Ericson 27 Modifications
The most important modification I made to the boat was the bottom. Ultimately, I had the boat out of the water for nearly 7 months. In that time I took all the old paint off, took care of some blisters, and then went to town with the fairing compound. Sand, add compound, sand add compound. When I was satisifed with the bottom, I put on the epoxy first, and then went with Baltoplate for the paint. Baltoplate is amazing stuff! It sands out to a beautiful, shiny 2000 grit finish.
The next project was sails. I sat down with the sail maker, and we concluded that in the Puget Sound, it just made sense to go for the 9 second PHRF bonus you get for not having overlapping headsails. To that extent, I have a Light 3, Heavy 3, and a 4. The main is a different subject. The boat is currently rated for a slightly oversized main. This is a full batton, lose footed main. I am currently experimenting with a new mainsail which is best described as looking like a multihull sail. I got an interesting look from the sailmaker when I asked him to cut a main with as much roach as possible. The experiment is based on if the new main will generate enough extra speed to justify the rating hit.
The A-Sails came next. Again, based on the Puget Sound, a lot of the race courses are quite reachy. To that extent, and I think partly because the sail maker really wanted to make a big A-Sail for the boat, this is the course I chose. It is great, especially because we carry it on a spinn pole vs. a sprit, so am still able to sail quite deep angles.
Other modifications included the addition of a baby-stay so I could eliminate the forward lower shrouds. This increased the sheeting angle, and gave more control over the shape of the mast and consequently the shape of the main. The backstay on an E27 is the split kind. In order to have an adjustable backstay, we simply anchored onside, and inserted a purchase into the other side. Both are attached in the normal place. I should mention that the backstay and babystay are both spectra.
The most recent project has been the new mainsheet system. I eliminated the cabin top traveller and sheeting system in lieu of an end sheeting system that attaches to a bridle in the cockpit. The main reasons for this were weight, and so that it is easier to trim the main while driving.
We have a big race in the Northwest out of Vancouver called Swiftsure. After Swifsure 2 years ago, I have no doubts about the strenght of the Ericson 27. There is nothing quite like surfing down waves at 11kts at 3am. It was awesome.
