Helmsman Hacks

[Helmsman]

On our boat, there is no access to the sides of the FRP holding tank, ruling out the possibility of using the SCAD sensor. Thanks to my very knowledgeable brother-in-law, I learned that the sensor assembly, circled in red in the photo, is very easily removed using pliers or a wrench. The sensor assembly has quick disconnects for the wiring. Grasp the square metal protrusion with pliers to loosen the sensor assembly. Once removed, the sensor assembly can be disassembled for cleaning. The shaft with the float is secured in the tube with a bell shaped spring. Once the spring is removed, the float and shaft can be pulled from the tube. If the float is working properly, you can hear and feel it moving inside the tube when you tip it upside down. There was some crud in the tube that was easily removed. Our gauge now reads correctly and it wasn’t a messy operation after all.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[rslifkin]

Not a Helmsman, but I've had good luck with the blue sea ultrasonic sensor in my holding tank. Goes in a standard sender hole at the top but has no moving parts to stick.

 

[FWT]

The east coast is experiencing an extended heat wave. Oppressive to be outside, and raising water temperatures. All of which puts pressure on the HVAC performance.

The salon unit cools both the pilot house and salon space and struggles more than the smaller unit and space in the forward berth cabin.

I realized there is some cooling loss from the pilot house down into the forward cabin, as cool air flows down through the open door.

Closing that door seems to be good for approximately 8 degrees of cooling improvement! It’s the difference between 80-81 being the best I can do in this heat wave, or low 70’s with it closed. Big difference.

This reduces the square footage being cooled by that unit. Turning on the forward unit too had little impact.

I’ve only needed to close the door, ignoring the overhead slider. Easy to do and effective.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Do the new 38s have the HVAC vent from the forward AC to the left of the chart locker in the pilothouse? That crossover really calls out for a damper or some way to regulate airflow in situations like extreme heat where you are focusing on one space or the other.

 

[FWT]

Two units if you spec it

One unit has a salon vent above the center cabinet stack, and a second vent in pilot house behind the first vent and above the settee.

Bert unit has two vents. Just forward of head and shower doors facing inward. No issues with temperature there. Can get frigid if you try.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Our Mariner 37 has a vent in the forward port corner of the pilothouse dash supplying air from the forward AC to the pilothouse. Wonder why they dropped that instead of just adding a means to close the vent?

 

[Hydraulicjump]

As you all know, we are getting blasted on the West Coast too, where I find very few Helmsmans have AC. We have delayed our trip back to Seattle just to stay a bit cooler in the Gulf Islands and San Juans where the water temperature is the great refrigerator. But we got several of these rechargeable fans for the boat:

https://a.co/d/0aNkiyRv

Because they fit nicely into the porthole windows of the stateroom, which helps a lot at night. They run all night on a charge or you can leave them plugged in (USB). They also are very helpful when you need to defrost your windscreen in the winter. One fits right in front of the instrument panel and does a great job. We liked the versatility of moveable fans over installing fixed fans.

We still need to work out bug screens for the doors, which will help also.

From Mystery Bay near Port Townsend where a nice breeze blowing across 52 F water is cooling the boat!

 

[FWT]

Our Mariner 37 has a vent in the forward port corner of the pilothouse dash supplying air from the forward AC to the pilothouse. Wonder why they dropped that instead of just adding a means to close the vent?

View attachment 156351

I obviously can’t speak to how well your arrangements work

But mine works fine, aided by the closed door.

 

[Doug_Snider]

We’re looking for a way to keep the fenders from making it difficult to get to the bow or fly bridge while underway. We have fender cages up top but the forward fenders have to be unclipped from the railing to reach the cages. Has anyone come up with a clever way to quickly get the fenders out of the way without removing the fender whips from the railings?

 

[rslifkin]

We’re looking for a way to keep the fenders from making it difficult to get to the bow or fly bridge while underway. We have fender cages up top but the forward fenders have to be unclipped from the railing to reach the cages. Has anyone come up with a clever way to quickly get the fenders out of the way without removing the fender whips from the railings?

I don't think I've been on a boat where the was a solution to that without the fenders laying on the side decks and getting in the way.

We normally un-clip ours and just carry them forward to the holders on the bow. Takes a minute to do, but it's the lesser of 2 evils.

 

[FWT]

I am finally finding time to install a TV in the optioned salon overhead cabinet.

TV shopping is easy, but I'm finding the shopping for a mount to be harder.

TV mounts are designed for hanging on a wall. It appears the attachment of the TV to the mount is based on different hook designs, letting gravity do its thing to keep things secure.

However, this thing will live mostly live lying flat on its back, with routine boat rocking providing regular motion wanting to move it essentially up the wall (and off the hook.) It would not be fun to drop the cabinet one day only to have the TV slide out and crash down to the floor.

Online ads in Best Buy and Amazon do little explain the connection. We need a "positive" connection from something more than gravity. It needs to snap / clip into place. Preferably with some support at the foot of the TV when flat and not just at the head.

Does anyone have mount suggestions that have worked for them?

 

[Doug_Snider]

We used this one and it works fine. It’s very compact and fits in the salon TV cabinet with a 40” TV.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

The convenient removal design of home wall mounts doesn't translate well to the dynamic world of boating. I bought a cheap but sturdy one and modified it to eliminate the "clip off" design and replaced the thumb screws with NyLok nuts. I also rotated the mount 90 degrees so that it swivels horizontally instead of vertically. Far more appropriate for the corner when I see most displays on this boat.

In order for the TV to clear the bulkhead at the desired 15 degrees of starboard swivel, it needed a standoff block that worked out to 2". That also made for a handy spot to mount a small power strip that consolidates all the cables. No photo of that at the moment. Very sturdy mount in the end.

 

[FWT]

Doug

Saw that one. Saved it. Leader in the clubhouse.

Could not figure out if the bottom clips it in place?

40 inch? You must not have more than a frog hair of wiggle room. I thought something that big would be bumping the outlet box?

 

[FWT]

HTT

Helmsman offers a drop down cabinet now. I’ll be mounting there, not in the corner above the day head.

 

[Doug_Snider]

The bracket is only about 1 inch deep. It clips at the bottom of the TV and can be released by pulling two release straps. The 40" TV fits comfortably in the cabinet.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Nice! A drop down like the galley dish cabinets?

 

[PattiS]

Nice! A drop down like the galley dish cabinets?

Exactly like the gallet dish cabinets. They also offer a smaller drop down cabinet in the stateroom.

 

[FWT]

The bracket is only about 1 inch deep. It clips at the bottom of the TV and can be released by pulling two release straps. The 40" TV fits comfortably in the cabinet.

Excellent. Thanks

 

[KMAL]

We’re looking for a way to keep the fenders from making it difficult to get to the bow or fly bridge while underway. We have fender cages up top but the forward fenders have to be unclipped from the railing to reach the cages. Has anyone come up with a clever way to quickly get the fenders out of the way without removing the fender whips from the railings?

I use a number of products from boatleather - the one I use on rails is a Velcro wrap with cam locks for the fender lines - makes adjustment and fender removal real easy. You mark your fender lines for easy adjustment for low docks, high docks, or rafting. Cam Style Fender Hook - Custom Made - Boatleather

 

[KMAL]

I use a number of products from boatleather - the one I use on rails is a Velcro wrap with cam locks for the fender lines - makes adjustment and fender removal real easy. You mark your fender lines for easy adjustment for low docks, high docks, or rafting. Cam Style Fender Hook - Custom Made - Boatleather

These are my favorite: Cam Cleat Style Poly Wrap Fender Adjuster - Boatleather

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

Water, water everywhere but..
Does someone have a way to catch rain on the helmsman?

We've been out for 13 days, hoping another week, and were down to 1/4 tank in fresh water. It's amazing the amount of fresh rainwater pours out of the gutter and into the drink on a fine Alaskan day..
The question is, has anyone captured the rain from the SS rectangular spouts and directed it to a container? Use that water to do initial rinses on plates, or flushing heads, or ?? Save the boat fresh water for drinking, showers, coffee.. I'm a bit thirsty

 

[Wagamama]

We got tired of the rain from the scuppers landing on the gunwales so extended them with lie flat pvc hose. Initially used 3” hose but will try 2 1/2” for a better fit. With re-usable tie wraps, it would be easy to remove the 6” pieces and replace it with a long enough piece to feed a bucket (or your fresh water tank).

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

Thanks wagamama!

 

[KDT]

Water, water everywhere but..
Does someone have a way to catch rain on the helmsman?

We've been out for 13 days, hoping another week, and were down to 1/4 tank in fresh water. It's amazing the amount of fresh rainwater pours out of the gutter and into the drink on a fine Alaskan day..
The question is, has anyone captured the rain from the SS rectangular spouts and directed it to a container? Use that water to do initial rinses on plates, or flushing heads, or ?? Save the boat fresh water for drinking, showers, coffee.. I'm a bit thirsty

I would think hanging a funnel with a water hose attached leading to any container would do the trick.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

What treatment steps do you take to offset the introduction of bird droppings and other sources of bacteria into your water tank when collecting rain water?

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Hey Tom. Easy to rig a five gallon bucket and flexi pipe with zip ties to catch rainwater on the starboard side (due to the natural heel of our boats), but you better treat it before you use it. You can use iodine but that makes it funky tasting. So it has to stay out of your tank. Unless you are feeling flush, then a portable water maker is the way to go. You can run it while underway with the pick up in the bucket. Although there are some versions with a battery. We used them in the Grand Canyon and they worked great. You can discharge right into your tank.

 

[Tom-Jill-Lilly]

So a couple of notes and reasoning and thoughts.
We built EmBark on a minimalist major options. I wanted a deep freeze and very happy with it. It's in the place where the gen goes. I plumbed the boat for gen-ready and watermaker-ready. SO I could add these, but I rarely need either. I have a backup 2k yamaha suitcase gen that I finally had to use twice in 2 months of Alaska rain after my solar farm of 4 panels was enough after 3 nights on anchor. We've have only 3 days of sunshine. As for water, plans change. Why sit at the dock in the city? when your in gods country. Thus we haven't filled up with water.

So catch water using a generic filter to screen out crap, leaves, needles etc. Use it only for toilets and first rinse when washing dishes. If I was smart, I'd design the boat with a spare tank plumbed in for rain water and a valve to use it for the toilets (I think that's the biggest use on the boat). Once I run out of rainwater, I switch to the good water tank. If I were to ever use the water for drinking, I would filter it and use a UV light, which unfortunately takes power.

Good comment on picking the starboard, but not optimal for EmBark. The dingy (engine on starboard) is up there and we've had a significant fuel leak once this trip. The fuel hose was 90% push on the engine, and one day, we got sun and warm fuel leaked into the dingy bridge out the plug hole onto the floor down the drain and splattered around the cockpit. Not something we want in a remote area or anyplace when your having a BBQ in the cockpit on a sunny day. Plus, crap comes out of the bilge when I pull the plug on the ding—needles, sand, dirt, sand barnacles, and grizzly dung off of our boots. Jill caught a big pot of water in a few minutes on port, but it was too heavy to hold and she was afraid to drop it in the drink.
We are heading into Sitka because we'll be out of water tomorrow. If I could just squeeze the coho and get water out of the fish, I'd stay another day and catch more.

I gotta go.. it's raining again.. where that damn pot??

 

[Hydraulicjump]

I think this exceeds the 90% rule (or 95% rule?). If you don't need it 90-95% of the time you don't need it.
I was thinking about how useful it would be to have buckets of fresh, non-potable water though. You could also just throw a line over the stanchion on the flybridge and tie it to a bucket. Hoist it up there so it is just beneath the gutter and tie it off to the hawse cleat. Stupid simple.

But I have no idea how to use it for flushing short of tuning off the water pressure pump when you flush. Bet you can figure that out, tho. For that matter you can use salt water for flushing if that is the case. No problem with pumping out regularly!

And Tom, three days of sun? You are not making Alaska sound all that attractive for next year.

 

[Helmsman]

Doug

Saw that one. Saved it. Leader in the clubhouse.

Could not figure out if the bottom clips it in place?

40 inch? You must not have more than a frog hair of wiggle room. I thought something that big would be bumping the outlet box?

Win,

Check with Helmsman43 (forum name) on the boat beside you in your marina. He installed the max size TV you can put in the drop down cabinet. Looking at his set up might give you an idea. He may not see this since he doesn’t follow the forum that often.

Doug’s solution looks like it is about the same, but being able to directly measure hole locations, etc. might be helpful to you.

We just opted for a smaller TV that clears the outlet, and the locking mechanisms. Has worked well for us, but his operates perfectly and provides a larger picture.