Another new start for Helmsman

Nancy and Rick said:

I remember when we did our loop I was amazed at all of the shallow water we encountered in the Eastern part of the country. I loved being able to anchor in as little as 5 or 6 feet on the rivers and I don't think we ever had to anchor in more than 25 feet.

Not like that in most of the Pacific Northwest. The further north the deeper it seems to get. You might have to drop the hook in 70-80 feet and with luck you can add a stern tie to shore...I never feel like I have too much rode. Our last sailboat had two 300' all chain rodes, a 65lb. Danforth with a 55lb. Bruce.

--Rick

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PNW and Alaska we felt short occasionally with 300'. I will mention when more comes in handy east coast and great lakes and that's when others take the prime anchorage but nearby is a quite deep area they don't want.

BandB said:

PNW and Alaska we felt short occasionally with 300'. I will mention when more comes in handy east coast and great lakes and that's when others take the prime anchorage but nearby is a quite deep area they don't want.

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Agreed. As much as most anchorages are fairly shallow on most of the east coast and great lakes, it's good to be able to anchor deeper. Sometimes going for a 50 foot deep spot either gets you away from the crowds or gives you a nice anchorage that everyone else passed up for shallower water.

BandB said:

PNW and Alaska we felt short occasionally with 300'. I will mention when more comes in handy east coast and great lakes and that's when others take the prime anchorage but nearby is a quite deep area they don't want.

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Yes,that would be a good time for additional rode. 300 feet supplies enough for around a 35 foot depth plus water to pulpit with a 7 to 1 scope.

BandB said:

I will mention when more comes in handy east coast and great lakes and that's when others take the prime anchorage but nearby is a quite deep area they don't want.

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I am curious about where you experienced more depth on the east coast? I am aware of spots up in New England, but anywhere south of the Chesapeake?

Helmsman said:

Yes,that would be a good time for additional rode. 300 feet supplies enough for around a 35 foot depth plus water to pulpit with a 7 to 1 scope.

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Do you have a good number on the height from the waterline to the bow roller? I've just been using a guess.

FWT said:

Do you have a good number on the height from the waterline to the bow roller? I've just been using a guess.

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A couple of months ago, I produced some larger pictures of the layout pictures on the Helmsman web site. I then created a scale based upon known widths and heights. For instance, when visiting Helmsman prior to purchase, I measured from the water line to the top of the hand rail on the fly bridge. For that particular boat, with that particular weight it was 10’ exactly. In addition we know the length and the beam of the boat from the specifications page. I used those known measurements to develop the scale for the images of the layouts. That allows me to make measurements that will be close to what I will see when the boat is delivered. There is probably some slight distortion in the drawings on the web site, but it is what we have to use.

For instance, when I measure the drawing from the top of the bottom paint to the fly bridge hand rail, I get just over 10’2” which is very close to the actual measurement of 10’. I just measured the distance from the water to the bow at the bow roller and that measurement came out to be 5’ 6”. I think you can take that and use it, and it will be close enough.

FWT said:

I am curious about where you experienced more depth on the east coast? I am aware of spots up in New England, but anywhere south of the Chesapeake?

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Several places off the coast. Last time I recall was during pandemic, cruised to Canaveral and anchored offshore about half a mile from where several cruise ships anchored. A couple of anchorages off Marathon Reef that are over 300' deep. We couldn't and didn't anchor there. In South Florida, you get outside any inlets and you're in extreme depths. No places we'd normally anchor or have to.

Thanks

It is a big difference east vs west coast of NA. West coast I consider 50’ a welcome shallow anchorage. 100’, give or take, is very common. Last boat had 400’ of chain, and this time around I got 600’. It’s rare that I put out less than 300’.

twistedtree said:

It is a big difference east vs west coast of NA. West coast I consider 50’ a welcome shallow anchorage. 100’, give or take, is very common. Last boat had 400’ of chain, and this time around I got 600’. It’s rare that I put out less than 300’.

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The big difference is that most of the East Coast boaters here are boating in the ICW or, even if cruising outside, still anchoring inside. The ICW is a dug ditch and only as deep as dug. In Alaska, we were very limited by only 300' of chain. Normally we dock rather than anchor but I recall the evening we left Glacier Bay. There were a couple of prime anchorages in relatively shallow waters and they were packed. Meanwhile there are an area of 50-100' depth that we had all to ourselves. Great anchorage, just too deep for the majority of boats there.

Coming down the coast, you don't go to a marina, you're often anchoring outside the inlet and only occasionally in "coves". You deal often with 50-100' depths and larger boats with more chain anchor considerably deeper. The coasts are very similar as long as you're outside and actually on the coasts and in the ocean itself, 1000 vs. 2000 or 2000 vs 5000' not really making a lot of difference.

I think of it this way. The highway is deep but the East Coast has an access road you can take the entire trip with rest stops sight seeing all along the way. The West Coast has no access road, only occasional exits along the way.

Another huge difference is the prevalence of large swells in the Pacific and often lesser wind waves while in the Atlantic the swells are generally much smaller but the wind waves worse.

As East Coast boaters, the west coast was foreign territory. Still, we very much enjoyed it. We were amazed at the comparatively lower levels of cruising from Cape Flattery to San Diego. We are use to the comments on Dock Queens on the east coast, but we spent three weeks at Marina Del Rey and were shocked at how little boat movement we saw although lots of dock activity.

I guess we felt a greater appreciation for the ICW's, Atlantic and Gulf, even if we prefer to cruise outside. They definitely lead to an increased level of boating activity, much as Puget Sound does in the PNW.

Glad we had this discussion on rode. The boat comes with a 10’ line at the end of the chain which could be used to cut the rode loose if there is an issue. I added 100’ of rode. One consideration is that the windlass is recommended for 9/16” 3 strand rode. So that is what we will put on. In a big blow, I will attach a 3/4” snubber to the chain to bolster that.

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.

Helmsman said:

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

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

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We received new photos today too. Our interior progress looks similar. It’s really getting easy to imagine being aboard and we’re already figuring out where things will be stowed. We can see your boat out our starboard galley windows, partially blocked by the TV drop down. It looks like another blue hull is in the mold aft of us. That might be Larry and Nancy’s boat, Hull 52.

They have made remarkable progress in the last month but our engine still isn’t on site. Every time we get photos, there are multiple people working on the boat. That shows that work is proceeding apace and there is a lot of hands on craftsmanship going into these boats.

Scott wasn’t optimistic about our boat being delivered before August. Sadly, we’ll miss a Canadian cruise with our yacht club in July. Fall cruising in our waters can be delightful with fewer boats competing for moorage and anchorage. Fortunately, it’s a boat that can be comfortable in all seasons and we intend to use it year round.

We can’t wait to hear that your boat is on its way across the Pacific.

Doug_Snider said:

We received new photos today too. Our interior progress looks similar. It’s really getting easy to imagine being aboard and we’re already figuring out where things will be stowed. We can see your boat out our starboard galley windows, partially blocked by the TV drop down. It looks like another blue hull is in the mold aft of us. That might be Larry and Nancy’s boat, Hull 52.

They have made remarkable progress in the last month but our engine still isn’t on site. Every time we get photos, there are multiple people working on the boat. That shows that work is proceeding apace and there is a lot of hands on craftsmanship going into these boats.

Scott wasn’t optimistic about our boat being delivered before August. Sadly, we’ll miss a Canadian cruise with our yacht club in July. Fall cruising in our waters can be delightful with fewer boats competing for moorage and anchorage. Fortunately, it’s a boat that can be comfortable in all seasons and we intend to use it year round.

We can’t wait to hear that your boat is on its way across the Pacific.

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Neither can we .

I remember you mentioning that cruise earlier. Sorry you guys won't make it this year. I bet the fall time is beautiful up that way. Once you are underway and in the boat, all of the previous concerns will melt away.

This year's issue is the supply chain for just about anything you want to get. There was a forum post recently about people waiting months for a 16" Furuno CP.

I appreciate the hard work going into making these boats a reality for us.

Jealous!

In the best way.

Congrats to you both.

Very exciting guys!

We only got 2 pictures today that don't show much progress since the April 25th pictures. Maybe as ours gets further along we will get more at a time.

I'm trying to get as much of the construction as posible documented so that I have a reference for future repairs or installations. And to just satisfy my curiosity

--Rick

Nancy and Rick said:

Very exciting guys!

We only got 2 pictures today that don't show much progress since the April 25th pictures. Maybe as ours gets further along we will get more at a time.

I'm trying to get as much of the construction as posible documented so that I have a reference for future repairs or installations. And to just satisfy my curiosity

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I just went back through our weekly construction reports. The progress over the the past two months has been very dramatic. Early on it seemed like little was happening and then it really took off. You will be amazed.

I'm saving all the reports into a single PDF document that will be part of our onboard documentation. I extract the photos from the files and we spend hours watching them on the big screen. Every time we look at them we see something we hadn't noticed before.

Doug_Snider said:

...I extract the photos from the files and we spend hours watching them on the big screen...

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Are you able to enlarge them? Some of ours are pretty small and when I blow up the Word document that they are in they lose resolution and become grainy. With all of those great phones built in China their camera seems to be pretty low tech

Nancy and Rick said:

Are you able to enlarge them? Some of ours are pretty small and when I blow up the Word document that they are in they lose resolution and become grainy. With all of those great phones built in China their camera seems to be pretty low tech

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They are pretty low resolution photos. That may have something to do with having been inserted into a Word document. From Google Files, I download them as PDF files. I use Adobe Acrobat to save each photo as a JPG file. The resolution seems to vary from report to report. Higher resolution photos would be great if we could get them. My guess is that they start as much higher resolution photos. Even the best photos wind up being around a third of a megapixel.

Doug_Snider said:

We received new photos today too. Our interior progress looks similar. It’s really getting easy to imagine being aboard and we’re already figuring out where things will be stowed. We can see your boat out our starboard galley windows, partially blocked by the TV drop down. It looks like another blue hull is in the mold aft of us. That might be Larry and Nancy’s boat, Hull 52.

They have made remarkable progress in the last month but our engine still isn’t on site. Every time we get photos, there are multiple people working on the boat. That shows that work is proceeding apace and there is a lot of hands on craftsmanship going into these boats.

Scott wasn’t optimistic about our boat being delivered before August. Sadly, we’ll miss a Canadian cruise with our yacht club in July. Fall cruising in our waters can be delightful with fewer boats competing for moorage and anchorage. Fortunately, it’s a boat that can be comfortable in all seasons and we intend to use it year round.

We can’t wait to hear that your boat is on its way across the Pacific.

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We also received new photos today. It appears that they are still doing some work inside the hull and we did see evidence of some woodworking in its infancy.

Unfortunately our boat is now not slated to be completed until October. It then has to be shipped. With all of the shipping problems these days, we are guessing that we probably won't see it until early 2023. It a little disappointing to not get to cruise this summer but we know it will be worth the wait. Please keep us updated on the progress of your boats. It's fun to follow along vicariously, knowing that ours will be here one day soon.

We are going through all of our boat stuff that we have in storage. Washing, organizing, cataloguing! I know this sounds funny but there is a certain amount of pleasure in doing this task, knowing that we will be on the water again soon.

I'm certain Scott and company are equally frustrated with all the supply chain and covid related issues relative to boat building these days. Knowing how hard it is for them and the standards they are maintaining in these rough times, makes it easier to be patient and believe me, its not a virtue I was born with.

Hang in there and keep those photos and progress reports coming.

FWT said:

The addition of gas struts as a lift aid is one of the common customizations. I’m getting it.

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I would appreciate details on how this was set up. Drawing would help. I was going to buy a sheet of 3/8 plywood to slide under the mattress as a starting point. How did you fit in the gas struts?
Thanks Barrie
(launched yesterday and sitting in a very quiet marina)

Barrie, I can't help you. Yet. My boat is on order and it will be next year before I have it.

If you can wait a year, come on down to the Chesapeake and I'll show you!

Barrie said:

I would appreciate details on how this was set up. Drawing would help. I was going to buy a sheet of 3/8 plywood to slide under the mattress as a starting point. How did you fit in the gas struts?
Thanks Barrie
(launched yesterday and sitting in a very quiet marina)

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Barrie I believe there is a hinge in the plywood under the bed. The gas struts push the hinged portion up. Best time of the year for boating right now. Glad you are launched!

Nancy n Larry said:

...I'm certain Scott and company are equally frustrated with all the supply chain and covid related issues relative to boat building these days. Knowing how hard it is for them and the standards they are maintaining in these rough times, makes it easier to be patient...

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I agree, as hard as it is to be patient, the high quality of these boats makes it easier (not easy but easier) to be patient.

--Rick

Barrie,

What color green is your hull? I like it.

Someone had a helmsman 43 in Sidney BC loaned to the boat show

When is the show?

Helmsman said:

When is the show?

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just opened.

Barrie said:

I would appreciate details on how this was set up. Drawing would help. I was going to buy a sheet of 3/8 plywood to slide under the mattress as a starting point. How did you fit in the gas struts?
Thanks Barrie
(launched yesterday and sitting in a very quiet marina)

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I'll second @Helmsman's request, what color is that shade of green? It looks great!

Thanks!

Not sure of the colour code but i refer to it as hunter green.
I was asked for photos of our upper deck. Here they are. We took the rear Bimini cover off to wash it, so your looking at the frame.
Barrie