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Old 05-11-2022, 05:12 PM   #702
Helmsman
Guru
 
City: Chattanooga
Vessel Name: Mishy Jean
Vessel Model: Helmsman Trawler 38E
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 1,079
New photos of the build arrived today. The woodwork and preliminary finishes are starting to become apparent in the progress pictures we are receiving. In the galley photo you can see the drop down cabinets, that will be handy for stowing a few things. The TV drop down cabinet is also apparent. As the owners of Water Maker stated in a previous post, the quality of the wood work is outstanding on these boats. It is nice to see the progress thus far.

If one looks closely you can see the wire run openings in the fiberglass ceiling area. There is a lot of forethought put into making these boats accessible for service, installation or inspection. That will come in handy in the future as the marine electronics industry advances to the NMEA2000 OneNet standard, and digital switching becomes more prevalent.

The settee photo provides a glimpse of the Snider's boat with the classy lighter blue gelcoat on the hull, I believe!

The forward cabin shelves have been added. (The bright light comes from the work lights above the forward hatch I think.) There will be much more room for storage in the forward cabin than the Carver I owned. Much more emphasis on curved lines and other styling type features on that boat which missed many opportunities for common sense storage. In contrast, the style of the Helmsman comes from the quality of the woodwork and the well thought out layout of the cabin.

I can see progress throughout the interior with the photos posted here, but there is also progress on the outside. The bow thruster cavity shows recent fiberglass work. The forward bulwark doors are not cut in yet, though the aft port and starboard doors are completed.

It is nice to be able to visualize the boat slowly rounding into a more completed stage from these pictures. With such a tough year for the marine supply chain, I am sure that the Helmsman crew has had to continually come up with new sourcing, and new ways of doing things. But they do, and so far it is pretty seamless to their customers.

One small personal example of a shortage is my recent search for marine tinned wire. The smaller gauges are available. I had to really search for red Ancor tinned 8 AWG and 6 AWG this past week. A lot of vendors are telling me they are out of all but less than 100' rolls of red heavier gauge wire, with no clue when they will get more. The 100' size is the best selling size, I guess. It can still be found with a little diligence, but most of the vendors show 2 or 3 rolls left. Hopefully the vendors catch up with the demand soon and things moderate a little.
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