Helmsman 38E Build Hull 61

[amxr39]

My new Helmsman 38E Trawler is about 30 days from completion. I was able to custom order two side hull windows for the forward cabin. I think they look great. We will be joining the other Helmsman Trawlers on the East Coast with our home port being Noank, CT which is between Mystic and Groton.

 

[NSM]

I really like those windows.

 

[chanprr]

Noank, CT. A beautiful place. Lucky you.

 

[FWT]

Nice windows

It appears to me things will now come together pretty fast

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Nice windows. I like the deeper cuts along each side of the berth. The cabinets are nice, but exiting the berth without those deeper cuts requires some scooting before the legs clear the cabinet and can swing off to stand up.

 

[Helmsman]

The windows are a cool addition. Should turn into a fun summer for you learning the boat!

 

[amxr39]

This photo is the area behind the circuit breaker panel for a/c and d/c. There is what appears to be a rectangular vertical “box” in the center of the photo, in the red circle. Or is it a flat piece of wood to mount things to? Can anyone tell me what’s it is?

 

[PattiS]

On our 38E, it is an opening for a handy drawer.

 

[Helmsman]

Edit to Add: Sorry Patti! I didn’t see you had already responded above.

it is the box formed by the drawer that opens at the front of the cabinet that the seat is on. (Behind your calves when you are sitting on the pilot seat.) It is great storage for “stuff” you want in the pilot house but don’t immediately need.

 

[amxr39]

The storage area “ behind your calves” has a door that appears to be more to the starboard side. Are you saying that storage area extends more to the centerline, beyond the size of the door?

 

[Helmsman]

On our 38E, there is a cabinet facing forward with two doors and a shelf. I will be at the boat tomorrow, and if I get a chance will take a picture of the cabinet, unless one of the folks reading this set of posts that is on their boat posts one.

 

[FWT]

Interesting. This the first time I've seen a pic from this angle on this stage of construction.

Obviously on a finished boat the whole frame is covered with the breaker panel with no hint of what's behind it.

At first blush, I'd say that wooden panel covering half of the opening is needed for support of the helm chair. A few inches of wood on the face frame over the top of the opening to the electronics panel would be a weak structure supporting a chair, hundreds of pounds of people, bouncing around in weather.

From this angle one cannot tell whether it is a flat board, empty behind it and open, or a box with an additional panel running side to side in the boat. It may well be a box, so that the unseen hypothetical panel could also provide seat support.

If in the end, this is an empty box that would be a first since pretty much every other empty cavity gets used by creating additional storage space.

This would be a question for Scott.

 

[amxr39]

Interesting. This the first time I've seen a pic from this angle on this stage of construction.

Obviously on a finished boat the whole frame is covered with the breaker panel with no hint of what's behind it.

At first blush, I'd say that wooden panel covering half of the opening is needed for support of the helm chair. A few inches of wood on the face frame over the top of the opening to the electronics panel would be a weak structure supporting a chair, hundreds of pounds of people, bouncing around in weather.

From this angle one cannot tell whether it is a flat board, empty behind it and open, or a box with an additional panel running side to side in the boat. It may well be a box, so that the unseen hypothetical panel could also provide seat support.

If in the end, this is an empty box that would be a first since pretty much every other empty cavity gets used by creating additional storage space.

This would be a question for Scott.

The reason I’m looking for this information is I’m locating my GX 70 display (I purchased the larger one) on top of the chart table behind the seat where it is easy to access. Probably right above the drawer. I need to route the cable from the GX70 to the Cerbo which is someplace behind the switch panel. Not sure how I’m going to get past the drawer hardware. Scott has not been supportive of this modification, but with solar panels and no generator, I need to see what my batteries are doing.

 

[PattiS]

In looking at your picture again, I realized I was looking at the wrong part of the photo. That is actually behind the left half of the circuit panel cabinet. Thisis what it will look like when finished. You won’t see that wood panel.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I don't suppose you could get a picture of the space between the pilothouse bulkhead and the aft fiberglass wall of the forward head? I'd love to know for sure how much space there is between those two surfaces.

 

[amxr39]

I’m not sure I understand what you mean. I don’t believe this is the same area that I’m questioning about.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

It definitely isn't the same area, but at your stage in the build, I suspect you can see in areas like the one behind the pilothouse helm seat in your photo. To port of steps down into the forward stateroom is a bulkhead. There is a drawer at the port side and the chart locker at the top of this bulkhead.

The bulkhead at about knee level if you are standing there shares a wall with the aft wall of the forward head, but there is a gap between the bulkhead and the fiberglass that forms the aft wall of the forward head. Our boat has a mirror in the head that is at about knee level if you were standing in the pilothouse. I am trying to figure out how much space there is between the fiberglass wall and the wood bulkhead. Do you have a picture of that?

 

[Helmsman]

HTT, I looked for that in our build pictures to try to get you an answer, but never saw a photo that would show that area. I know that you have been looking for an answer for quite some time. I think the best possible course of action for you would be to give Helmsman a call and ask them. Or just bite the bullet and drill a small pilot hole behind the mirror and see what you get. Using a Teslong camera inserted might tell you what is back there.

AMX, I will be back at the boat this week and will try to remember to take a picture of the drawer under the captains seat, and open the panel cabinet to take a picture.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Removing the mirror and drilling that pilot hole has been on my list of projects for some time. It's reaching nemesis status! Turns out that while the mirror frame has screws, those screws only held the frame and mirror in place while the adhesive cured. The mirror is just glass, but the frame matches the rest of the wood and I'd love to save it. Knowing it will probably get destroyed in the process is what is currently holding me back.

In the end, I am simply mounting a grab bar in the head on which to hang towels. Of all the outstanding features of these boats, where to hang towels is lacking. Definitely a first world problem.

 

[Helmsman]

Removing the mirror and drilling that pilot hole has been on my list of projects for some time. It's reaching nemesis status! Turns out that while the mirror frame has screws, those screws only held the frame and mirror in place while the adhesive cured. The mirror is just glass, but the frame matches the rest of the wood and I'd love to save it. Knowing it will probably get destroyed in the process is what is currently holding me back.

In the end, I am simply mounting a grab bar in the head on which to hang towels. Of all the outstanding features of these boats, where to hang towels is lacking. Definitely a first world problem.

It is a relevant concern for you. I don’t think I would take that mirror off either. What about attaching a curved towel holder on the front wall of the sink?

 

[HeadedToTexas]

We have that curved grab bar / towel holder, but our towels rest on the floor when hung over that bar. Could be that our towels are too big or long. The PO had a couple of those adhesive mount towel rings, but they do not share the same level of finish found everywhere else in the boat.

To my eye, that wide empty space below the mirror on the aft wall of the forward head just screams out for a 36" wide grab bar on which two bath size towels could hang. Now installing that grab bar has become quite a puzzle.

PS. Sorry to hijack this thread. Our Mariner 37 also has the drawer below the pilothouse helm seat the box of which intrudes on the space behind the electrical panel. Gaining access to unused space on these boats is the common bond between our projects and I thought it fit.

 

[chanprr]

What Vance said when I asked about the space between the master head and the engine room walls in the 38E was: "Do not use fasteners longer then 3/4" if mounting a towel rail in the master head."
I would check with Van or Scott on this, before any hole is drilled.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

That sounds like he expects the grab bar / towel bar mounting screws to bite directly into the bulkhead that forms the forward lower wall of the pilothouse below the chart locker. When I tap on the fiberglass aft wall of the head, it sure sounds like there is a hollow space between those two surfaces.