Olson 34 reno projects

[ewade]

Hi, I bought a 1989 Olson 34 from Seattle last summer. I'm hauling her out next week & plan to retrofit the anchor locker (to hold a bigger Bruce & windlass) and adding a swim ladder to the stern. Have any other owners done such projects and, if so, would you have any advice for me?
Thanks in advance,
Elaine from Nanaimo, BC

 

[Loren Beach]

Perchance, do you have Sunwood?

I have a sistership, and have epoxied and redone the bolts for the locker hinges. Also the part where the sliding rod needed to be better glassed in to protect the balsa. I also had to route out some wet balsa where the end of the rod goes into the starboard side under the deck. I re-epoxied that part.

A windlass would be challenging. If you mount it right behind the rear of the lid, it would intrude into the fore peak to some extent and you would still have to store the chain somewhere...

Swim ladder. Yup. Boat needs one. I have a flip down one that is on my "someday" list to install on the starboard side of the transom when I get a Round Tuit. It's in my basement, lot of good that does me!

Luckily it's easy to step off the lowered rear seat area to our inflatable.

Photos of our locker here:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3951&referrerid=28

Stern (but not the upper part) photos here:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=7890&referrerid=28

Can you post some photos of your project areas?

Regards,
Loren

ps: Please bring your boat to the Ericson/Olson Rendezvous in Pt Townsend in June!

pps: added a better picture of our stern.

 

[ewade]

Hi Loren,
Yes, I have Sunwood. I'm re-christening her Synergy (and she'll probably be spelled SINergy during our local SIN regatta in July). She's a beautiful boat, extremely fast and we're very pleased. She needs some work & has been raced hard in the past, but our previous boats were Thunderbirds so this is like trading in a pony for a racehorse! Plus she came with a ton of sails so we're still in the discovery phase of ownership.

Thanks for the info on your anchor locker conversion. I'll be taking some pix during our haulout so will post some before & after pix up there. We're finishing our spring series racing this Sunday then hauling out for a couple of weeks before regatta season. And thanks for the invitation to the rendezvous, but we'd already planned to take the month of June to ctuise to the Broughton Archipelago area. Is the rendezvous an annual event? If it's in the same area each time, we'd love to attend next year.

And I was thinking about the ladder being mounted on the transom or the gunwhale. I'm thinking transom, because we can just mount it & leave it. We may get a custom one fabricated if we don't find anything suitable from the chandlers.
Elaine

 

[Slick470]

Granted this is on an Olson 911S and not an Olson 34, here is a picture of how our swim ladder is mounted. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know how well it works in the down position. The stern lifeline gate keeps it in place. Please ignore the rust/exhaust stains in the photo, those have since been cleaned off.

 

[ewade]

Thanks, Andy. That looks great - the transom's very similar to the 34, isn't it.
Elaine

 

[Slick470]

Elaine,

I wouldn't be surprised if they were very similar in dimensions. The O34 transom may have been built off of the same or a slightly enlarged mold as the O911S.

 

[Loren Beach]

Ladder

I "borrowed" this image off a posting on SA. This is the first O-34, and the cabin port arrangement is a bit different than the production run.
Note the stern ladder -- looks usable.

LB

 

[ewade]

Ladder

Thanks, Loren. I've printed both pix & taken them to the local chandler who's going to try & get one that's similar. Can't go cruising without a ladder!
Elaine

 

[Loren Beach]

Elaine,
How's the ladder project going?
On another "upgrade" issue, I am moving along on building angled riser bases for the primary winches. Jay back in Chicago and Charlie down in the Bay area are working toward the same goal.
If you like, we can launch a new "winch improvement" thread...


Best,
Loren in rainy Portland

 

[ewade]

ladder

Hi Loren! Coincidentally we were in Victoria today where we saw John Booth. He's a boat builder who recently recovered a grounded Olson 911 & will fabricate a ladder both for his boat & ours. We've checked, and the transom dimensions are almost the same. So that's one problem we've solved. We also ripped out the headliner to re-bed & replace some deck hardware, & were struggling with what to replace the headliner with. We've seen a few good ideas, and will decide in the next week or so. But we're due to go cruising for the month of June, so will have to go with the fibreglass showing inside. Never mind, I'd rather be sailing than working on these projects anyways! Here's a photo of our Olson just prior to launching last week.
Elaine

 

[Loren Beach]

Those boats are sure pretty when fresh-buffed and painted in the yard! The name came out Great!

Please do post a picture and price for the new ladder, when you get a chance.
Is that the Booth that used to build fiberglass T-Birds? Faster rudders for Catalina 27's?

Cheers,
Loren

 

[ewade]

ladder

Yep, that's the one. We've also noticed that the rudder will cavitate when we're under a big load & John says the 911 does the same thing. So he's going to build us a new rudder too, after he's tested the one he's building for the 911. Who knows, we could start a great big rudder business for him! And John's cheap (that's our old Tbird fleet motto,, cheep cheep cheap) so he doesn't charge too much. I'll keep you posted.

So why rebuild the winches? Do you have problems with overrides?

Elaine
in rainy Nanaimo

Bring on global warming

 

[Loren Beach]

Yep, that's the one. We've also noticed that the rudder will cavitate when we're under a big load & John says the 911 does the same thing. So he's going to build us a new rudder too, after he's tested the one he's building for the 911. Who knows, we could start a great big rudder business for him! And John's cheap (that's our old Tbird fleet motto,, cheep cheep cheap) so he doesn't charge too much. I'll keep you posted.

So why rebuild the winches? Do you have problems with overrides?

Elaine
in rainy Nanaimo
Bring on global warming

Original purpose was not to rebuild the winches (altho I did just clean & lube them all on the home workbench) but to change the position of the winches....
Stock, they are tilted outward due to the camber on the side deck and also subject to overrides. We are building new 'risers' that will raise each winch about 4" on the outside and level them. This will get the sheet lead coming in at a good up-angle and also let us get over the winch to get a full turn on the handle.

As to rudders, did you see the other O-34 rudder thread here?
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=8521&referrerid=28

I will attach a photo of the concept for the 'riser' idea. Still working on an frp mold... I am not good at that stuff like your friend Mr. Booth!


Regards,
Loren

 

[Steve J]

Olson 34 Modifications

Hi Elaine

I have Edgewalker, O-34 in Olympia.

Modifications I've done so far:

Kiwi prop, adjustable & able to tune for max speed & efficiency, i.e. cruise at 6.7 kn at 2700 rpm and still able to reach red-line 3000 rpm at full power.
Removed sliding fiberglass sliding main hatch and replaced with scratch resistant, UV protected polycarbonate 1/2 in thickness ( I think it's the same material helicopter canopies are made from)
Also framed in a 1/4 inch piece of polycarbonate and replaced hatch boards with one piece see through
These sure do lighten up the cabin and let a lot of light in as well as improve the visibility on cool days
Fabricated a lightweight plywood cap for the alcohol stove that increases counter space
In that regard we added the biggest Walmart cutting board to cover the sinks. Screwed on some underside cleats also out of 1/2 in same material to keep the board in place.
Added a simple rubber roller on a 1/2 in bolt double nutted to the bow plate for anchor retrieval. The old
Max prop with max thrust in reverse could really set an anchor in soft mud. I used one of the upper halyard winches to free it a few times,by just pulling athe rhode back to it to free it & even needed the low gear on the 2 speed winch to free it. I doubt a windlass has that much torque for a really buried anchor.
Added a new auto type stereo and waterproof Bose speakers at the stern lockers. It hurts to carve a couple holes that big in the hull.
My wife copied the "Life Sling" stern case out of Sunbrella to match the winch covers. The plastic original life sling case does not last too long in the sun.
We use a loptop on the nav station on a "lazy susan" for Nobletec and Coastal Explorer with the DeLorme USB gps which is cheap & works just suction cupped on the inside window. Just learning a few nav programs on my new IPAD in a protective OtterBox case. Apple aps store has several nav programs from $9 to $50 and inavx seems more powerful than Navionics. Both can easily store all the charts without having to stay connected to the internet.
We finally got a 10 ft Avon after 20 years of hauling an 8 ft Sabot sailing dinghy. The lightweight 2 cycle 15 hp Yamaha is 98 pounds and is a bear. Even using a main halyard to set it on the stern pulpit bracket is heavy. The Avon is a rollup floor and we hoist it on the starboard side just in front of the shrouds for long distance transport. We inflate on deck in 10 min with the blower-compressor combination and hoist it over with a jib or spinnaker halyard with the motor already on. Really great for long passages. I imagine most crews are not interested in that much work while on vacation.
Racing with ssssclub.com in Olympia has been a blast. Tied for first in "A" fleet even though a Beneteau 35.5 beat us most of the time, they are the best.

Elaine we hope to get to Nanaimo around July 15 plus or minus as we will be cruising July 8 to 23rd. Would love to see your progress.
Steve Jones

 

[ewade]

Reply to Steve

Hi Steve, just got your email - am on limited access at Refuge Cove & no shore power so I'll make it quick! Sure, look us up when you get to Nanaimo, we'd love to exchange boat info with you. We're on holidays up north till the end of June, back for the SIN regatta at NYC July 1 then I'll email you with contact info for when you get near. If you're a yacht club member, consider tying up at the NYC docks, and we can always take you for a tour of the area too.

Elaine