E-33RH Advice in buying one (Lake Erie)

[K2MSmith]

Good advice, thank you. Mostly day sailing and cruises first, but eventually I'd like to get involved in casual club family races. My boys are learning on Optis now, so hopefully they can crew.

I am terribly afraid that the CO does not even have any wedges. Rod rigging except the usual backstay, forestay and running back stays. Very slight green patina on shroud turnbuckles. Not sure you can pick up anything from the photos below... Definitely more complex rigging than I am used to.

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Interesting...Are the runners connected to blocks on the sail track instead of the transom ? Is that a modification that was added ?

 

[C. Shamis]

I just realized I bought E33RH #12 from sf1332 last September, and I'm moving her back to Ohio! Lol.

 

[Seth]

Let me know if you have any rigging, tuning or sailing questions

 

[C. Shamis]

Yes! 2 questions: Who can redo lifelines in Erie? And does anybody have a bucket truck somebody can use to inspect the mast head? I want to get rid of all those wire-leader halyards like ...yesterday. But I don't want to put new staset until somebody can tell me if the sheeves need replaced from being chewed up from the wire.

I'll be up in Erie Saturday to put her back in the water, then we're motoring over to Wolverine.

 

[Seth]

Well… those weren’t the kinds of questions I was expecting.. I’m not local to Erie, so can’t really help with logistical things. As for the halyard upgrade, If you are (wisely) switching to a non-wire based halyard system, I strongly suggest changing the sheaves. If they are original they are past due, snd they were designed specifically for wire-rope. Just do it-your new halyards will run more freely and last longer. Cheers

 

[Loren Beach]

FWIW, I am, this week, now doing our occasional (2 or 3 year) removal and cold water laundry of the 5/16" T-900 halyards I changed to in the 90's. The covers fade a little, but work and handle like new (-ish) .Windy and drizzly day here, so will wait a day to stitch 'em back to the temp, tag lines and run 'em back up again.
These replaced the OEM wire/rope halyards. I left in place the original masthead aluminum sheaves from 1988, until 2021 when we took advantage of having the spar down and replaced them all with new Zephyr sheaves.
All the mast base turning blocks and other sheaves/clutches/winches are much newer, as well.
Not sure of the exact quote, but i recall Christian saying one time that while we inexorably get older, our boats just keep getting younger!

And, every time I look at a new Bene 33 for $390K, my restored Ericson/Olson just looks better and better! And better. Oh yeah...

 

[C. Shamis]

Yeah… that’s what I was expecting. Wire is gross. lol.
I do have a weird one though. In the lazarette there’s these two weird triple blocks that are attached to the aft stringers. Then another block that goes to through gge hull and into the rejoin in a union of sorts to make the back stay. I understand it’s some kind of racing tunable backstay arrangement… I just don’t know if I need (or want) it.

The boat came with RBS, but I don’t race, but I do SH, and I don’t need the complication. And I don’t know if this is related to that or something else.

Also… THOSE LOOK 45 years old! Is that 45 year old crappy rope the only thing keep my mast vertical???

 

[Loren Beach]

The 33RH came with a multi-part mechanical backstay adjuster, rather than stock hydraulics. At least that's my understanding of it after having two of these models in our club. There were a lot of parts for a lot of force multiplication, and it was adjustable from either side of the cockpit, IIRC. One owner converted to to hydraulics. Seth can accurately fill in the functioning, I would guess.

 

[Seth]

Yes-the race option had an underdeck backstay purchase, which I understand never worked smoothly as there was a fair amount of friction. I am sure any good local rigger can make some adjustments to improve the function. An adjustable backstay is really important to get any goid upwind performance. Needs to be nearly loose in light air and progressively tighter as the wind comes up to both flatten the main and remove headstay sag. You really need at least 24:1, if you can get it, set up in a cascading system. The runners are needed when racing to keep the headstay further under control independently of the backstay, but they are not required for day sailing or cruising as the rig is pretty stout. You want to secure the runners as far back as possible so they are closest to centerline. If you lead them to the rail forward, they will pull the mast to windward instead of back.