e39 or 39b

SolAire anchored Somes Sound, Maine If you look close, there are two cats and Lisa in the picture. Not shown are seals, bald eagles, osprey, loons and tons of cormorants.

I'm considering doing a row of cushion backs across the access holes and not putting a long cushion below. Seems like I'd gain some shoulder room when sleeping. I'm thinking that some velcro would be sufficient to hold this up. Anyone have an opinion they would like to share? Does this look...

Just thought I'd post up a sidelit picture of our chainplate attachment to the hull. The lower aft is to the left, the upper is to the right. The lower forward chainplate is bolted to the bulkhead a bit further forward from this. I'm not sure why the lower aft goes further down the hull, the...

We've been doublehanding our boat in the spinnaker category all summer and I'm looking for a way to handle the main during a gybe. I've searched through the archives and read all the gybing and boom brake threads I can find, but I didn't get a feel for a consensus on using a boom brake for an...

We have a crack on the keel along the centerline where the two halves were joined in a secondary bond. I know this has been a topic covered before and I have a fuzzy recall of one instance of a E39 having a similar split. I have pretty much seen every square inch of hull on the inside and...

You would have bilge envy if you knew the depth of our bilge. We had to cut out the sole to gain access for cleaning out the 40+ years of accumulated gunk. It was an awful mess under there, use your imagination. Let me help: the shower did not have a separate sump. It is cleanish now and...

I just spent some time tuning up the mast in the slip the last couple of days. The boat sat for a couple of months between sails and the rig seemed much looser than before. We also lost the metal piece that holds the shroud against the upper spreader while out sailing our shakedown last week...

Happy New Year everybody! Recently I had a shipwright (really!) tell me that he thought the hull on our boat was pretty thin. I know for a fact that the hull above the waterline at the V-berth is about 5/16", just like the layup schedule said it would be (ask me how I know.) I also know the...

We are moving our boat to another marina which requires our boat to have 3/4" dock lines and 5/8" spring lines. We are in hurricane country, so maybe that is reasonable. But doesn't that sound a little excessive? Or should I be grateful? Chris

Does anyone know how the mast step is attached to the keel on the E39? Other than the puddle of resin and scant pieces of fiberglass layed over the base... I'm not sure how much lateral load is generated at the base of a mast? It's held up for 41 years and at least one dismasting, so it is...

I don't have the budget for any modern materials or laminates for new sails. Most likely I'll have some sails made from Dacron. In reading about sails and sailmaking in books, this seems like a fine choice. My question is about computer aided design of sails. I had a very large mitrecut...

I got a hankering to permanently remove the rubrail and it's chalk insert. It looks like one could cut/grind off the out turned overlap of hull & deck and replace with a good old fashioned fiberglass lay up over the seam. Has anyone done this? Am I creating a problem? Thanks! Chris

Has anyone considered creating watertight lockers under the side cockpit seating on an E39? I only ask because the space from the aft end of the boat to the bulkhead under the companionway ladder is one big open space and essentially communicates with the rest of the boat. It seems if one were...

Hello- We've been steadily chipping away at my E39 since we bought it in January and are outfitting the boat for long distance cruising. One of the next items is the vang: rigid or not. Most of the boats I've sailed on only had non-rigid vangs and the ones that had a rigid vang I didn't think...

John Kretschmer wrote a very complimentary review of the E39 and E39B in his Used Boat Notebook in Techline (Sailing magazine ?). I haven't found it online but a slip neighbor gave us a copy. As our neighbor said, it points out that she is a really nice boat ... "but you already knew that"...