New E26 owner here:)

[Christian Williams]

Yes, spinnaker halyard works fine as a topping lift for whisker pole.

And it's important to have that third halyard as a spare.

 

[MountainSailor]

So what your saying is I should spend the extra $ while the mast is down and install an extra BC I have the shiv. I also have a gen pole. I done see how I can raise a spin with this as it would need to be a mast head halyard right? I wish I could see pics of this thing rigged. I want to run a spin so that will mean 4 halyards in my mast? My main, 2 jibs and a gen?

 

[Christian Williams]

Download the files here, from the E26 documentation section:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/vbdownloads.php?categoryid=11

All you need is a jib halyard and a main halyard to sail.

If you really intend to fly a spinnaker you'll need at least another halyard, plus spinnaker sheet and guy, blocks, and if have a roller furling jib you'll also need a pole lift.

If not experienced, stick with simple the first season.

 

[MountainSailor]

Great info! Thanks for the links. I do have a roller furling Genoa I also have a pole but no spin in the boat. I think I'll replace all of the lines now so I don't have to do it later. Im an experienced sailor just not with this boat. I've grown up dingy sailing and on Hobies. But I'm a quick study and I'm surrounded by experienced sailors.

 

[bgary]

Another option is an asymmetric spinnaker.

Still need a halyard for it, but don't need spinnaker pole, topping lift, foreguy, etc.

 

[markvone]

The E26 is a fractional rig, the forestay does not attach at the masthead, but 7/8ths of the way up. I don't remember if my Kenyon mast had two jib halyards exiting just below the forestay but I believe it was only one. I added a spin halyard sheave box just ABOVE the forestay attachment and a pole lift sheave box at about spreader height BELOW the jib halyard when I added a symmetrical spinnaker. If you have twin jib halyard sheaves you could use the second jib halyard for the pole lift and as a spare jib halyard. My only concern would be potential tangles between the second jib halyard and the top furling swivel when using the second halyard as the pole lift because they exit the mast close together.

Only the main halyard, on the other side of the mast (the side with the track and masthead crane) exits at the masthead. You may also have a second sheave next to the main for a boom topping lift or spare main halyard. My E26 had a fixed wire from the masthead crane for the boom topping lift with the adjustment done inside the boom. I didn't use the second masthead sheave.

Mark

 

[MountainSailor]

Electronics....

I have the halyard issues handles now thanks for the help. No more wire to rope either all rope and new shivs all around. I've decided to have all the standing rigging done at my Marina as well its old and needs to be done. My budget is crushed. LOL so now I ordering all the other fun stuff... I need a decent depth finder plotter etc. I have mounts tons of fish finders and depth finders in toons and power boats but never a sailboat. Where does it go? I can see where the old speed wheel is under the hull and I would imagine the rest of the stuff is what is also there. But I'm fairly certain all those gauges are shot and not going to work. So where do I look for this stuff and where does it go? West marine has some good deals right now and I'm putting a order together. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance you guys are the best!

 

[Alan Gomes]

I have the halyard issues handles now thanks for the help. No more wire to rope either all rope and new shivs all around. I've decided to have all the standing rigging done at my Marina as well its old and needs to be done. My budget is crushed. LOL so now I ordering all the other fun stuff... I need a decent depth finder plotter etc. I have mounts tons of fish finders and depth finders in toons and power boats but never a sailboat. Where does it go? I can see where the old speed wheel is under the hull and I would imagine the rest of the stuff is what is also there. But I'm fairly certain all those gauges are shot and not going to work. So where do I look for this stuff and where does it go? West marine has some good deals right now and I'm putting a order together. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks in advance you guys are the best!

I mounted a depth transducer that shoots through the hull, which means that there is no need to drill a hole in the hull. It came with my Garmin 546S GPS unit. The transducer is made by Airmar. It's just bedded to the inside of the hull with silicone.

On my E26-2 I mounted it against the hull underneath the very aft end of the vee berth. This is underneath the "step" that allows you to step up into the vee berth. You first remove the cover that gives you access to the storage space underneath this step. On my boat the floor of that storage space in turn has a removable plate which then gives you access to the hull. My guess is that is where your knot meter paddle wheel is. There should be room in this area to add a depth transducer. This is where I added mine, and then ran the wiring back from this location, along the starboard side (underneath the settee), and then back to the GPS unit that is mounted at the companionway.

I hope this explanation makes sense. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[MountainSailor]

Totally makes sense. I know exactly where your taking about. I have found some in hull" transducers. Now I have to pick a head unit my cart at West Marine is getting expensive I'm trying to go basic on some stuff. I do t need a GPS or plotter yet. I can get away with a depth gage this summer. I might go for it if I find a good deal. And I'm still stumped on how to get to the transom mushroom cock put drains and that whole situation. I know it can be done but yuck. The boat is in my driveway now and my uncle will be here in 9 days to start the work. I have also been thinking about ordering the full "repair or rebuild" kit for the M12, it comes with filters, belt, injector, glow plug and a bunch of other stuff. Any advice on the M12? Also looking for a 3 blade prop with a smaller lesser pitch for the chop... I'll start posting pics and start a page of all the repairs we do.

 

[Loren Beach]

One little bit of opinion about where to locate that new in-hull depth transducer. There is a chance that the forward areas might not have a horizontal or nearly so place to glue it so that it can broadcast (mostly) straight down.
Plan B is to put it in the aft bilge toward the center. With an inboard engine and shaft in a shorter hull this may not be easy, but it can work fine for depth.
Some folks will insist that you want it forward to give you warning before running aground, but remember that 99.9% of the time the bottom slopes enough that getting a reading from 15 feet further back will not help or hurt your course planning.

We have had transducers located forward and aft, on two different boats, and found no practical difference in sailing the boat.

Our experience, FWIW.
And, YMMV... !


Cheers,
Loren

 

[Alan Gomes]

One little bit of opinion about where to locate that new in-hull depth transducer. There is a chance that the forward areas might not have a horizontal or nearly so place to glue it so that it can broadcast (mostly) straight down.
Plan B is to put it in the aft bilge toward the center. With an inboard engine and shaft in a shorter hull this may not be easy, but it can work fine for depth.
Some folks will insist that you want it forward to give you warning before running aground, but remember that 99.9% of the time the bottom slopes enough that getting a reading from 15 feet further back will not help or hurt your course planning.

We have had transducers located forward and aft, on two different boats, and found no practical difference in sailing the boat.

Our experience, FWIW.
And, YMMV... !


Cheers,
Loren

Loren,
You raise a good point. The Airmar transducer that was packaged with the Garmin 546S has an adjustable mount so that the base can be affixed to a sloped part of the hull but then adjusted so that the transducer itself points and shoots straight down. In my own installation, the portion of the hull where it is attached is at an 18-deg. slope. Airmar specifically wants the transducer mounted (on a fin keel boat) to the side of the centerline and forward of the keel. But you are right: a transducer without such a mount would shoot off to the side, giving unreliable readings.

 

[907Juice]

I'm in the process of refitting my transducer. I've spent some time perusing the Internet. what has worked for me is a small pvc pipe and a couple toilet wax rings to hold in place. Then you can adjust and move it around and adjust the pitch till you find a good spot. I haven't quite settled on a spot yet but when I do I'll prob attach it to the hull with some silicone. Right now I have been moving it around the two storage compartments in the forward vee berths.

E25+

 

[MountainSailor]

Thanks for all the good advice! I'm and considering replacing both the thru hull paddle wheel and the thruhulls transducer.... They are both easy to get to and they are threaded and don't look like they would be a big deal? IdK? Has anyone done it? I'm not scared of thruhulls as long as I can get to them. But I guess with chart plotters and GPS I don't need a paddle wheel to tell me speed. So much stuff to think aboout and try to keep in budget. Ugh.

 

[toddster]

I had my transducer mounted inside with the toilet-bowl wax for a year before I had the boat hauled out and could drill a hole. It worked, but it appeared to get confused (by internal reflections?) at the critical depths when I needed it most. (The boat lived in a very shallow marina, up a narrow, shallow back-channel.) It has never had that problem since it was mounted as a through-hull.

The paddle wheel does give you speed through water, which a GPS does not. Completely different things if you live where there's current. The RM one also gives you water temperature. My new one did not fit in the same hole as the old dead one - I had to drill it out to a larger diameter.

A little mental triangle-drawing should show you that a slight deviation from vertical will make little difference at shallow depths... And you're going to be heeled over anyway...

 

[toddster]

...Where I sail now, the depth meter is equally likely to make a sudden jump to "100 ft" or "10.0 ft."
The decimal point is very hard to see and can lead to sudden soiling of one's sailing shorts :0

There may be some attraction for analog displays, after all.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Thanks for all the good advice! I'm and considering replacing both the thru hull paddle wheel and the thruhulls transducer.... They are both easy to get to and they are threaded and don't look like they would be a big deal? IdK? Has anyone done it? I'm not scared of thruhulls as long as I can get to them. But I guess with chart plotters and GPS I don't need a paddle wheel to tell me speed. So much stuff to think aboout and try to keep in budget. Ugh.

My opinion on this, FWIW: I wouldn't bother replacing the paddle wheel for the speed, and if the through hulls aren't leaking I'd just leave them alone. For speed I think the GPS is just fine unless you are actively racing the boat and specifically need to know speed through the water vs. speed over ground. But even when working, those paddle wheel sensors are constantly getting fouled and require frequent cleaning in order to be even remotely accurate. At least that has been my experience with them in Southern California, which admittedly is a high fouling area. And as for the depth transducer, by all means go with a shoot through the hull model. My Airmar transducer has been utterly reliable and gives me accurate readings. On some boats I suppose there could conceivably be certain irregularities in the hull construction that might throw off the readings, but you and I have the identical boat and I can tell you that mounting the transducer where I specified in my previous post (and which is where Airmar says to mount it) will work just fine for you. I certainly would not advise drilling any more holes in your boat when there is absolutely no reason to do so.

 

[MountainSailor]

I hear you on the paddle wheel for sure. I was looking at the transducer last night and the gasket looks questionable. I don't intend to drill any holes. I think I can take this off and replace it with one of the same size. I like the inhull as you stated earlier. If I go that way this is old one will leave for sure so it muhtbeb better to just replace it. I don't know just yet...

 

[MountainSailor]

Back to work.

New mast shives here
new halyards all 4 on the way
bottom paint original burgundy On the way
glow plugs belt filters etc in the way
boom shivs done
new harken roller fueling here
new sheets here
mechanic to help install all here on Saturday
new Marlone thru transom drains on the way
(cockpit side this winter)
teak cleans up well
power washed the whole boat the cabin and wood cleaned up well
New shift and throttle cables installed
scafoldings set up for wheeling and polishing
new whale gusher ten on the way rebuild kit here
new toilet in head installed still need to figure out how to get the old whale maker ten out.
My sails look ok looks to bethel original main and a new gen. And a Catalina 25 sail?
my upholstery should be done soon
Marina should have most of the standing rigging done by now
new windex
new mast head LED light

now I worry about my rudder and the bushings and to make sure we don't leaks there. We start the intstall of all the new stuff the weekend. Any advice is helpful. I promise I'll post pics as we go. I have a good camera.

 

[Shelman]

I'm not sure about the mk-4 but on the E-26 mk2 and mk3 the rudder tube goes all the way through from the hull to the cockpit sole so there is no need for a seal on the rudder tube and no possibility for leaks.
Unless.... you get a leak where the rudder tube goes through the bottom of the hull. Alan had a small leak there from a void and ended up pouring some resin in to a little lake to fix the problem. I applied some extra layers of fiberglass around the same area after hearing of his troubles.

Edit:
I just remembered you have wheel steering so you do have a seal at the top of the rudder tube. you can probably access it but will have to remove everything connected to it. also check to see if there is a grease gun zerk fitting about half way up the tube. Filling the tube with fresh grease alone will do much good.

 

[Alan Gomes]

I'm not sure about the mk-4 but on the E-26 mk2 and mk3 the rudder tube goes all the way through from the hull to the cockpit sole so there is no need for a seal on the rudder tube and no possibility for leaks.
Unless.... you get a leak where the rudder tube goes through the bottom of the hull. Alan had a small leak there from a void and ended up pouring some resin in to a little lake to fix the problem. I applied some extra layers of fiberglass around the same area after hearing of his troubles.

What Randy described is essentially what we did. There was a small void originating from the underside of the boat, where the rudder tube is bonded to the underside of the hull. Water was migrating through this void and up and *back* toward the aft end of the skeg, and then up into the area aft the rudder tube inside the boat. (Hope that makes sense.) We were convinced that it was a leak originating from the aft end of the skeg but eventually discovered the void at the rudder tube on the bottom of the hull. We fixed it by pouring resin inside the skeg and then using a vacuum pump to draw the resin from inside the boat, through the void, and out the small crack on the bottom of the boat. Then we also made the resin "lake" that Randy described. Problem solved. I also added some glass to the forward side of the rudder tube, though there was probably no reason to do so.