Helia 44: Owners

[Cotemar]

Helia 44 has a mast height of 63.6 feet or 67 feet.

You can order the Helia 44 with a shorter, Inter-Coastal friendly 63.6 foot air draft mast and longer boom to make up the difference and keep the same sail area.

[Gordon]

Hi Mark, the figure I have is from the owners hand book for the He'lia 44, maybe they have adjusted their previous figures.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Hi Mark, the figure I have is from the owners hand book for the He'lia 44, maybe they have adjusted their previous figures.

It may just be the Helia 44 USA version of mast is 63.6 feet, as FP would not sell many in the USA that could not go down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway)

A Helia 44 maybe in our future, so only a 63.6 feet mast would work for us. It will let you go along the east coast of the USA from Maine to the Florida Keys (1,200) miles in a scenic protected waterway.

[dochueb]

My guys (Bay Yacht Agency) are currently telling me that according to FP, the 63'6" number inaccurate, & that the Helia is not ICW compatible. Got a guy shimmying up the mast with a tape measure to get a real #...

Dave

[Gordon]

From a reliable source in La Rochelle all the He'lia 44 masts are the same,20.45/67.1' , no different for USA delivered boats at this stage.

[DtM]

Sometimes the confusion with FP mast heights is that FP measure from the waterline rather than the actual length of the extrusion.

In the real world the FP way is more sensible.

[Gordon]

Correct Daniel, they list 'Air Draft' as height to top without the antenna.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by DtM

Sometimes the confusion with FP mast heights is that FP measure from the waterline rather than the actual length of the extrusion.

In the real world the FP way is more sensible.

Like their waterline length designations.

[DtM]

You are right about their models designations in terms of "matching" (or not) the waterline !!!!

[onthehook17]

Can anyone please tell me the OD (outer diameter) of the stanchions or the small pulpit tubing that ends the lifeline on the aft end of each hull on the Helia?
Our Helia , hull #4, is in Tortola out on charter and I am trying to buy fishing rod holders that clamp onto the railings or stanchions. They are probably 3/4", 1" or 1.25 " in OD.
Thanks for your help,
Onthehook17

[domuzes]

Circumference measured as 7.6 cm, which in old numbers makes an OD of 0.952" (pi=3.1416; 1"=2.54cm)
Hope that helps, on the hook just across the bay from Marseille.

[Cotemar]

The tubing is 1". Most Fishing rod holders will fit 3/4 to 1" tubing anyway

Make sure to buy the all SS fishing rod holders as the Perko chrome-plated zinc ones will be corroded in under a year.

I purchased the SS West Marine 2 pack on sale five years ago and they still look brand new.

WEST MARINE Stainless-Steel Clamp-On Rod Holder at West Marine

[mndreamchaser1]

Greetings to all. We are new to this forum, and I just read through the thread.

We have our Helia on order, with an expected completion date of around the middle of September. Hull number unknown. Owners/Maestro version, private use only. We expect to use the boat throughout most of the winter months in the Caribbean, probably based out of Fajardo PR. We will either sail the boat back and forth from the East Coast each year, or summer store in PR. Not sure yet. Depends in part on how passage friendly she will be.

New to catamarans. Owned several monohulls. So I hope to obtain advice from others here as we go forward.

In the much shorter term, I would love to use this forum to get advice from other Helia owners as we make the option choices and decisions we have to make. So many decisions, and its been quite hard to get good information. More on that later. For now, just this introduction.

Thanks to those who clarified the mast/height bridge clearance question. I've been asking this same question myself, and I've gotten different answers from different dealers. If anyone ever pulls a tape measure up their halyard, please post the result. I was really hoping it would be ICW compliant. Guess not.

[Aluna]

Has anyone hauled out a Helia or Orana with a slipway trailer ? There are apparently problems fitting trailers under the narrow bridge deck..

[domuzes]

Originally Posted by Aluna

Has anyone hauled out a Helia or Orana with a slipway trailer ? There are apparently problems fitting trailers under the narrow bridge deck..

Bonjour Aluna
we didn't have any problem with either the road transport (big trailer, attached pictures ), nor with the slipway trailer in the marina (the placement of the trailer under the boat obviously has to be done very carefully and accurately, unfortunately can't find the pictures)
Helia is very far from being perfect, but I think that this point is not problem.