Thread: Helmsman Hacks
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Old 11-17-2022, 10:54 AM   #6
Doug_Snider
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City: La Conner
Vessel Name: Alba Bella
Vessel Model: Helmsman 38E (Home at last )
Join Date: Jul 2021
Posts: 259
Great ideas. I’m also 5’8” and Patti is even shorter.

Since our 38E hasn’t yet arrived, our hacks are theoretical and unproven. We have spent a lot of time imagining how things will work. When our boat finally completes its wayward journey to Seattle, we will see if they work.

Creating separate sleeping compartments of the salon and pilot house was one we gave a lot of thought to. Putting eye hooks in the beautiful teak and running a taut cable fore and aft in the salon to carry a large privacy curtain was not appealing. Our solution was to separate the salon from the pilot house with a blackout curtain held up with an easily removable spring loaded curtain rods. The whole assembly can be stowed when not needed. It also preserves night vision for the pilothouse occupants if light is needed in the salon.



Having a shower curtain in the master shower to protect the door to the stateroom is apparently a much debated Helmsman topic. Our solution is an untypically inexpensive one requiring no holes in the bulkheads. The angled walls were problematic and the brackets we found for that condition were expensive, bulky and made for an unnecessarily heavy 1” rod. We will give this a try.

https://www.amazon.com/Vongfome-Adhe.../dp/B09K514KBQ

Problems not yet solved
1. Stern tie reel (type, location and hand). Looking at hanging it on the starboard staple. Looking at https://www.fisheriessupply.com/shor...pact-stern-tie
2. Bow rail burgee mast (the best we could find for the 1 1/4” rail is over $200.)
3. Stemware rack that will hold wineglasses in rough seas. Looking at under shelf type below projection over door to day head. We might have to modify one of these. https://www.containerstore.com/s/kit...uctId=10000703

Now that we have another two and a half months to get ready, we’ll keep dreaming up ways to make things work for us. Suggestions welcome.
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