable with 30 deg rolls and a human in the seat? Or, are these things only for inside passages, YW ads and get stowed for offshore work making one stand for 12 hours straight?

I specifically did not want a permanently affixed chair on the lower helm, so I just ordered a Herman Miller Aeron barstool height. Infinitely adjustable and comfortable and more than high enough for my wife and me. I ordered mine with rubber pads instead of rollers and will use tie downs while underway.

Some experience with one was recounted here.

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/ideas-moveable-helm-chair-needed-19692.html

I use a draftsman chair. Adjustable from 30” to 36” and stable with a 5 point base. In a heavy seaway I tie the chair to the handholds.

Obviously your call. I wouldn’t trust a moveable chair.

We all boat in different sea conditions, so its tough for anyone to advise.


Even with my helm chair fixed, there's times I wish I had a seat belt installed.

Don't have the problem but I've seen boats where an otherwise movable chair was secured to the sole with some kind of tie down so it can't topple.

A floor mounted H.D. lifting ring bolted down and using a heavy webbing strap or a SS wire and pelican hook should be strong. Maybe a pad eye although that would protrude when not used.

Just some ideas.

30 degree rolls?
Wow.

My boat had a directors chair that toppled over with me in it on the first trip in Galveston Bay when I was waked by a go-fast. Threw it away when I got back to the dock. Any chair at the helm should be bolted down or capable of being secured, even for inland waters.

In the link in post #2, Jeff Siegel describes how he uses a draftsman’s chair . . . and bolts it down.

We don’t have a lower station so on the flybridge we had a mounted helm seat. Needed another so for our delivery trip home I had a deck chair up there. It slid back and forth continually crossing Lake Ontario. We now have 2 mounted helm seats on the bridge. No loose seats for me. Maybe if you have a really robust tie down that would be ok.

AusCan said:

We all boat in different sea conditions, so its tough for anyone to advise.


Even with my helm chair fixed, there's times I wish I had a seat belt installed.

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Why? I'd much rather jump up, stand on my feet and then brace myself.

South of Heaven said:

Why? I'd much rather jump up and stand on my feet.

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That's all right for an hour or two, but when doing a 12 hour crossing in rough water, it gets a bit tiring. Especially when it too rough to depend on the autopilot to take each swell safely.

South of Heaven said:

Why? I'd much rather jump up and stand on my feet.

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Because depending on where you boat every so often you may wind up in conditions where it is unsafe to get out of a fixed helm chair. I would never have a helm chair that was not rigidly fixed to the boat and also had good hand holds to secure ones self when it gets unusually rough out

South of Heaven said:

Why? I'd much rather jump up, stand on my feet and then brace myself.

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I would have not made the crossing of Lake Ontario standing up for the 5 hours of rock and roll. No way my wife would have done it either.

The Stidd chair is a rather specialized unit to keep folks spines intact while bouncing from wave to wave at 30K -60K.

The Coasties use them , but sometimes even their crews come back broken

There are many pilot house chair setups that are 1/6-1/10 the price that work fine for most cruisers.

An office chair , secured to the deck should work fine as both pilot house chairs and office chairs would be too uncomfortable in 30deg rolls.

Standing works best for running inlets , a good seat and good autopilot works fine the rest of the time.

A good easy to grab hand hold is a big help in staying in a gyrating chair, when surprised!!

Love my office task/architect chair with arms. I too use a strap that runs through a padeye when things get rough. Bought it used for $200. It retailed for over $1500 when new. Easily adjusts in so many ways to fit my 6'4" 275 frame or my wife's dimensions. Also, it is easily moved out of the way when not in use which is important in our 40 footer's PH. I replaced the casters with pads and then put plastic glides over the feet pads. This provided just the right amount of sliding control over the floor of our carpeted PH.
Tator

P. S. Went back and read my post from 2015. I want to report that I have had no problem with the chair swiveling in seas. In fact, I like being able to turn when I want to. Check your used office furniture stores for best deals.

Tator

My lower helm we also us a Herman miller but this helm is not used much at all and never with 30 rolls

AusCan said:

We all boat in different sea conditions, so its tough for anyone to advise.


Even with my helm chair fixed, there's times I wish I had a seat belt installed.

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More than once I considered a piece of rope and wear a bike helmet too.
You strap yourself in, put the helmet on, it does have a tendency to scare the other passengers. Ah yes, it is good to be the captain.

We have a director chair at the lower helm. It has yet to fall over loaded or not. No really big seas because we watch our weather and stay ICWish. When driving below and slammed by a big wake I simply stand up on the deck and sit after it passes.
Now if we were on the loop full time I would want a thru-bolted helm chair of some type.
Lag bolts not good enough.

We very seldom drive from the lower helm, so far only for the crossings from Apalachicola Fl to Tampa/Tarpon Springs area or if we get caught out in some unpredicted rough weather.
For the lower helm I bought a Todd bolt down pedestal chair and made an Aluminum tubing extension, slip on piece which quickly raises it to a comfortable driving position. I also added a footrest and a sturdy hand rail to hang on to. Most of the time it is just another saloon chair at normal seating height.

OldDan1943 said:

More than once I considered a piece of rope and wear a bike helmet too.
You strap yourself in, put the helmet on, it does have a tendency to scare the other passengers. Ah yes, it is good to be the captain.

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It is not about making the passengers feel completely at ease. Its about keeping them safe.
I'd expect that passengers would be more concerned if the captain was tossed out of his unstable chair and knocked unconscious.

As was mentioned before, the safety measures required all depend on the conditions where you are boating.

Really like my Stidd chair. In good weather anything should work. When the weather forecasts become 100% accurate, I'll consider one that isn't bolted down. Until then, mine will be bolted down.

Ted

For my non-permanently mounted helm chair, I’m looking for a strong, easy on/easy off hold down system that doesn’t rely on straps. I may have my son fabricate some brackets that will permanently attach to the chair, then use star-knobbed bolts to lock the chair down to receptacles in the floor. The receptacles would be through-bolted with heavy backing plates and preferably flush-mounted—maybe something like below.

I haven't found such a system yet, but I’m looking.

Saw Stidds at the Seattle Boat show and in the hi-end yachts as the Hampton, OAs and others.

The price was $4200 per chair with a pedestal. I will say the pedestal was top notch and had a bolt system to secure it through the floor. It would require me to take down the liner in the salon.

I settled on a pedestal from Springfield and a high back hem chair from Todds. I bought 2 for the price of one Stidd.

angus99 said:

For my non-permanently mounted helm chair, I’m looking for a strong, easy on/easy off hold down system that doesn’t rely on straps. I may have my son fabricate some brackets that will permanently attach to the chair, then use star-knobbed bolts to lock the chair down to receptacles in the floor. The receptacles would be through-bolted with heavy backing plates and preferably flush-mounted—maybe something like below.

I haven't found such a system yet, but I’m looking.

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I think a pad eye on the deck should work fine. I would be more concerned with the attachment point on the chair, staying attached. Guess you could through bolt it through the seat cushion.

Ted

O C Diver said:

I think a pad eye on the deck should work fine. I would be more concerned with the attachment point on the chair, staying attached. Guess you could through bolt it through the seat cushion.

Ted

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This is where having a metal sculptor with strong welding skills in the family pays off.

We probably one of the few scenarios here with an upper helm ONLY. We did the free-standing chair for 5 years but more than once I was toppled from serious wakes from big sport-fishers. On both coasts of the ICW in Florida, there are areas where it gets pretty narrow. Additionally, fast boats with big wakes will pass you on both sides at the same time when traffic is running heavy on holidays and long weekends. These kind of wakes heavily influenced us to go with the extra heavy Stidd 500 chair & pedestal with through-bolted 3/4" starboard spreader and backing plates. We couldn't swing the price of a new 500 from Stidd, so we collected the chair, pedestal, foot rest and assembly hardware over a couple of years from various Marine Surplus outfits. Total investment was 1300 bucks, but I have to say that in the end, a rep from Stidd sent us the last $175 in hardware at no cost. The photos below show my Admiral at the wheel with the old helm and free-standing chair about two years ago, and with the new helm and chair a couple of weeks ago. Included is a couple of shots showing the starboard base plate and the backing plate beneath. Bolts are 3'8" stainless.

There is always the "Over the road truck seat" route... They are far cheaper than helm chairs and can include hydraulic or pneumatic damping for those days in heavy seas. Fully loaded, less than 1500, and many bases are flat, so all you have to do is build a flat stand to get it to the ride height you want. Search google for "CLASS 8 seat"

stubones99 said:

There is always the "Over the road truck seat" route... They are far cheaper than helm chairs and can include hydraulic or pneumatic damping for those days in heavy seas. Fully loaded, less than 1500, and many bases are flat, so all you have to do is build a flat stand to get it to the ride height you want. Search google for "CLASS 8 seat"

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Along these lines, I have often wondered if an RV drivers ‘captains chair’ would work on a boat. Anybody tried that?