Helmsman 43 - New Build

I started to talking to Scott about his boats awhile ago, including several owners on this Forum (John and Tom) who have the 38.

This boat checked many of the boxes my wife and I were looking for. I keep saying "this is our last boat", and hopefully it will be true this time.

A few details:
Cummins QSB, 380HP.
Seakeeper Gyro; I can write more about why we chose this later.
9KW Gen.
All white hull, with Navy blue boot stripe.

Recent picture from the yard.

Congratulations! We are very interested in Helmsman also, and look forward to future postings with your experiences. I am interested to hear about your selection process for the gyro, please.

Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations! Will be an interesting ride.

Congrats and welcome to the family!!
I flew in last summer before ordering my 31 to look at several models with my friend John. I ended up with the 31....John recently took delivery of a 43.
One thing stands out in my mind. The day we were looking at the different models, there was a recently arrived 38 getting its electronics installed. I regret not remembering the owners name, but he was kind enough to let us snoop about the boat. In chatting with him, he said “Scott will do what he says he will do”. That simple statement meant more to me than the joiner work or granite counter tops.
Almost a year has passed since I ordered mine. I can easily confirm that:
Scott is great to deal with, he truly “cares” and yes...he will do what he says he will do. You can trust him.
Enjoy the process
You’ll love your boat!
Congrats again.

Looks great! We have a 38E build for May 1 in Seattle. More on this. Keep us posted!

There are so many happy Helmsman purchasers here. It's great to see. Scott got my admiration in xxxputtingupwithxxx accommodating John and all his changes throughout the process. Then on top of that still ended up with a solid delivery without problems or excuses. I'm not in the market for one, but based on what I've seen here don't hesitate recommending Helmsman.

Fletcher
What were determining factors on engine HP?

sunchaser said:

Fletcher
What were determining factors on engine HP?

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Sorry, just saw this tonight. I relied mostly on Scott for his input who has placed
Various sized engines in the 38 and 43 and sent me some fuel/speed/mpg curves for these boats. I knew I wanted a Cummins, and was originally thinking the 425 QSB. The boat was in process when I ordered it, and Cummins had a 380 or 480 in Asia ready to go, so I went with the 380. Looking at the data, it looked like a nice match. I will post some more photos soon.

Interior pictures from Scott, from the yard. Port and Starb galley, and forward berth.

Interior Photos

The boat is starting to come together! Congratulations and keep the photos coming.

John

Thanks!

That 43 is going to be a great boat. Sort of wish we could move up! We have had our 38 for nearly 9 years. Scott was not the builder at the time, but now that he is the builder, he has helped us anytime we have needed something. Which isn't often I'm glad to say. This has been a trouble free boat. Keep the pictures coming.

Very nice !

Aft hatch in the cabin for the Seakeeper is shown. The Gyro has not been installed yet.

Preliminary 1 line for the electronics - PDF Attached. I had Raymarine and then Simard on the last two boats. I think all of the manufacturers are putting out very solid and reliable products these days. I inherited the last two systems, but I knew our final retirement boat where I could choose the electronics would be Furono. All of the fishing boats I worked on as a kid in the 70-80's had Furono, and most still do. I also like the Doppler, and ARPA (not Marpa) on the Furono systems. Twisted Tree was apparently one of the first to document this in his blog which I read a couple years ago, and found the same problems with my system. Simrad has reportedly fixed this recently which is good to hear. Lastly, Furono have good technical support for legacy systems from what I understand from others who have called in for assistance.

Looks like a great suite of gear. I concur with your assessment of Furuno - it was always on the nicest yachts and best work boats. I "cold called" Furuno tech support about 10 days ago. Five minutes with a very pleasant man on the phone, and I had exactly what I needed. Excellent support.

Everyone IS making great gear it seems, but your odds with Furuno are among the best I feel. Great choice!

You may not need the exterior GPS antenna - saving another wire run, some holes, and another leak in 5 years. I think the display itself has a receiver now, or perhaps you can pull from the satellite compass.

Revised, Ver 1.2 attached. Ver 1.1 previously posted had a couple errors so I wanted to put the correct drawing up so I don't lead others astray. I verified this is technically correct with Furono support today.

I recommend Morad or Pacific Aerials antennas. Superior performance from each.

The Morad is a bit unconventional looking. Pacific Aerials offers some useful cabling options.

I have not been impressed with the brand beginning with S. I have no commercial affiliation with any of them - but I have used many of them all personally and professionally.

Good Luck

Is the Fusion radio really ethernet connected? I thought they were all NMEA 2000 connected.

Don't forget your VHF(s). They will need to get GPS info from somewhere, and ideally their DSC output should have a path to the plotters to mark distress calls. You can probably use the NEMA 0183 connection from the TZ, but then the TZ needs to be powered on to have GPS position on the VHF, and the VHF will alarm without it. And don't be tempted by the Icom M506's NMEA 2000 interface, especially if you want to have two VHFs. The N2K interface remains pretty broken and could cause odd behavior in your system. It's a great VHF, but stick to the 0183-only version, or better yet, get a Standard Horizon. And how will you provide VHF at both the lower and upper helms? Remote mics? One VHF at each location?

The whole question of what you want powered on when can be an interesting challenge too. I mentioned GPS for the VHF. If you are at anchor, you presumably still want your VHF working without alarms. What about an anchor alarm? That requires a GPS, and something to do the alarming, like one of the TZs. Or maybe that's a reason to include one of the FI-70 now if it supports and anchor alarm? I don't know if it does.

I am placing the order today (Furono rebate ends 12-31) and have not decided on the aerial whips yet. I'll check out the brands you noted.

I have not spent any time on the Fusion, so it could be.

Good comments on the VHF's. I need to review that more as well.

Take a look at the Standard Horizon Matrix, both the 2000 and 2200. I have owned them both on three boats. They have an intuitive function, and have good customer support. They have a quality feel to them in the switchgear and display. With a good antenna, their performance is exceptional. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

Great progress Fletcher. Just curious, can you not get a VHF that comes with built in GPS that also has DSC Functionality. Like many, I have GPS on handhelds, phones tablets etc. With an EPIRB or SPOT, rescue functions can be utilized on a portable basis. Especially when the boat is sinking!

Sun,

I have a portable VHF with GPS/DSC, and I programmed my MMSI number into it. Is that what you are referring to?

It has been a lot of fun reading about all of these new electronic systems available from the different manufacturers.

Fletcher500 said:

Sun, I have a portable VHF with GPS/DSC, and I programmed my MMSI number into it. Is that what you are referring to?

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Yes. It doesn't seem worthwhile to install a radio that then has to be hooked up or networked to an external GPS so the DSC function works.

IRENE said:

Take a look at the Standard Horizon Matrix, both the 2000 and 2200. I have owned them both on three boats. They have an intuitive function, and have good customer support. They have a quality feel to them in the switchgear and display. With a good antenna, their performance is exceptional. No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

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I was a long-term Icom vhf user on this and past boats, but changed to Standard Horizon to give them a try. I installed the 2200 model on both the flybridge and lower helms and like them. Recommended.

A family posted an article covering their use of a Seakeeper Gyro over 7K miles on the loop on Panbo.com today. It’s a good read in case anyone is interested in these. He covers the why, how it was done (retrofit), and overall experience with the GYro.

Fletcher500 said:

A family posted an article covering their use of a Seakeeper Gyro over 7K miles on the loop on Panbo.com today. It’s a good read in case anyone is interested in these. He covers the why, how it was done (retrofit), and overall experience with the GYro.

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"$72,400 price plus the installation cost"

WOW!

Fletcher500 said:

A family posted an article covering their use of a Seakeeper Gyro over 7K miles on the loop on Panbo.com today. It’s a good read in case anyone is interested in these. He covers the why, how it was done (retrofit), and overall experience with the GYro.

Click to expand...

Interesting read, thanks for sharing. BTW, stopping by the yard one last time on Monday. Last time your 43' beauty was just ahead of ours. I'll try to get a pic of her from my flybridge!

I had a seakeeper retrofitted into our 2015 beneteau st 50. Works like a charm! Only thing is under way, we kept getting a vapour lock in the water pump, so had to add a scoop to the intake, other than that have had no problems. Was a great investment, especially since on Lake Superior, we take a lot of beam seas.

Notty, Great to hear your SK is working well. A few questions:

What size unit?

Did you get air in the cooling pump at boat speeds less than 10 knots-or while traveling on plane? Or both low and high speeds?

If you have a pic of the scoop you installed can you post, or PM me?