Me again another opinion sought

[Robin]

in my stumblings around I have seen a few potential boats that do not have outside or flybridge helm positions, makes for lower air draught potential for Euro canals which might be an attractiv idea.

When we had our live aboard 47ft trawler here in the USA, I never helmed it from the lower inside position except once on the original survey sea trial. How feasible is docking from lower helm position where a quick side to side look is less easy. We still have some nifty warlike-talkie 2 way headsets but sadly SWMBO, if line handling outside, has no positional awareness to say for example 'you are 2ft off the finger ' or 'shove the back in a bit closer' If she were doing the driving same applies, I could say move to starboard 2ft and she has no idea how far/not that is, cue a hard landing!.

So is this an imagined or real problem please? I'm talking about boats where you cannot stick your head out of a roof hatch or cover, but has solid side windows, with or without opening bits.

 

[Bouba]

in my stumblings around I have seen a few potential boats that do not have outside or flybridge helm positions, makes for lower air draught potential for Euro canals which might be an attractiv idea.

When we had our live aboard 47ft trawler here in the USA, I never helmed it from the lower inside position except once on the original survey sea trial. How feasible is docking from lower helm position where a quick side to side look is less easy. We still have some nifty warlike-talkie 2 way headsets but sadly SWMBO, if line handling outside, has no positional awareness to say for example 'you are 2ft off the finger ' or 'shove the back in a bit closer' If she were doing the driving same applies, I could say move to starboard 2ft and she has no idea how far/not that is, cue a hard landing!.

So is this an imagined or real problem please? I'm talking about boats where you cannot stick your head out of a roof hatch or cover, but has solid side windows, with or without opening bits.

I hardly ever use my flybridge and always dock from below. Would be very nervous to dock from above, however I have a side door and a wife with great spatial awareness. Conversely when canal boating in France where you need to thread the boat under low bridges at the same time having no room either side of you, I could only do it from the flybridge. I was too scared to helm from below and consequently was up there exposed to freezing wet weather for eight hours at a time.
The moral is, what ever position you start with is the one you are most comfortable with but with a little persuasion you probably could do either equally comfortably like everyone else on this forum

 

[Robin]

Wow you type fast! remember I have over 50 years with a mast or two and flappy bits so my imagination is more active. FLybridge helming under bridges has frightened me a couple of times here on the ICW with a memorable 'discussion with a stroppy lift bridge lady who said 'you have plenty of clearance no need to lift' The gauge said 22ft and we needed 22ft clearance all aerials down. She was right because there was an extra 2ft in the middle over the gauge reading but FFS it looked pretty damn close as I ducked to my knees below flybridge screen level! If I still. smoked I would have lit one and poured a large scotch.... The side salooon doors on our trawler had a habit of sticking shut too, not to mention being an awkward entry/exit angle for me, not good in a hurry.

 

[stillwaters]

If your situation was insurmountable, another consideration might be to get a remote control, yachtcontroller etc (look them up on youtube to view them in action). Not that cheap but might be worth it in the overall run of things.
You could then control engines & thrusters or even anchor from anywhere on or near your boat, and maybe even help with mooring lines at the same time.

 

[Robin]

If your situation was insurmountable, another consideration might be to get a remote control, yachtcontroller etc (look them up on youtube to view them in action). Not that cheap but might be worth it in the overall run of things.
You could then control engines & thrusters or even anchor from anywhere on or near your boat, and maybe even help with mooring lines at the same time.

OMG I struggle with just using my smartphone! I was just looking for simple comments from youse that have actually bin there and dunnit. In case it is not obvious we are on a tight budget too and talking used not brand new, or even recent build boats.

 

[stillwaters]

OMG I struggle with my smartphone! I was just looking for simple comments from youse that have actually bin there and dunnit. In case it is not obvious we are non a tight budget tooo and talking used not brand new, or even recent build boats.

They are actually quite simple to use., even for someone like me who binned the smartphone and went back to using the pigeons.:encouragement::encouragement: