Another new start for Helmsman

Sorry if this is repeating what's already been said, but a lot of marine HVAC systems have a dehumidify mode where they cycle on periodically and operate like a dehumidifier. You might consider that instead of separate dehumidifiers that you need to set up and take down, find a place to store them, etc. Times we have left our boat in hot/humid conditions we have just left the HVAC on set to 80F or so. That works too.

twistedtree said:

Sorry if this is repeating what's already been said, but a lot of marine HVAC systems have a dehumidify mode where they cycle on periodically and operate like a dehumidifier. You might consider that instead of separate dehumidifiers that you need to set up and take down, find a place to store them, etc. Times we have left our boat in hot/humid conditions we have just left the HVAC on set to 80F or so. That works too.

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And to repeat a thought someone on the site made some months ago, since that mode doesn’t use water, the seacock can remain closed.

In the hot / humid part of the year I also do like Twistedtree and leave the A/C on, but turned up a bit instead of running a dehumidifier when the boat is sitting for a week or so. I figure keeping the temperature down a bit is good for equipment on board like the fridge, so letting the A/C run and keep it to 80* and dry is much better than 100+ degrees inside (with or without humidity issues).

FWT said:

And to repeat a thought someone on the site made some months ago, since that mode doesn’t use water, the seacock can remain closed.

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Huh, what HVAC system is that? Mine have all run the condenser, albeit for a shorter time compared to normal cooling? Dehumidification happens because the evaporator gets chilled and condenses water out of the air. It's the same way a dehumidifier works.

Ok. As we move along towards receiving our boat, one new question has come to mind. I need some ideas around putting the name and hailing port on the back. Who are you using? If you put your own on, what methods did you use to ensure it looks great?



What letter style are you using? What letter height did you go with for both the name and hailing port? images are welcome. Thanks in advance for the help with the decisions. I am sure there are a million solutions and opinions. Would like to hear as many as possible!

Helmsman said:

Ok. As we move along towards receiving our boat, one new question has come to mind. I need some ideas around putting the name and hailing port on the back. Who are you using? If you put your own on, what methods did you use to ensure it looks great?



What letter style are you using? What letter height did you go with for both the name and hailing port? images are welcome. Thanks in advance for the help with the decisions. I am sure there are a million solutions and opinions. Would like to hear as many as possible!

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Not a Helmsman, but here's the name and hailing port on my boat. I bought the vinyls and put them on myself. Name has been on there for a long time, not sure where it came from, but the hailing port vinyl came from BoatUS. Letters are 10 inches tall for the name, 4 inches for the hailing port.

DIY lettering install isn't hard if you're just doing plain lettering and not graphics or anything. Just have to do lots of careful measuring, tape out the borders, measure again, etc. to make sure you get them in the right spot. As far as prep and application, I cleaned the area with solvent before install to ensure there was no wax, etc. Then followed the included directions. And once I was done, I waxed right over the letters to ensure good wax coverage around them.

We used Margaux Marine Graphics in Gig Harbor, WA. She did the design and will install the graphics when our boat has finished its wayward voyage. She has done a lot of Helmsman Trawlers.

Home - Margaux Marine Graphics

rslifkin said:

Not a Helmsman, but here's the name and hailing port on my boat. I bought the vinyls and put them on myself. Name has been on there for a long time, not sure where it came from, but the hailing port vinyl came from BoatUS. Letters are 10 inches tall for the name, 4 inches for the hailing port.

DIY lettering install isn't hard if you're just doing plain lettering and not graphics or anything. Just have to do lots of careful measuring, tape out the borders, measure again, etc. to make sure you get them in the right spot. As far as prep and application, I cleaned the area with solvent before install to ensure there was no wax, etc. Then followed the included directions. And once I was done, I waxed right over the letters to ensure good wax coverage around them.

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Thanks RS. The size of the letters makes sense, and I like that you installed it yourself. Looks good! I think the name on my last boat was installed via some kind of backing that allowed for the entire name to be installed at once. I think that would be easier, but not sure if I remember correctly.

Doug_Snider said:

We used Margaux Marine Graphics in Gig Harbor, WA. She did the design and will install the graphics when our boat has finished its wayward voyage. She has done a lot of Helmsman Trawlers.

Home - Margaux Marine Graphics

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I like yours, Doug. That lady does a nice job with boat names. Lisa liked it, too. I will probably show that to whoever I get to put it together for us.

We had relief lettering on our last boat. The letters were black with a gold shadow relief on them. With the Kingston gray hull, I don’t think that would be possible or really look very good. I like the white relief. It works well with the blue hull.

Here is ours, also from Margeaux. She does great work at a reasonable price.

Note the port of call was--and no longer is--Volcano, CA. On our last boat that was our port of call. Of course, there is no port in Volcano, CA (population 100), but the Coast Guard does not require that there be an actual port there when you document the boat. It was quite the conversation starter, usually beginning with "Where the heck is..."

Scott, the grown up in the room, convinced us that we would avoid undue scrutiny from the California tax authorities if we listed Seattle as our port of call.


I recommend paying someone to do this. So many opportunities to screw it up.

BoatUS has graphics and lettering on their web site. They come mounted on a backing that keeps the letters aligned while they are being applied to the boat. They’re not fancy but very easy to apply

https://www.boatus.com/products-and...=boat-us&utm_content=microsite-cta-learn-more

Hi Helmsman: you must be getting excited. My 2 cents on names is, just pick an easy to read font that can be read from 100 feet. If you go with fancy vladimir or french type script letters you will be known by people as "what is the name of that boat anyway"?

Hydraulicjump said:

Here is ours, also from Margeaux. She does great work at a reasonable price.

Note the port of call was--and no longer is--Volcano, CA. On our last boat that was our port of call. Of course, there is no port in Volcano, CA (population 100), but the Coast Guard does not require that there be an actual port there when you document the boat. It was quite the conversation starter, usually beginning with "Where the heck is..."

Scott, the grown up in the room, convinced us that we would avoid undue scrutiny from the California tax authorities if we listed Seattle as our port of call.
I recommend paying someone to do this. So many opportunities to screw it up.

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Thanks. That makes sense to have a pro do it.

Barrie said:

Hi Helmsman: you must be getting excited. My 2 cents on names is, just pick an easy to read font that can be read from 100 feet. If you go with fancy vladimir or french type script letters you will be known by people as "what is the name of that boat anyway"?

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I agree. We will use script with separated letters, large enough to see a ways off.

Helmsman said:

Thanks RS. The size of the letters makes sense, and I like that you installed it yourself. Looks good! I think the name on my last boat was installed via some kind of backing that allowed for the entire name to be installed at once. I think that would be easier, but not sure if I remember correctly.

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Mine came on a backing like that as well. So alignment is for the overall set of letters, not each individual letter. Basically making sure height is correct, they're centered where you want side to side and that it's all level.

rslifkin said:

Mine came on a backing like that as well. So alignment is for the overall set of letters, not each individual letter. Basically making sure height is correct, they're centered where you want side to side and that it's all level.

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Do you remember where you ordered them from?

Helmsman said:

Do you remember where you ordered them from?

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The hailing port I put on a few years ago was the vinyl offered by BoatUS. Fairly cheap and I've been happy with it.

Recommend Margaux Graphics on Gig Harbor WA also. She did the lettering on my last 2 boats.

chanprr said:

Recommend Margaux Graphics on Gig Harbor WA also. She did the lettering on my last 2 boats.

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Looks nice. This is what I had in mind. Would probably go with black lettering.

Margaux Graphics did our boat as well, and we are quite pleased.

This is what we are doing! Margaux Searock at Margaux Marine Graphics did our last boat and will do a different version of the same name on our Helmsman! 2023 is going to be such an exciting time for so many new Helmsman owners!

Nancy n Larry said:

This is what we are doing! Margaux Searock at Margaux Marine Graphics did our last boat and will do a different version of the same name on our Helmsman! 2023 is going to be such an exciting time for so many new Helmsman owners!

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That works really well with the gray. Another upvote from Lisa.

Just do the rest of us a favor and pick a font and size that is easily readable from a distance. Many of the more stylize fonts and designs become illegible at any distance. This really matters in a waterway when you are coming up on a boat ahead of you and want to call them to arrange overtaking. I can’t begin to tell you how many boats had names that I could not make out given all the cute graphics and funky fonts. Always clever, but seldom readable at any practical distance.

Oh, and if you carry your dinghy on the swim platform blocking the name, put the name on the side or bottom of the dinghy too.

twistedtree said:

Just do the rest of us a favor and pick a font and size that is easily readable from a distance. Many of the more stylize fonts and designs become illegible at any distance. This really matters in a waterway when you are coming up on a boat ahead of you and want to call them to arrange overtaking. I can’t begin to tell you how many boats had names that I could not make out given all the cute graphics and funky fonts. Always clever, but seldom readable at any practical distance.

Oh, and if you carry your dinghy on the swim platform blocking the name, put the name on the side or bottom of the dinghy too.

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Seconded.

FWT said:

And to repeat a thought someone on the site made some months ago, since that mode doesn’t use water, the seacock can remain closed.

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twistedtree said:

Huh, what HVAC system is that? Mine have all run the condenser, albeit for a shorter time compared to normal cooling? Dehumidification happens because the evaporator gets chilled and condenses water out of the air. It's the same way a dehumidifier works.

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Our Webasto FCF 12000 units have a dehumidifier mode, but the manuals do not reference operating without seawater, with the sea cocks closed, or with the pumps disabled. Cool idea, but the 6 minute operating cycle of the FCF in dehumidifier mode is too long to operate without the condenser. What am I missing?

HeadedToTexas said:

Our Webasto FCF 12000 units have a dehumidifier mode, but the manuals do not reference operating without seawater, with the sea cocks closed, or with the pumps disabled. Cool idea, but the 6 minute operating cycle of the FCF in dehumidifier mode is too long to operate without the condenser. What am I missing?

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Yeah, I repeated what I saw said by someone else but didn't verify

When TT made the same point I hunted down manuals to the unit (that I don't yet have) and indeed it appears a water supply is needed. My bad for accepting a point made on this site as gospel without verification.

twistedtree said:

Just do the rest of us a favor and pick a font and size that is easily readable from a distance. Many of the more stylize fonts and designs become illegible at any distance. This really matters in a waterway when you are coming up on a boat ahead of you and want to call them to arrange overtaking. I can’t begin to tell you how many boats had names that I could not make out given all the cute graphics and funky fonts. Always clever, but seldom readable at any practical distance.

Oh, and if you carry your dinghy on the swim platform blocking the name, put the name on the side or bottom of the dinghy too.

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Yes, I have experienced the same thing. It can certainly create an issue.

FWT said:

Yeah, I repeated what I saw said by someone else but didn't verify

When TT made the same point I hunted down manuals to the unit (that I don't yet have) and indeed it appears a water supply is needed. My bad for accepting a point made on this site as gospel without verification.

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Roger that. No worries. Seems like it should work as long as the cycle time was shorter than the compressor reached its high pressure cutoff point. The controller would have to manage that though. Interesting idea.

Ok. Another question. For those who winterize their Helmsman, what do you use(if anything) to block the flow of air through the engine vents? To be clear, the same thing could go to limit the cold air flowing through the bilge when the boat is sitting in port during the winter and it gets below freezing.

If everything is winterized, I wouldn't worry about blocking the vents. I'd only care about the engine room getting cold if there were un-winterized systems down there.