Helmsman 38E for May 2018 delivery

[flyer50]

Joni and I visited the yard in China the day after Thanksgiving. Impressed with the manufacturing process and the personnel managing the operation. The folks at the yard were very hospitable, I drank at least 30 thimble-sized cups of tea in 3 hours. I have one more chance to head back next month, will try if I can do so without disrupting things at this busy operation.

A few of our selected options, please respond or PM if you have any feedback:

• grey gel-coat hull with accent strip on hull
  
• Cummins 380 hp engine
  
• Sub Webasto hydronic heating system for standard forced air
• substitute radar arch for radar mast
  
• triangular flybridge table
  
• additional pedestal seat on flybridge
  
• cockpit bulwark side access doors
  
• add three Northstar AGM batteries to house, 1000+ A-hr total
  
• Vented Splendid washer/dryer installed in dayhead
  
• 650# low-profile Nick Jackson, elec. davit
  
• going without louvered doors on microwave cabinet
  
• adding a few yard installed towel bars, shelves and other storage changes here and there
  
• moved "night stands" from sides of master bed to above- allows for better berth access and increased storage- will add a removable shelf. This is a new change shown in one of the pics.

NOT adding:

• generator(we'll see)
  
• solar panels
  
• water maker (we'll see)
  
• icemaker(s)

Will likely go with Simrad setup- make final decision at Seattle Boat Show next month.

Aiming for May Day delivery in Seattle.

 

[O C Diver]

Congratulations on the new build! Can't help you on your choices as I don't own one.

Ted

 

[BruceK]

Great boat!
No solar & no genset? How to keep 1000A of batts happy on the hook?

 

[BandB]

I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the boat and your selections are fine. Now, not saying any of yours are wrong but here are the ones I'd think about some more.

My wife is saying "color not faded out black." There are some beautiful colors one could select and combinations and I find grey a questionable selection. Have you seen one in grey? If so, and you liked it, that's great. Grey doesn't bring me a bright upbeat feeling or a relaxing feeling. I just don't find black or shades of black by themselves to really add much to an item.

Love your equipment selections you mentioned. All good adds I think.

Generator and watermaker we'd add but then we don't know your cruising and many have foregone both and been very happy. I would go on and have them set up and leave space and prepare the boat so they could easily be added later. Then if you want them, it's a lot easier to drop in.

Now to Simrad. The last new boat we had built, they were pushing Simrad heavily and the more information I gathered the more I turned away. It's difficult as everyone has their prejudices. Still not that many I know using all Simrad electronics. What other choices do they offer among their normal installs? My choices in this order would be Furuno, Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad. Perhaps if I'd used Simrad more or found more who have I'd feel different. What led you to lean in that direction?

Again, I think you'll be happy with exactly what you have specified, but since you asked, just expressing where we'd go different.

 

[JustBob]

My wife is saying "color not faded out black." There are some beautiful colors one could select and combinations and I find grey a questionable selection. Have you seen one in grey? If so, and you liked it, that's great. Grey doesn't bring me a bright upbeat feeling or a relaxing feeling. I just don't find black or shades of black by themselves to really add much to an item.

Ummm, kinda hard to change gelcoat color at this point. See image of hull.

 

[Ken E.]

Nice looking boat. I'm with Bruce on you likely needing more electrons if you're going to be on the hook very much. I have 1000ah, 2 x 160 amp alternators, 5 kw genset and am presently adding 700 watts of solar panels. Granted, we are anchored out a lot in remote areas, but more resources feel good when you're away from shorepower. Maybe the builder can leave a space for a future genset, realizing there's a weight and trim issue.

 

[tadhana]

Looking good. Love the color. I do not think you will need a watermaker. Where are you going to be cruising? I'm quite certain that you will regret it if you do not have the generator. We have 900 ah battery bank. We run the generator about 2 hours a day on the hook. Charges batteries and gives us hot water for showers. We have lived aboard our 38 for 9 years. We have the washer dryer. That is a good call!! Full time cruisers. Feel free to call me if you would like to talk or ask questions.

 

[flyer50]

Great boat!
No solar & no genset? How to keep 1000A of batts happy on the hook?

Thanks, the boat is all set for a genset, no penalty in waiting. Our first year will be shakedown and local cruising, start heading north in 2-3 years so figure a local install more timely to our plans.

Also rolling the cost into the build will increase WA excise taxes.

 

[Fletcher500]

Congrats on your boat. She looks great.

 

[flyer50]

I'm sure you'll be thrilled with the boat and your selections are fine. Now, not saying any of yours are wrong but here are the ones I'd think about some more.

My wife is saying "color not faded out black." There are some beautiful colors one could select and combinations and I find grey a questionable selection. Have you seen one in grey? If so, and you liked it, that's great. Grey doesn't bring me a bright upbeat feeling or a relaxing feeling. I just don't find black or shades of black by themselves to really add much to an item.

Love your equipment selections you mentioned. All good adds I think.

Generator and watermaker we'd add but then we don't know your cruising and many have foregone both and been very happy. I would go on and have them set up and leave space and prepare the boat so they could easily be added later. Then if you want them, it's a lot easier to drop in.

Now to Simrad. The last new boat we had built, they were pushing Simrad heavily and the more information I gathered the more I turned away. It's difficult as everyone has their prejudices. Still not that many I know using all Simrad electronics. What other choices do they offer among their normal installs? My choices in this order would be Furuno, Garmin, Raymarine, Simrad. Perhaps if I'd used Simrad more or found more who have I'd feel different. What led you to lean in that direction?

Again, I think you'll be happy with exactly what you have specified, but since you asked, just expressing where we'd go different.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

We started out with a lighter blue gelcoat, instead we choose a boat in early production. Two of the sharpest 38Es recently delivered included a gray hull with a charcoal stripe delivered here in WA and a champagne color recently delivered to the Carolinas. Both are just a few googles away. Thanks for the input tho.

Genset and water maker better after market for several reasons. Minimal installation cost vs the yard and rolling the cost into the build will increase WA excise taxes.

Thanks again for your electronics package thoughts. We can install whatever we want, but after downloading the various manuals, I felt Simrad was more approachable for us with our backgrounds at this point. We plan to make a final decision at the boat show next month.

 

[flyer50]

Looking good. Love the color. I do not think you will need a watermaker. Where are you going to be cruising? I'm quite certain that you will regret it if you do not have the generator. We have 900 ah battery bank. We run the generator about 2 hours a day on the hook. Charges batteries and gives us hot water for showers. We have lived aboard our 38 for 9 years. We have the washer dryer. That is a good call!! Full time cruisers. Feel free to call me if you would like to talk or ask questions.

Thanks for the input. Canada next 1-3 years, SE AK in 2-4 years.

Hydroponic gives us hot water for showers.

Still might need additional AC, most likely from genset. Will make one more run at solar but additional cost of bimini beefing up, aesthetic loss of panels over pilothouse and cost just keeps us away at this point.

Will be in touch. Thanks!

 

[BandB]

Ummm, kinda hard to change gelcoat color at this point. See image of hull.

Didn't realize that was the gellcoat as it didn't look grey to me. That being the case, not a bad color.

 

[BandB]

Thanks again for your electronics package thoughts. We can install whatever we want, but after downloading the various manuals, I felt Simrad was more approachable for us with our backgrounds at this point. We plan to make a final decision at the boat show next month.

Gelcoat looks good. I didn't realize that was the grey. I was picturing darker.

All electronics packages look great at boat shows.

 

[dhays]

How much water does she hold? The PO of my NP43 with 400 gallons of water had a water maker installed by the factory but later took it out as they found they never needed it. We had 5 adults on board last year for a week and while we were careful with water, we brought back a lot of water when he hit another supply.

Not familiar with the details, but I would consider a mast instead of an arch. I have an arch and it is fine but if I were you I would like to see what their mast setup looks like.

I would opt for both the genset and solar. Solar would be for topping up the charge and let the genset handle the bulk phase. Easy to do in our area in the summer. In the winter you won't get enough sun for Solar alone.

An ice maker seems like a waste to me. Nothing wrong with good old-fashioned ice trays. Cheap and no maintenance.

Good choice on the hydraunic heating.

Take a really careful look around the boat and add any handrails that may not be included. Consider exterior handhold on the cabin side where the exterior stairs are located. Add another on the back side of the cabin where your side cockpit doors will be. Make sure there are centerline handrails in the salon and consider them in the PH. Also consider one overhead at the stairs from the PH down to the salon.

 

[flyer50]

How much water does she hold? The PO of my NP43 with 400 gallons of water had a water maker installed by the factory but later took it out as they found they never needed it. We had 5 adults on board last year for a week and while we were careful with water, we brought back a lot of water when he hit another supply.

Not familiar with the details, but I would consider a mast instead of an arch. I have an arch and it is fine but if I were you I would like to see what their mast setup looks like.

I would opt for both the genset and solar. Solar would be for topping up the charge and let the genset handle the bulk phase. Easy to do in our area in the summer. In the winter you won't get enough sun for Solar alone.

An ice maker seems like a waste to me. Nothing wrong with good old-fashioned ice trays. Cheap and no maintenance.

Good choice on the hydraunic heating.

Take a really careful look around the boat and add any handrails that may not be included. Consider exterior handhold on the cabin side where the exterior stairs are located. Add another on the back side of the cabin where your side cockpit doors will be. Make sure there are centerline handrails in the salon and consider them in the PH. Also consider one overhead at the stairs from the PH down to the salon.

Thanks for the reply. We have 145 gallon water tank. Discussed adding additional water tank with Scott, decided on water maker in future vs added weight of carrying water. IF we go with water maker it will be when we head to AK in 2-4 years.

Arch increases space on flybridge while mast looks more traditional IMO. Personal choice.

Will consider genset and/or solar after shakeout this summer. 1000 A-hr fairly robust on a new all LED/new electronics boat.

Hydronic gives us hot water on the hook.

Will review your handhold suggestions. Much appreciated. Keep the comments going.

 

[Hamrow]

Love your boat, Helmsman was on our short list before we found our American Tug. I actually love your gray gel coat, gray can be a very classy looking color in a world of so many white boats, and a colored hull works especially good up in the PNW.
I'd say Genset would be good eventually depending on how much anchoring you plan to do but water maker not as important. Is that a combo or a separate washer & dryer? I've heard reviews that the combos don't dry worth a damn; we lucked into enough space for separate units and SO glad we have them.
As for the radar arch: one thing to consider is whether air draft will ever be an important factor in your cruising...? If so, you could maybe set it up with some kind of a hinging mechanism.
Please keep the forum up to date on your build, it's great fun to watch one being put together.

Oh and for electronics of course you can get many opinions but we LOVE our Garmin equipment!

 

[tiltrider1]

I can't say that your choice of Webasto is wrong. Please do some research on Hurricane Hydronic heaters. I have had Espar, Webasto and Hurricane. I have been by far happiest with the Hurricane, very simple and you can easily repair them yourself.

 

[South of Heaven]

Flyer50: Will you be receiving your boat like this too?

 

[flyer50]

Yes, Hopefully! Talked to Scott last week about keeping close to a May 1 delivery. He will try to get that as close as possible.

Will be an exciting day, hope for the blue sky like they had for Rain Shadow!

 

[flyer50]

Love your boat, Helmsman was on our short list before we found our American Tug. I actually love your gray gel coat, gray can be a very classy looking color in a world of so many white boats, and a colored hull works especially good up in the PNW.
I'd say Genset would be good eventually depending on how much anchoring you plan to do but water maker not as important. Is that a combo or a separate washer & dryer? I've heard reviews that the combos don't dry worth a damn; we lucked into enough space for separate units and SO glad we have them.
As for the radar arch: one thing to consider is whether air draft will ever be an important factor in your cruising...? If so, you could maybe set it up with some kind of a hinging mechanism.
Please keep the forum up to date on your build, it's great fun to watch one being put together.

Oh and for electronics of course you can get many opinions but we LOVE our Garmin equipment!

Thanks for the reply and your input.

Your American tug is a beauty. We toured the yard in LaConner and were very impressed. For our needs/size/price, our top three were: 1. Helmsman 2. American 3. Nordic We can see why others make their choices based on their needs. All three have satisfied owners out there.

Washer/dryer combo vented but know about the shortcomings, especially the dryer. Have not heard about radar arch/air draft.

Genset, solar, and water maker will reconsider this time next year.

 

[South of Heaven]

Yes, Hopefully! Talked to Scott last week about keeping close to a May 1 delivery. He will try to get that as close as possible.

Will be an exciting day, hope for the blue sky like they had for Rain Shadow!

Awesome!

 

[flyer50]

My work brought me close enough for another visit to the yard yesterday, this time I was solo. Again warmly greeted, I had lots of measuring to do and of course was armed with several questions. The guys were very helpful as we crawled around the boat. My major disappointment was that the engine was not installed- it had been delayed in route and is expected in the next few days. Still looking at a May Day delivery. One shot is from a 38E nearing delivery, our boat on the right with another 38E ahead. Fletcher500's 43 is on the left- a real beehive of activity! Note his radar mast- we are getting the same.

 

[flyer50]

New storage in stateroom moved from floor on side of bed to above bed. Allows for better access to the bed and to storage. We asked for a removable shelf and glad we did. It more that doubles available shelf space due to slope of hull behind. Salon- note 38E windows. Master shower bench.

 

[flyer50]

Granite is in! Going with propane stove. Drop down storage- we went with an additional one identical to the standard one above counter. Some have opted for a larger one for drop down tv monitor. We need the storage! Kudos to Scott, Gary, Lisa and everyone at Helmsman!

Can't wait for May Day!

 

[Fletcher500]

Your boat is looking great Flyer. Good call on the extra drop down in the galley for storage.

 

[tadhana]

She is starting to come together! A couple of items for you to consider.
1) We have an electrical outlet at the bulkhead fwd of the stove. We have an outlet at the aft end of the counter in the aft corner of the cabin. It would be really, really convenient to have an outlet right between the two windows on the starboard side.
2) The seat in the shower looks great. But...it is unusable as a seat. The headroom over the seat is only about 2.5 feet. We have a crate there in that crate we keep a the lotions and potions for the shower. Could not figure out any other use for that space. This is a design feature carried over from the original Mariner model. Also. the boat will have a shower rod over the door. I think you will find that shower rod along the starboard side of the shower makes it much easier to hang a shower curtain. We added one there.
3) if it is not too late, see if you can add overhead storage on the port side too. We have 4 storage bins and use them all.

After 8.5 years aboard full time. 3400 hours, 20,000 nautical miles, we have found ours to be a very trouble free boat.

 

[flyer50]

She is starting to come together! A couple of items for you to consider.
1) We have an electrical outlet at the bulkhead fwd of the stove. We have an outlet at the aft end of the counter in the aft corner of the cabin. It would be really, really convenient to have an outlet right between the two windows on the starboard side.
2) The seat in the shower looks great. But...it is unusable as a seat. The headroom over the seat is only about 2.5 feet. We have a crate there in that crate we keep a the lotions and potions for the shower. Could not figure out any other use for that space. This is a design feature carried over from the original Mariner model. Also. the boat will have a shower rod over the door. I think you will find that shower rod along the starboard side of the shower makes it much easier to hang a shower curtain. We added one there.
3) if it is not too late, see if you can add overhead storage on the port side too. We have 4 storage bins and use them all.

After 8.5 years aboard full time. 3400 hours, 20,000 nautical miles, we have found ours to be a very trouble free boat.

Thank you again for the valuable feedback!

1. Will check out the Helmsman 38 at the boat show this weekend and will take a look at that outlet location. Several of the outlets on newer boats include now USB.

2. Yes we are tall and see the bench as more of a place to lay things down than to sit. The shower curtain debate continues- we have seen several interpretations.

3. We will take a good hard look at additional overhead storage- we had not thought of adding on the starboard side. Although we have gone from small house to an apartment in the last year, we still see storage as a major challenge.

 

[MountainSailor]

We just returned home to Montana from the Seattle Boat Show. We went over to check out a specific Kadey-Krogen, to take another look at the Nordhavns, and to go through the American Tugs once again. In our meanderings, we stumbled upon the Helmsman display -- they had a Helmsman 31 Sedan on the floor at Century Link Field -- and as we do with all kinds of different boats, we stopped to inspect and to chat with the staff. What we learned there impressed us enough to cause us to make our way the next morning to their sales office on Lake Union where they had a newer 38E Pilothouse in the water. After an hour or so of touring, talking, and taking notes, we beat feet back to Century Link for a more serious exchange with Roger Drill. The upshot of all of this is that while we went to the boat show to see the other boats, we returned home talking about nothing except the Helmsman.

While we were with Roger he mentioned that your boat was building. It was, therefore, a delight to open this thread today and find a discussion about it and to see the pictures you took of her. What a beauty.

Perhaps this is old business by now, but what brought you to Helmsman? Have you owned other trawlers? How do you plan to use her? What have been your experiences in getting this project going? Any of your thoughts as to why you chose the Helmsman, as well as any insights in the process would be most appreciated too.

Again, what a wonderful vessel; I hope we see her on the water before too long.

 

[flyer50]

Sorry for the delay, headed out, so catching you between flights. Thank you for the compliments, feel like a kid on xmas eve! I'm sure by now you've read John's amazing thread- a must read for anyone who is even curious about a Helmsman (also for those who simply love the build process)

We choose the Helmsman 38E after close comparison with American and Nordic Tugs. We had fallen for both boat lineups, visited them up in LaConner and Anacortes. The Helmsman just fit better for us. Yes the Helmsman slogan of "more boat, less money" makes their lineup very competitive on price, however it was the fit and finish, new changes to the 38E, layout(has several "living" areas, fully covered cockpit), roomy flybridge, Interior light/visability among many items. Helmsman being a local Seattle brand also helped.

We plan to use her in Puget Sound, moving her up to Semiahmoo, WA sometime in the future. Planning to join a flotilla to Alaska in 2019 or 20. More BC and AK after that. Live aboard 7-9 months/year for the next few years.

The process has been great so far. Although I have been able to visit the yard twice, Scott has been generous with straightforward advice and frequent pics from the yard. We look forward to her arrival in Seattle, hope to record it first hand.

Please PM with any questions. I talked and emailed 6 other owners with "what would you do different" type of questions.

 

[flyer50]

Correction the "radar mast" i pointed out on the 43 is actually a radar ARCH. We are also getting the ARCH- feel it will offer more space on the flybridge. However, imo mast wins on style points!