The New Helmsman 46 Pilothouse

This brawny expedition vessel is a worthy flaghship for a West Coast-based builder of trawler yachts.

By Norris Comer

March 17, 2025

The man who owns Hull No. 1 of the new flagship Helmsman 46
Pilothouse had the boat commissioned at CSR Marine boatyard in Seattle. I caught up with him at the nearby Salmon Bay Café, where he told me about his life growing up on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, where he spent a lot of time on boats.

“I’ve had all different kinds of boats, from fishing boats to express cruisers and now trawlers,” Robert Chanpong told me, ticking off about two decades worth of boats. His newest ride by Helmsman is named Kiskadee, after a tropical bird native to the Caribbean.

Chanpong’s trawler lifestyle began in 2018 when he ordered a Helmsman 38E. “I had a fishing boat at the time, an aluminum cuddy cabin model powered by outboards,” he says. “To be honest, because I wasn’t catching salmon—fishing was terrible, but crabbing was fine—I decided to, on the urging of my spouse, Gail, go slow.”

He saw the Helmsman line up close at the Seattle Boat Show. He then got a deal on a Helmsman 38E that was originally intended to be an East Coast show vessel. It was delivered in 2019.

“It was love at first sight,” he says. The Chanpongs spent a year preparing for a grand Alaska adventure that ended up spanning three months and several thousand nautical miles. They cruised through many iconic destinations, including Pruth Bay, Red Bluff Bay and Warm Springs Bay. “Everything on the boat was absolutely first class and functioned properly,” he says. “She was easy to operate. Easy to dock.”

Robert and Gail had so much fun, they wanted to go again—but they had a few new requirements for the boat. For one thing, Gail wanted more stowage.

“I said, ‘Well, would you like to have a bigger trawler?’” Robert recalls. “And to be honest she looked at me and said, ‘Why would you want to have a bigger trawler? The 38 is just fine.’”

Robert didn’t agree. In addition to the stowage issue, the engine compartment under the salon was tight after a watermaker was added alongside the genset and engine. He loved his 38E, especially the beam-to-beam salon, but he just wanted a bit more boat.

He talked to Scott Helker, co-founder and president of Waterline Boats, and founder and president of Helmsman Trawlers.

“We talked about different aspects of a larger boat,” Chanpong says. “I told him I was interested in a 46, but at the time Helmsman didn’t have one. So, Scott said, ‘Well, would you like to be the launch customer?’ And I had a moment and then I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’”

Helker says the Helmsman Pilothouse 46 resulted from customer inquiries and a decision to stick with the builder’s ethos versus chasing trends.

“With our 37, 38 and 43 models, we had developed a strong reputation for exceptionally well-built trawlers that sold at a price that made them a great value,” Helker says. “And then many people started inquiring about a bigger boat. They wanted to know if we built a larger trawler.” That’s why Helker says he decided to extend the Helmsman Trawlers line. “Our naval architect Ivan Erdevicki did a beautiful job of translating these instructions into a lovely and unique trawler design.”

The 46 Pilothouse has a reported cruising speed of 8 knots with a 16-knot top speed, achieved with a single 500-hp John Deere engine (Helmsman usually installs Cummins engines, but supply chain issues interfered). Design features include an open pilothouse and semi-custom layouts belowdeck that include two- or three-staterooms and a convertible office option. The 46 doesn’t have full-length side decks because the salon spans the full beam.

Chanpong also liked the four weatherproof stowage compartments integrated into the foredeck. The layout is classic Helmsman. There are also deeply seated steps leading up to the flybridge from the foredeck. The flybridge has a dinghy davit and a sheltered seating area.

One notable change from previous Helmsman models is the addition of stabilizers. Kiskadee has a MagnusMaster setup that’s low on power consumption and also boasts a compact interior footprint.

“We had, let’s say, five experiences of very, very bad weather when we were underway [on the 38E],” Chanpong says. “We got beat up on the Sunshine Coast. Washing machine kind of waves. Two- and three-meter seas. And there was wind and rain. I think we spent eight hours going down Granville Channel with the wipers running.”

According to Helker, MagnusMaster is an underway stabilizer. It’s unlike a gyro system because it also works while a boat is at anchor. “For cruisers with boats that operate at speeds below 12 knots, we believe that the MagnusMaster presents the best option for stabilization,” he says. “The system uses a spinning carbon fiber rotor externally mounted to the hull to generate force. That force is transferred into the hull to stabilize a vessel from rolling.”

The rotor can be installed to port or starboard, anywhere in the after two-thirds of the boat. When not in use, the rotor folds to be streamlined with the hull, minimizing resistance.

“The MagnusMaster has proven popular on our new Helmsman Trawlers, and we’ve also done a retrofit on a Helmsman 38E Pilothouse,” Helker says. “Our experience across a number of vessels shows about a 0.2- to 0.3-knot decrease in speed when the stabilizers are deployed.”

Boat owners like the quick deployment time of about 12 seconds, he adds, as it lets a skipper deploy the stabilizer when an approaching wake is sighted in calm conditions. “We hear about this being useful when cruising the San Juans midday or out east on the ICW,” Helker says.

Chanpong says he also likes that they’re electric, not hydraulic. The average power consumption is about 700 watts per stabilizer when fully deployed, so a generator is not required to run them. MagnusMaster requires 240VAC and 24VDC power supply.

Another of his favorite features on his new 46 is the warm, wooden look of the boat’s interior. “I didn’t want to have anything that was too avant-garde,” he says. “I like the traditional style.”

The owners also like the boat’s split head in the master stateroom; there’s a shower on one side and toilet on the other, for privacy. And they are fans of the customized electronics layout in the pilothouse, where redundant systems include two chartplotters, three VHF radios, Starlink and AIS.

Chanpong’s plan is to take Kiskadee north to Alaska in May, with an itinerary that will include Ketchikan and the Behm Canal. After exploring southeast Alaska, the couple expects to cruise through Desolation Sound and Princess Louisa Inlet. “We haven’t planned the full itinerary yet, but we will probably stay out several months,” he says.

If the best sign of a boatbuilder’s quality is happy, loyal owners, then Helmsman Trawlers seems to be doing a great job, given the degree of satisfaction the Chanpongs are experiencing with their new boat. And there are more Pilothouse 46s in progress for other customers. In addition, a 43 Sedan model is set to launch this year as the company opens new European and Australian markets. All the while, Kiskadee, a tropical bird, flies to northern ice fields for the first time.