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Ericson Trivia
- Thread starter Roger
- Start date
Phil MacFarlane
Member III
Olson's at least some of them.
I figure that the Olson 25, 911S, and 34 , are kind of obvious. He must know of some others......
supersailor
Contributing Partner
I can add he Crelock 26 and the 33 and 36 RH's
Note that with the change in designer for the Ericson 33RH and Ericson 36RH, they were still called "Ericson's".
The early E-26 mk 1, was a Crealock design, but also sold as an "Ericson". (At least that's my recollection.)
I am still wondering if we are about to find out about some other named products from the factory.... ! :nerd:
The early E-26 mk 1, was a Crealock design, but also sold as an "Ericson". (At least that's my recollection.)
I am still wondering if we are about to find out about some other named products from the factory.... ! :nerd:
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Roger
Member II
Yes, many of you are familiar with the Olsons built by Ericson. When Pacific Boats in Santa Cruz closed their doors in 1987, Ericson obtained the molds for the Olson 25, 911 S & 34 and began producing these models, maintaining the Olson name. Ericson did not get the molds for other Olson models, including the 29, 30 & 40.
The 25 was a popular one-design boat, and several had been produced by Pacific Boats. Ericson tried to maintain the one-design aspect by building it to Pacific Boat’s standards, keeping it as light as possible. Not sure we succeeded with that.
The 911 S was a Carl Shumaker design which began life as the Capo 30, built in SoCal by Westerly Marine. Pacific Boats began producing them as the 911S.
Only one or two of the Olson 34’s had been produced by Pacific Boats, and Ericson went on to build several.
The Olsons were a challenge to build in that they were quite different in fabrication and assembly from the Ericson models, but they also opened our eyes to new materials and techniques.
As Loren mentioned, the Holland-designed 33 & 36, Crealock-designed 26, etc. were all sold under the Ericson name, so they don't count! Stay tuned for more boats though.
The 25 was a popular one-design boat, and several had been produced by Pacific Boats. Ericson tried to maintain the one-design aspect by building it to Pacific Boat’s standards, keeping it as light as possible. Not sure we succeeded with that.
The 911 S was a Carl Shumaker design which began life as the Capo 30, built in SoCal by Westerly Marine. Pacific Boats began producing them as the 911S.
Only one or two of the Olson 34’s had been produced by Pacific Boats, and Ericson went on to build several.
The Olsons were a challenge to build in that they were quite different in fabrication and assembly from the Ericson models, but they also opened our eyes to new materials and techniques.
As Loren mentioned, the Holland-designed 33 & 36, Crealock-designed 26, etc. were all sold under the Ericson name, so they don't count! Stay tuned for more boats though.
Attachments
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Olson Brochure_Page_2.jpg -
Olson Brochure_Page_3.jpg -
Olson Brochure_Page_4.jpg -
Olson Brochure_Page_5.jpg -
Olson Brochure_Page_7.jpg
Time and Money
When we bought our '88 model, late in 1994, the broker knew the original owner. That guy had originally borrowed money to equip it with every factory option, and then added some electronics, a tri-radial, and a mylar genoa.
It was sold for (round number) $90K.
And yup, the seller was 'upside down' in it when we bought it.
One inflation calculator I found on-line puts that price, in 2019 dollars, at $191745.
Having looked at new cheaper-built boats in that size and displacement range from "Hunta-Cata-Benalina" I figure that ours would actually cost quite a bit over that to build out nowadays.
EY built very good products!
When we bought our '88 model, late in 1994, the broker knew the original owner. That guy had originally borrowed money to equip it with every factory option, and then added some electronics, a tri-radial, and a mylar genoa.
It was sold for (round number) $90K.
And yup, the seller was 'upside down' in it when we bought it.
One inflation calculator I found on-line puts that price, in 2019 dollars, at $191745.
Having looked at new cheaper-built boats in that size and displacement range from "Hunta-Cata-Benalina" I figure that ours would actually cost quite a bit over that to build out nowadays.
EY built very good products!
Roger
Member II
Here’s one that might surprise you. For a good part of the 80’s, Ericson built Supercat catamarans! Supercats were a beach catamaran a la Hobie or NACRA, although they never gained that level of popularity. They came in 15’, 17’, 19’ & 20’ models. I had the opportunity to race a Supercat 19 on several occasions, and it was a fun ride. The 20 was a monster – 12’ wide with a towering rig - and was billed at the time as the "world's fastest production boat".
The Supercats were developed in Florida, and at some point the venerable Boston Whaler company began building them – I’m not sure how that came about. At that time, Ericson and Boston Whaler were sister companies, both owned by CML Group. Apparently CML thought that Ericson would be more suited to building Supercats, and Ericson began producing them in California in the early 80’s.
Supercat was eventually sold off to someone in Minnesota in the late 80’s, and they have been long out of production.
More to come!
The Supercats were developed in Florida, and at some point the venerable Boston Whaler company began building them – I’m not sure how that came about. At that time, Ericson and Boston Whaler were sister companies, both owned by CML Group. Apparently CML thought that Ericson would be more suited to building Supercats, and Ericson began producing them in California in the early 80’s.
Supercat was eventually sold off to someone in Minnesota in the late 80’s, and they have been long out of production.
More to come!
Attachments
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Supercat Brochure p1.jpg -
Supercat Brochure p2.jpg -
Supercat Brochure p3.jpg -
Supercat Brochure p4.jpg
Parrothead
Member III
In general terms, price is not always directly correlated to quality.EY built very good products!
Grizz
Grizz
Roger that! (updated displacement numbers)
The Ericson-Olson 'history onion' keeps being peeled and this 'Trivia Thread' has been both educational and fascinating. Thanks to Roger for including the O-34 Brochure, with its updated Displacement numbers. The discrepancy between the Pacific Boats O-34, built with a cored hull, vs the Ericson full glass layup hull, has caused confusion in the past.
Most recently, it was discovered, accidentally, that ORR had used the 'cored hull prototype' displacement values to create the ORR rating for Shoe String, using the 8,800#'s of the prototype vs the 10,600#'s of the Ericson production run.
Today was the 1st time a printed brochure from Ericson, with the higher/accurate Displacement values, has been seen.
Haven't a clue who scribbled the numbers on the attachment or where it was acquired, but I've added Roger's brochure with the updated Displacement values to the file.
The Ericson-Olson 'history onion' keeps being peeled and this 'Trivia Thread' has been both educational and fascinating. Thanks to Roger for including the O-34 Brochure, with its updated Displacement numbers. The discrepancy between the Pacific Boats O-34, built with a cored hull, vs the Ericson full glass layup hull, has caused confusion in the past.
Most recently, it was discovered, accidentally, that ORR had used the 'cored hull prototype' displacement values to create the ORR rating for Shoe String, using the 8,800#'s of the prototype vs the 10,600#'s of the Ericson production run.
Today was the 1st time a printed brochure from Ericson, with the higher/accurate Displacement values, has been seen.
Haven't a clue who scribbled the numbers on the attachment or where it was acquired, but I've added Roger's brochure with the updated Displacement values to the file.
A more accurate version
That's a pre-production image and shows the wrong keel and rudder profile. No way to know for sure, but it looked like it was 'borrowed' from an Express 34 brochure.
I have an accurate drawing in my pix files here, from a Seattle area dealer back in the day. Unfortunately the flyer was printed on red (!) paper and I am not talented enough to totally clean it
up when making a digital image of it.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/album.php?albumid=26&attachmentid=8717
The discrepancy over the weight of the cored vs the solid-layup hull has never seemed like an issue. Hull #1 was from the original builder, and was cored, the rest of the 39 boat production run was built with solid layup hull construction by EY.
FWIW, I have heard that the "last" hull -- finished out by a Portland Oregon owner -- might really be #40. That one was later sold to a Seattle area sailor, and has all Lewmar opening ports (even the large ports) and a Yanmar diesel, IIRC.
Ah, the entertainment value of trivia!!
That's a pre-production image and shows the wrong keel and rudder profile. No way to know for sure, but it looked like it was 'borrowed' from an Express 34 brochure.
I have an accurate drawing in my pix files here, from a Seattle area dealer back in the day. Unfortunately the flyer was printed on red (!) paper and I am not talented enough to totally clean it
up when making a digital image of it.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/album.php?albumid=26&attachmentid=8717
The discrepancy over the weight of the cored vs the solid-layup hull has never seemed like an issue. Hull #1 was from the original builder, and was cored, the rest of the 39 boat production run was built with solid layup hull construction by EY.
FWIW, I have heard that the "last" hull -- finished out by a Portland Oregon owner -- might really be #40. That one was later sold to a Seattle area sailor, and has all Lewmar opening ports (even the large ports) and a Yanmar diesel, IIRC.
Ah, the entertainment value of trivia!!
Roger
Member II
Hmmm, very interesting! I have another Olson brochure that I thought was identical to the one I posted, but on closer examination I see that it’s different. That one has the same O34 page as that posted by Grizz, so different keel, rudder, displacement & sail dimensions from the one I posted.
I‘m away from my computer for a couple days, but I can upload the full Olson brochure when I return. Anyone know how best to upload the file to the Documents section? For attachments in the Forum I was limited to 5 pages at low res.
I‘m away from my computer for a couple days, but I can upload the full Olson brochure when I return. Anyone know how best to upload the file to the Documents section? For attachments in the Forum I was limited to 5 pages at low res.
Roger
Member II
And another one - in the 70’s, Ericson built a custom 40’ Bruce King designed boat called “Madcap” for Charlie Leighton. Charlie was CEO of the aforementioned CML Group, which owned Ericson for several years.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate any photos or drawings of Madcap, but I understand it was very “IOR-ish” with a narrow transom, along the lines of the original E-34. Anyone have more info on Madcap?
I read something about another, smaller custom boat called “Cadre” built by Ericson around that time, but I don’t have any further details (Seth, you out there?)
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate any photos or drawings of Madcap, but I understand it was very “IOR-ish” with a narrow transom, along the lines of the original E-34. Anyone have more info on Madcap?
I read something about another, smaller custom boat called “Cadre” built by Ericson around that time, but I don’t have any further details (Seth, you out there?)
Thanks Roger. This is interesting and new (!) information.
(Semi related aside: I knew two of the three founders of Ranger sailboats @ Ranger Boats in Kent WA. Back in the 80's they had a bread-and-butter sideline of building large fiberglass "awnings" to cover the loading dock platform approaches at... Boeing.
Once they made the mold, they would make them on request. They may have done this for other customers, but they mentioned this when we talked about the uncertain business of building small sailboats from molds since the late 40's. They were an old company, founded by 3 guys that mustered out of the Army Aircorp after WW2. Not sure - but they may have been on the same bomber crew at one point, over Europe.
I would speculate that many/most frp fabricators have done side projects.
More trivia: I watched the new deck mold being finished for the Ranger 8.5. This was for their acquired tooling for the old Chote-Feo Schumacher sloop. Apologies if I misspelled the name of the former CF-27. :nerd:
(Semi related aside: I knew two of the three founders of Ranger sailboats @ Ranger Boats in Kent WA. Back in the 80's they had a bread-and-butter sideline of building large fiberglass "awnings" to cover the loading dock platform approaches at... Boeing.
Once they made the mold, they would make them on request. They may have done this for other customers, but they mentioned this when we talked about the uncertain business of building small sailboats from molds since the late 40's. They were an old company, founded by 3 guys that mustered out of the Army Aircorp after WW2. Not sure - but they may have been on the same bomber crew at one point, over Europe.
I would speculate that many/most frp fabricators have done side projects.
More trivia: I watched the new deck mold being finished for the Ranger 8.5. This was for their acquired tooling for the old Chote-Feo Schumacher sloop. Apologies if I misspelled the name of the former CF-27. :nerd:
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Fun thread!
Depending on which version of the story one believes, Cadre was either an experimental build that became the motivation for the original (1977) pintail 34, or was the plug. I tend to believe the former. Either way, it was a game-changing shape for the IOR, at least for a moment in time. the 34 was, for a few years, a remarkably competitive 3/4-tonner, even against full-custom builds.
I never knew the CF-27 had a later life. Cool! Those things were rocketships in light air. There was a big to-do a few years back when Dennis Connor bought a CF-27, had "his guys" do all the big-league prep things to it, and then went out and beat up the local PHRF fleet. People screamed that he was bending the rules, but all he'd done was what any of them could have done... take a good boat, and do all the things to make it live up to its potential. That was always his model, as seen in "No Excuse To Lose"
Dennis Choate had a real track record of taking designs and making them successful. The CF-27 started as a Kaufman design, IIRC, as did the pretty successful Choate-40. The CF-37 and CF-41 began life on Shad Turner's boards. The 44 and 48 were Peterson designs.
Arriba, Choate's own boat, started as a Bruce King design, but was "tweaked" a bit. It's never been clear (to me) whether he worked with the original designers or in some way acquired the rights to the design and then re-made them to suit his own aesthetic. He has a remarkable "eye", and would look at a design and decide that in needed ...something. Robert Perry tells the story of a custom design that was being built for a client, and he got a phone call from Choate saying "you're going to love what I did with the rudder". Perry, sort of the king of "just build it like I f'ing drew it", was ticked, and flew down to Long Beach to get Choate sorted out. They "discussed" it and the conversation (I'm told) ended with Choate saying "well, that's how I'm going to build it". He did, and Perry later reported that Choate was right, the shape turned out better than what he'd drawn. So it goes.
In the case of Arriba he apparently decided the aft shape was too skinny, so he split the tooling down the middle, wedged it apart until it looked right to him, and... the resulting boat won the Transpac only a few months after being launched.
Fun bit of trivia, Choate's in-house "designer" was Alan Andrews, whose job initially consisted of fairing the lines of the "tweaks" and making drawings to catch up with the shape that ended up getting built. His first real designs were built largely on his own dime at Choate's shop, and the success of the resulting boats launched a pretty successful career - and a lasting partnership. Most of the famous Andrews designs, including a string of Andrews-70 "sleds", for example, were built at the Choate shop....
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