Rob, If I may, I'll jump in here and respond to a few of your points. Cristina and I had a new Mariner Seville 37, AKA Helmsman 38, delivered in May 2009. We have lived aboard since day 1. We lived and cruised the Chesapeake for about 25 years. The first 5 years on Tadhana we were living aboard in the Southern Chesapeake where i was managing a boatyard. The most snow we had to shovel was 11" and the coldest nights were 9 degrees. For the past 4 years we have travelled the ICW to FL. A much more civilized climate in winter. We have been from Lake Champlain and Cape Cod, FL west coast and to the Keys, and have explored the Outer Banks ,the Sea Isles of GA, and know 126 anchorages on the Chesapeake. I mention this to allay your concerns about the boat's draft.
With a huge, full tool box, spares for almost everything, dinghy, two outboards, bikes and live aboard gear and with full fuel and water tanks, our boat draws about 4'6" With empty tanks she is about 4'. We have never touched bottom in the Chesapeake, and have never found the draft to limit our options. We have touched bottom 4 or 5 times on the ICW, but lets face it. If you wander out of the well marked channels you will run aground with any boat. So again no worries about draft on the ICW.
We have a generator, but its primary use is to recharge our 850 amp battery bank. We will often find a nice anchorage and stay there for several days. Once day we run the generator to recharge the batteries and heat water for showers. We never found it necessary to have AC at when anchored at night in the southern Bay. The southern Bay has more wind than the northern Bay.
You will want to have both AC and heat along the ICW. Spring and fall, we have used both cycles each season. But if it is going to be that hot or cold, we head to a marina with shore power rather than anchor.
Thanks very much for your reply. It is good to hear from someone who boats similar waters and has the boat that I am looking at. I am sure that you are aware that Helmsman now has a dealership on the Chesapeake.
We are still in the decision phase of our boat purchase and, as not yet retired, time is currently on our side. We don't need to rush the decision. While I very much like the Helmsman 38e, we are still looking at viable alternatives.
You definitely have boated the Chesapeake much more than I. We love the Chesapeake. I kind of figured that the draft of the 38e would work for that area, the loop, SW Florida, and the Bahamas. Those are our dream crusing grounds.
However, when comparing the 38e to other boats, the deeper draft of other viable boats, and my lack of experience in non local areas that I want to boat, comes into play. For comparable boats, it is really hard to find out what is a viable maximum draft for those cruising grounds.
I read this site semi regularly yet thoroughly. Every thread seems to have some tidbit of knowledge to be gained. However, many posters seem to be West Coast, and they never seem to express concerns about draft. I am guessing that theirs are mostly deep water crusing grounds and deep water Marinas.
In the northern and mid Chesapeake, there are marinas that we barely get into at low tide with a 3' 6" draft. The same is true for many of our favorite gunk holes. While I think the draft of the Helmsman 38e will work, even the 43 might not. I am curious about the thoughts of East Coast boaters who have deeper draft boats.
So, for an anticipated 6 month per year cruising habit, I am currently torn between looking for a reasonably sized shallower draft boat (such as the 38e) that will go where we want or a larger yet deeper draft boat, that will handle children, grandchildren (just had 1st!) and friends, but may limit our cruising areas. I am thinking that, for east coast boating, draft is every bit as important a decision as #of staterooms, #of heads, engine room access, etc. West coasters seem lucky in that this seems not to be a part of their decision process. Thats all, just my thoughts.
Rob