The hotly debated topic of exposed helm stations on a catamaran. In this episode, we are traveling down the west coast of Portugal on a cold and rainy day. It’s not that pleasant outside so the question is – would we prefer to have our helm station nicely protected and out of the elements? Not really. Take a look as to why as Shayne gives us all a run down on his thoughts on why we like our exposed helm stations.
As a cruiser, we don’t often use our outside helm stations, we take advantage of our critical 6th crew member Steve (also known as our autopilot). For long passages, it makes sense to put the autopilot on and get on with looking after family and boat while underway but there are times when we want to actually sail our boat – either for fun or out of necessity. In these cases, having helm stations on each side of the boat allows clear views of the sails and hulls. It also gives clear visibility of what is around us.
Have a look at how we use our boat underway and why we think that a design from 30 years ago is still an excellent approach to modern yacht design philosophy. Do we like our exposed helm stations? We sure do. Of course, it depends on how you like to sail your boat, but this is our two cents worth!