New Olson 911S owner

[Slick470]

Been lurking for some time now and learning from the discussions of others, but figured I'd introduce myself now that my wife and I have purchased an Ericson. Well, an Olson built by Ericson anyway.

We're now the proud owners of hull #149 which I assume to be one of the last ones built by Ericson in 1990.

Andy

 

[Loren Beach]

Welcome to the ranks and do post up some more pics as you get time.
You can put pictures in your personal album here, by the way.
"Hawkeye" is an historic name, as (if memory serves) that was the name of a Bruce King designed IOR boat in the 70's.

Cheers,
Loren

 

[Slick470]

Loren, thanks for the welcome. I did not know about the Bruce King Hawkeye, but that is good to know. My influence is more from the James Fenimore Cooper books and MASH, whereas my wife's is more from her being an Iowa alum.

Since we haven't had the boat that long, I don't have much for "pretty" pictures but have plenty from our survey of the boat before we bought her and some from when she showed up on the truck. I'd be happy to post anything specific if you'd like. As we clean everything up I'll take some better pictures to put in my personal album but put a few in there anyway.

The boat also came with a box of paperwork that I plan to scan and try to upload for the docs. I've found it pretty hard to get anything online for these boats, so I'd like to help others find what I couldn't. I uploaded some of the better stuff I found online to the ftp site today and sent Sean a PM.

Andy

 

[Seth]

0-911

Basically a Schumacher 30, and a great all around boat-was designed to the MORC rule.

BTW- the BK Hawkeye was a custom aluminum 48 footer with twin bilge boards-very cool.

If you would like any tuning or sail inventory help let me know, and welcome to the site!

Cheers,

S

 

[Slick470]

Thanks Seth, I had done some pretty extensive research on the build prior to finding this boat. My understanding is it started as the Schumacher 30 or Capo Bay 30 and around 7 were built by Westerly. George Olson at Pacific Boats built around 22-25 of them as the Olson 911s with a shorter rig, different foils, a re-worked cockpit, and more of an interior. My understanding is that Ericson built around 50 hulls in two forms the S and SE. The S has a bit less furniture and teak than the SE. The main difference between the Pacific built and the Ericson built is that the Ericson hull is solid glass whereas the Pacific hull is cored.

Prior to buying ours I looked at both a local Ericson SE and the S that we ended up buying from Alabama and the interior differences are pretty noticeable. There are several more drawers and cabinets on the SE, there is an oven and more galley amenities and quite a bit more teak trim.

I appreciate the offer for tuning and inventory help. I'll probably take you up that offer. She came with a pretty decent inventory but would be curious to know what sails you would recommend for the boat. Tuning will come as we shake out the boat some more.

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Slick470]

Hawkeye

Speaking of our "new" Olson's unintentional Ericson related via Bruce King namesake... I was digging through some boat stuff that I had saved on the computer and came up with the attached articles. I must have gleaned them off of a forum at some point and thought they were interesting. I'll include the one on Aggressive since it's a similar design as well.

 

[Seth]

Don't forget Terrorist!

Those are the beasts! There were 3 in this "series"; the 48' "Hawkeye", the 40' "Agressive ll", and the 35' "Terrorist". All were aluminum bilge boarders, and at the time, there was nothing on the water (in the same size range) that could stay close going upwind.

I say series because they were all to different owners, but were all the same basic configuration.

I sailed a lot of iles on the little one in SoCal, and a few on the 40 on the Great Lakes.

Later,

S

 

[Slick470]

I didn't have one of terrorist, or I would have put it up too.

I read in another thread that you were involved in the Ericson racing programs... did you guys race the Olsons as well?

 

[Seth]

E-racing

I worked for them in the very early 80's and did the factory campaigns for the 36 and 33. The Olsons were not even twinkles in Ericson's eyes.

I don't think they ever raced them with factory people...

Would have been fun. I did race the first Capo 30 (by Westerly) when it came out around 1984-85. Great boat.

Cheers

 

[Slick470]

that's too bad that you didn't race the 911 as well. It would be interesting to know what you thought of the differences between the two builds.

 

[Seth]

Similar but different

Build quality and technology are about the same, but they are very different boats. The 911 is a Schumacher design, and was shaped for the MORC rule, and the 33/36 are RH boats shaped for IOR. MORC boats have longer waterlines for the LOA with a much less distorted shape. Arguably they are better all-around boats. The 911 is little faster than the 33-mainly because although shorter, it probably has the same or longer WL without any "bumps" in the hull lines.
Both great boats, just different. Enjoy it!

 

[Slick470]

I had meant the two builds as in the Capo 30 and the Ericson O911S since you had sailed the Capo. I thought it would pretty interesting to chat with someone who had raced both in similar conditions and to see which they preferred and why.

My understanding is that the hull shapes are the same, but the Ericson has a little shorter rig, elliptical foils, and a bit more weight due to the solid layup hull and the added furniture. It also rates a bit slower in PHRF.

I do love having a 30 footer that rates even with some 35 footers I've sailed.

 

[Seth]

Right

I thought I had answered that, but you are correct on all counts, and the differences would be what you expect. The Capo vintage boats will certainly be a bit quicker in light air and downwind, and especially in lumpy seas due to less weight in the ends.

The Ericson will do almost as well in breezy. flat water conditions.

The Ericson is likely a structurally stronger boat overall-the first Capo 30 needed some beefing up in the chainplate department-on Hull #1 I had the stb. main bulkhead come out of the deck like a piece of bread popping out of a toaster (hence the name "toaster boat")! A quick tack saved the rig from coming down. I know later hull #'s were a bit beefier in this regard..

Otherwise you have it figured out.

Cheers,

S

 

[Slick470]

I had not heard the "toaster boat" nickname. That would be damn scary having that bulkhead come through the deck. I've had a couple windward shrouds come loose on other boats and that was scary enough.

Luckily I've only heard of one of the Ericson O911 owners having chainplate issues where the bulkhead started to flex, but not due to rot. His issue was corrected with some crafty engineering.

Andy

 

[Seth]

Yup

Well, in our case the main bulkhead was not sufficiently tabbed/bonded to the hull, so the chainplate/shroud loads pulled it away from the hull and up through the deck.This was hull #1, and all subsequent hulls had them more thoroughly bonded to the hull. Our boat was repaired and reinforced and is still heavily raced today-so all's well that ends well!

 

[Griz]

I'm also a new 911se owner—great boat! I do have one question however: When using the #3 (105%), should I run the jib sheets inside or outside the shrouds? Seems like they should go inside for the proper sheeting angle when going to weather, but when reaching/running it doesn't look right.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Ken

 

[Slick470]

Ken,

I haven't had a reason to fly the #3 yet so I'm not positive, but I believe that the sheets for ours will run inside the shrouds. I have line adjustable cars for the #1 and a second set forward for the #3 that are pin stop. The way the forward ones are currently set from the previous owner is right at the shrouds and the track runs inside as well.

From other boats I've sailed, inside usually gives a tighter sheeting angle and will allow you to point better with the smaller sail.

Good luck!

 

[Vincent]

#3

I sailed on a 911 for 4 years in the S f bay 30 fleet . The # 3 is sheeted on inside.
When off the wind you either rig a outside sheet or put up the spinnaker , if the wind is far enough aft. If you are just out for a day sail you live with the bad angel off the wind, or you put up a sail that sheets outside well . That. Boat must have come with a few sails as they were our competition regularly.
Congratulation on the new boat.
Vince.

 

[dinodes70]

Weather helm

Hi i am owner of a Olson 911 se out in the far east in Singapore.

Just like to check if any of you guys get a lot of weather helm and how do you correct that? We have tried a couple of thing like tighten the backstay, crack off the main.

am sure you guys sail in much stronger winds than us so would appreciate any advice.

thanks

 

[Slick470]

Hi i am owner of a Olson 911 se out in the far east in Singapore.

Just like to check if any of you guys get a lot of weather helm and how do you correct that? We have tried a couple of thing like tighten the backstay, crack off the main.

am sure you guys sail in much stronger winds than us so would appreciate any advice.

thanks

Welcome,

We sail our O911S in lighter air on the Chesapeake Bay, so I haven't noticed too much weather helm, but then we haven't really pushed the boat in full crewed racing conditions either. That said, from previous discussions, most owners have been able to minimize the weather helm by adjusting the mast rake closer to vertical, putting mast forward at the partners to allow for more prebend, and tune the rig to the conditions you sail. I have not tried any of these suggestions, so YMMV. There are also some differences in how the Pacific built boats and the Ericson built boats respond to these changes.

As far as sails, what condition are yours? The ability to flatten them out will help with weather helm as well. If they are stretched and you can't flatten them, a new set will also help.

As a last thought, some owners have put a deeper Schumacher designed rudder on the boat which also helps in controlling the extra helm.

Another good source for O911 information is the mailing list. It's pretty much a ghost town these days but there is some decent information archived there. http://www.sailpix.com/email/olson911/

I'm sure that others will pop on here and ask you to post pictures of your boat in your user gallery, so please do that too.