Carver Owners Forum

Looking at a 1991 42’ aft cabin, twin diesel with a lower steering helm. Do many of you use the lower station in your boats?

I can see where they are popular in the Pacific North West where boating is year round and weather can get cold combined with rain. Would be advantageous for a looper or ocean going boat also. Personally this was not something I wanted, prefer to have the additional space for everyday use. Application and boating area will determine if this is a desirable option more than anything else.

I've had 3 boats including the current one with lower stations and rarely used them. They have their advantages and disadvantages. From what I remember, the option on the 4207 had a pretty small footprint, and some had a built-in lid that when closed, except for the wheel, you'd never know there was a helm there.

Like the others, I had a dual helm and rarely used the lower one. I don't think there's a big negative to having a lower helm (other than just taking a bit of space), but I probably wouldn't pay a premium for one. I would not avoid a boat at all just because it has one.

There were a few times it was helpful. I had an enclosure for the upper helm, so if it was up then piloting from the bridge wasn't an issue. Two of the times we were cruising on a nice day and ran into storms and there wasn't time to put the enclosure up, so I just went below and continued the journey. One time was the day I launched and it was raining and I didn't yet have the enclosure framework up, so I just used the lower station to get to the slip.

The only other time I can recall was very late in the season and it was VERY cold. It was on a dive trip to Lake Erie. I piloted from the lower helm and one of my friends brought a Coleman space heater. Probably a terrible idea in hindsight, but at the time we thought it would keep us warm in the cabin. The biggest problem was when you were running the heater, it was also generating a lot of moisture, which condensed on the inside of the windows. We couldn't see anything and had to constantly wipe the windows. We'd shut the heater down until we got too uncomfortably cold, then fire it up and go through the same cycle again.

I like the look and the couch is longer as well, thinking about nap locations ??

When I had a convertible/sedan bridge boat, the only time the lower helm came in handy was when going through the locks as I just walked out to the aft deck instead of rushing up and down the stairs from the cockpit to the bridge all the time to catch the cable in the lock.

Like the others, I have had both.... I prefer to run a boat from fresh air and up higher to see what is what......often the sight lines from the salon are not good at all when running and there could be fume/ventilation issues. Sight lines for safety are also a consideration.

The lower is helpful when working on the engines though especially when the engines are under the salon floor plates. So some more ideas for you to consider....in short I only ever used it for maintenance .