Dingy crane power options

I'd love to see a picture of that. I have a crane on my platform. Mine is fully hydraulic and 12 v. My buddy has the same crane on his 58ocean and it's hard wired. He launched his dinghy in 12 foot swells as his boat sunk. Can't think of much worse conditions.

Looks like your view from the lower helm may be a little blocked with that setup!
Of course if you never use it I guess it doesn't matter. Personally I'd rather have a clear view just in case. You never know!

I like that. Wish I could do that on my 466!

That's interesting! We've looked at about 1/2 dozen 4207's and they all had a lower helm....I just assumed that even though it was an option they all came through with one.

I hear the same thing from others who have a lower helm about using it rarely, but then there is Ed, (doing the Loop), who consistently operates the boat from the lower station, so I guess there are guys who not only use them but prefer them!

I have one and am glad it's there in case of emergency....you never know! So I'll keep a clear view forward. But if I didn't have one I'd love to install the same thing you have!

No, the lower helm of the Hatteras Ed is running has great visibility foward and has a wing door you can open on either side and it's 3 steps to look down the side of the boat. It's also comfortable that you can stand and run the boat or sit.

I understand everything about your response but the "no" part.

I wasn't making any statement that would have had "no" as a part of the response IMHO!

Hi,

I think the point he was making was the lower helm on the boats you are looking at was not the same as the one Ed is running.

What I meant by the No was. There are a lot of people that use a lower helm, if it is comfortable and has good visibility. On long Ocean voyages, I'd rather be in the air conditioning or heat, not getting rocked and rolled as much, not getting fried in the Sun, and be much closer to the head and refrigerator, if I have good visibility from the lower helm.

If it's a major chore to see through the windows, through the bow rail and a myriad of junk on the foredeck, as well as no visibility to the sides, then I would never use it. Because imagine if it's raining, how much harder it would be to see with poor visibility, when there isn't good visibility in clear weather.

Also, if you're an owner and only going out in the daytime and good weather twice a month, then you'll be on the flybridge and not mind the sun and wind in your face. When you're doing a 2 week delivery (or longer) and running the boat 10hrs each and every day, the less sun exposure the better and the lower helm is a lot more comfortable (if it is).

OK Capt J, I get what you are saying now!

And you are of course right!

I had the very distinct pleasure of meeting Ed (what an awesome guy!) and touring the Hatteras, a truly beautiful boat that he knows better than I know the back of my hand.

That boat does indeed have great forward visibility but my sense is Ed could pilot any boat with even marginalized visibility if he had to.

I'm grateful every day that the boat we wound up with as our first boat is only a 3807 and not some of the much larger vessels we looked at while shopping! It will be a very long time (if ever) that I have skills anywhere remotely close to you pros!

For the limited amount of usage you're going to use a davit, what's the big deal about running a gfci extension cord to it?