Helmsman Trawlers in the Wild

[Hydraulicjump]

Hey all. We wrapped up the Helmsman Rendezvous in Port Townsend this morning and scattered to the winds. Or for those of us who had to leave early this morning to get back to Seattle, a brutal ebb tide. I amend my admonition that the most dangerous thing on a boat is a schedule. It may also be the most expensive. At least when it comes to fuel.

The Helmsman Trawler folks--particularly Scott, Lisa and Van--did a wonderful job. And no surprise, Helmsman owners are a friendly and lively bunch with diverse interests and many talents.

One of the owners (EmBark) put together a list of participants--including their planned cruising destinations for this summer. That got me to thinking. We need a photo log of Helmsmans in the Wild to document where these great boats go. So I am starting this string to encourage all Helmsman and Camano (now Helmsman 31) owners--especially our east coast and Midwest brethren-- to post a picture this summer of your boat in a photogenic and cool destination. It is perfectly fine to trot out a historic photo, but the goal should be to post one from this summer.

Just a photo, not a travelogue or, worse yet, a slide show, please. We can start another string for that.

I will seed this with a photo of a bunch of Helmsmans lined up at the dock for the Rendezvous. It was a glorious sight. I will post again when we get to our northernmost destination in August. Or before if I get a cool shot of the boat.

Jeff (and Barbara) on Off Leash

 

[chanprr]

What a line up! How I wish my 46 could have been part of the rendezvous! Next year!!

 

[Helmsman]

Heading out to complete a 280 mile trip up the Tennessee. That is my brother in law (probably looking for loose change!) No idea why the picture is sideways!

 

[Doug_Snider]

Jeff,

It was an amazing weekend that many of us stretched into Monday using weather as an excuse. We still got a pretty good bashing crossing the strait going north. The rendezvous was amazing and getting to know the Helmsman owners and their boats was fulfilling. It is true that buying a Helmsman gets you more than a very fine boat. It’s comes with membership in a community of people whose search for excellence brought them all to the same brand.

So far, all the photos of our boat have fenders dangling. Hopefully we will soon have some live action photos in the wild to share.

Thanks for all you added to the rendezvous.

 

[Miz Trom]

Helmsman - here, I fixed your sideways photo for you. (Beautiful boat!)

 

[Helmsman]

Helmsman - here, I fixed your sideways photo for you. (Beautiful boat!)


View attachment 139072

Well, thank you very much! On both counts.

 

[Doug_Snider]

So I am starting this string to encourage all Helmsman and Camano (now Helmsman 31) owners--especially our east coast and Midwest brethren-- to post a picture this summer of your boat in a photogenic and cool destination. It is perfectly fine to trot out a historic photo, but the goal should be to post one from this summer.

Just a photo, not a travelogue or, worse yet, a slide show, please. We can start another string for that.

On our trip home from the rendezvous, we were spotted by a friend clamming on Whidbey Island. He sent us a shot of our boat passing Hope Island.

 

[Helmsman]

On our trip home from the rendezvous, we were spotted by a friend clamming on Whidbey Island. He sent us a shot of our boat passing Hope Island.

The hull color sets it off to me. Cool picture!

 

[chanprr]

Absolutely beautiful!

 

[HeadedToTexas]

An acquaintance of our broker snapped this picture of us off Marblehead in Lake Erie last year and sent it to him and he sent it to us.

 

[Fletcher500]

Hanging with the sailboats. My travel buddy is off my port bow in a Tartan.

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Great pic! We are headed north in a couple of weeks and will post a pic of Off Leash in the Wild.

 

[Helmsman]

An acquaintance of our broker snapped this picture of us off Marblehead in Lake Erie last year and sent it to him and he sent it to us.

Nice! HTT, Have you been up to Canada yet?

 

[Marco Flamingo]

I try not to follow the posts on newer, more expensive boats. Tends to get me in trouble. But the pictures of these makes me think of the Anti-Roll Tank concept again. The "tuning" of the box-like tank generally requires baffles because water transfers too fast from side to side. Another tuning trick is to make the tank longer, sometimes wider than the pilot house (also increases moment arm, but looks ugly). The Helmsman upper fairing looks to be a nice cresent shape that could fit a cresent-shaped ART. An ART inside of that would have effective end-to-end length equal to (maybe greater than) the vessel's beam. It would effectively have greater capacity at the beam ends, unlike most box tanks.

Feel free to modify your Helmsman and post the results. Actually, it would be nice if a successful ART design was incorporated into production Helmsman. One could still decide to spend $40K for a gyro stabilizer instead of adding 50 gallons of water to the tank.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Fascinating. Fit a largish pipe or two tanks connected by a largish pipe inside the bridge console to function as a flume tank? Do you have any math on how much water would be required to quell roll on a 13 ton semi-displacement trawler like the Mariner 37 / Helmsman 38?

 

[Marco Flamingo]

Fit a largish pipe or two tanks connected by a largish pipe inside the bridge console to function as a flume tank?

No, the tank would just be smooth cresent shape (like the flying bridge cowl) to not impede the wave generated inside, merely make the transfer take longer and have greater effective volume at the beam ends.

Do you have any math on how much water would be required to quell roll on a 13 ton semi-displacement trawler like the Mariner 37 / Helmsman 38?

Depends on how much "quell" is desired. Swan Song, a Monk Roughwater 58, had 1,500# of water in an ART over the pilot house. The owner said it was freakishly stabile. I could tell a noticeable difference in my 30' boat with less than 200# in a tank on the flying bridge.

What caught my eye was the shape and placement of the Helmsman FB cowling. Here is a picture of the ART on Swan Song. Not pretty. A cresent tank under the Helmsman cowling might not allow playing billiards while underway like a $50K gyro, but it might cut the roll by 35% (at anchor and underway) and be invisible (not to mention inexpensive to build, operate and maintain).

If I had a Helmsman, I'd try it. What, no takers?

 

[Doug_Snider]

It didn’t take long for this thread to get way off topic. Hydraulicjump had a great idea but someone hijacked the thread. I hate it when that happens. Can we get it back on topic?

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Back on topic: Photo of Off Leash in the Wild

Hey all, getting back to our "baby pictures". Here is Off Leash looking rather lovely at Penrose Point State Park in Washington. Of course, I was so focused on getting a good picture of the boat I neglected to incorporate any background. But isn't that the nature of baby pics?

BTW, this is a reminder to you new to PNW cruising not to neglect Puget Sound Proper (that area south of Admiralty Inlet but still part of the Salish Sea). Most folks are focused on the San Juan Islands, Gulf Islands, etc. There are hidden gems in the deep south Sound that are worth exploring, including all the way down to Olympia. Other than glimpses of Rainier and the Olympics, the scenery is not as great, but for just pure cruising and mixing nights on the hook with nights in marinas, it is great.


Will send some real in-the-wild pics later this summer from the Broughton Archipelago.

 

[Two Truths]

This was taken a few weeks back in Forward Harbour, on our way north. Heading back to our boat after dinner on our friends' GB.

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

squirrel cove BC

Heading north in the inside passage. Caught up with M&M forever in Squirrel Cove BC. Off exploring. Tom, Jill and Lilly.
(ps I cant get the picture to rotate, so rotate your screen )

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

Hanging with the sailboats. My travel buddy is off my port bow in a Tartan.

Fletcher, looks great, where are you?

 

[chanprr]

If our 46 were here, we'd be up North now! All I can manage is a stock photo, but she will have a very similar look with a Kingston gray hull.

 

[Fletcher500]

Fletcher, looks great, where are you?

Hi Tom/Jill, that photo is Santa Cruz Island. Looking forward to seeing more of your inside passage pics.

 

[Doug_Snider]

Here’s a photo at. Cypress Island yesterday on our first outing after getting our engine issues resolved. “Alba Bella” seems very happy now. While we were dinghying around, we spotted 38E “Amy Ann” heading east.

 

[NSM]

Beautiful boat, and a great weekend to be in the wild with it...

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

Mothership too big

Sorry Offleash,
You cant get a Helmsman Mothership picture in the wild when she cant get there. But she can send in the bullfrog scout.
Found our little secret pocket in Penrose Island Marine Park, BC

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

M&M

A Helmsman sighting. M&M anchored in Squirrel Cove

 

[FWT]

Resilient, arriving at her home Marina last Friday.

 

[Helmsman]

Resilient, arriving at her home Marina last Friday.

The boat looks great! Was fun watching her arrive, and getting to meet you. Will be back up that way soon!

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

FWT - Congratulations!!! Your new boat is beautiful. Can't wait to hear about your adventures. Especially since they will be so much different than ours.
Jill