A couple of reasons, the main one is also a big reason why
we did not get a sailboat for serious cruising: sun exposure
& skin cancer.


Wayne.B wrote:
Yes, that's a big issue for serious cruisers, especially on sailboats.
We have a full enclosure on our flybridge which helps a lot, but still
need to wear a hat during mid day.


"Wear a hat" doesn't really work once you start developing
keratoses & basal cells. I've had sailing friends younger
than I am die of melamoma. It may get me too, but if so, I
want as many years as I can get beforehand!

If you've spent significant amounts of time out in the sun
over the past 30 years, the only answer is to keep out of it
as much as possible.




Bridge clearance depends on where you boat of course but not a problem
for us except in the Keys.


If you do the Great Loop, the limit is 17'. The western NY
canal adn the Lake Champlain canal is 15'. A lot of inland
routes have lower limits than that. We can get down to 12'
which would be impossible with a flying bridge, and opens up
a vast number of rivers & canals. It also cuts down the
number of bridges we have to wait for on the ICW.



The visibility and sense of openness on the flybridge is what makes it
important to me.

We have great visibility from our helm. Most boats with
pilothouses assume that you'll be driving from there, and so
the sight lines from the lower helm suck.



... I'd never give it up unless I was in a hostile
climate.


You *are* in hostile climate. It just takes a long time to
get you. Of course, if there was some way of bringing back
the ozone layer, that would help

DSK