klb67pgh
Member III
As I mentioned in my for sale/wanted post, I posted in early July to see if anyone knew of an E25 on a trailer for sale, as we had finally decided to make the jump from a daysailer to a cabin boat and an E25 had been on my want list ever since I discovered the Oystercatcher refit blog about 4 years ago. In short, based on pictures, a video tour, and multiple exchanges with Greg, the now prior owner, I rented a truck and traveled from Western PA to Salem, MA with the intent of bringing #377 home. I saw nothing during my inspection that gave me any great concern that the boat was anything other than as represented or better and in overall great condition, and a boat we could sail now and work on various smaller projects over time and in the off-season. The boat and trailer had several specific appealing upgrades that made this boat, in my mind, the one to get. We brought her home on August 10th and I spent that week power washing her hull, getting the various items and trim that came with the boat back on/in her, and getting her ready to launch, which we did on August 16th. I decided to defer our maiden voyage (beyond the short trip from the launch around a dock and into her new slip), as that voyage would have been endured rather than enjoyed - frankly I was beat after the trip up and back to bring her home and the week of work on her.
Our family of 4, with boys ages 12 and 8, arrived at our dock mid afternoon on Thursday August 20th and spent three nights on the boat, in 3 different coves on the lake. The single burner camp stove I used worked well enough for french press coffee in the morning, eggs and pancakes one morning, and a few other single pot meals. The charcoal grill on the rail that came with the boat worked very well for a few other meals. We had a great evening at the marina on Saturday night with an impromptu get together at the pavilion at the end of our dock. It was a great opportunity to meet new people, see their boats, and give them a tour of our E25 when they asked to see her. As far as I know, she's the only Ericson in the marina. It was interesting to see the different pluses, minuses, and compromises among the boats. Catalinas in the 22, 25 and 27 variety are by far the most common on this lake, along with a handful of Precision and Hunter boats. I wish the E25 had the cockpit space of some of those other boats, but I'll take the trade off of bigger cabin volume and frankly just much more pleasing lines and deck space. All were impressed when they had a chance to see our E25 and the character she has, particularly in the cabin (aided no doubt by the glow from the brass hurricane lamp on the main bulk head), and were equally surprised to hear she's a 1978 boat. I think her life to date sailing in locales with a substantial off season has clearly contributed to her overall good condition with the opportunity for regular cleaning and maintenance.
Having multiple days on her was great to get to know her, start a gear and to-do list, and mostly improve our sailing ability and figure out things like battery usage, anchoring procedures, and how to not foul the genoa sheets on the open forward hatch while tacking, etc. We had light winds with brief opportunities to get her up to 3-3.5 knots or so for the first 2 days, and finally some better wind on Sunday to get her over 4.5 knots. I do look forward to sailing again in better wind - we had too much time drifting in blazing sun this weekend. We need to figure out a way to add a bimini that can negotiate the adjustable back stay. We rigged a temporary boom tent with a SilNylon tarp while anchored and swimming and that was welcome relief from the sun.
I have now started a google sheet with tasks and priority rankings to help keep me organized. Thankfully the highest priority task that we can do right now is go sail more - everything else are smaller tasks that can happen in time or over the winter. I need to investigate the centerboard as it seems to take more effort on the winch to raise than I think it should (but perhaps this is normal ?? She lowers on her own easily). I dove and scraped the remaining gunk on the CB and in the trunk that my power washer couldn't get to and that didn't completely resolve my concern. I also need to get someone in our club who knows standing rigging to go over the boat with me and make a plan - it is of unknown vintage. I see some obvious things I need to address/replace, but I don't know what I don't know. Replace it all would be the easy button but I'd like to spend that money elsewhere if I can justifiably do so.
I appreciate the other E25 information here and elsewhere, as it greatly aided our decision making and boat search, as I had no opportunity to view an E25 in person before stepping aboard #377.
A few questions that perhaps others with E25's can answer:
1) Is it safe to remove the compression post face board with the mast up and tensioned? It doesn't seem like that board has much tension on it but I wouldn't really know until I tried to do so. At a minimum, the two bottom screws are loose and those holes need to be filled and re-drilled. I can certainly look into this over the winter with the mast down, but it would be great to remove the board and see the CB pendulum condition and operation while in the water (with the mast therefore up).
2) For future reference, is it possible to remove the center board pin with the boat on the trailer, perhaps temporarily install a smaller diameter easy to remove pin of some sort that would keep that end of the board in place, strap the center board up to the boat while on the trailer, launch the boat and move to shallow water, then remove the center board while in the water for inspection and any maintenance? And install the board in the reverse order? I have been trying to think through how I might do this without getting the boat off of the trailer on land. I realize I can acquire some boat stands and negotiate the boat off the trailer, and that might be easier than wrangling a center board in the water, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I do not have a lift anywhere near my location.
3) I have been unable to find detailed examples of how bimini's are constructed, deployed, and stowed on an E25 or E25+. I found a video of Europa with a 4 bow bimini that is exactly like I am inclined to add, and it has a slit and hole that allows the split adjustable back stay to travel through the bimini. But assuming the bimini is stored in the air to the stern of the boat, how do you get the front two bows back past the back stay? Do you temporarily disconnect the back stay? Could I still access the boom pigtail attached to the back stay when lowering the mainsail, or would I be better off adding a separate topping lift to eliminate the need to disconnect and connect the pigtail each we time raise or lower the mainsail (likely the latter)? I need to spend time on sailrite's website on how to build a bimini but figured I'd ask for specific into regarding biminis on an E25.
I'm sure I'll have more questions, but that is it for now.
Kevin
Pittsburgh, PA
Ericson 25 C/B Hull #377
Our family of 4, with boys ages 12 and 8, arrived at our dock mid afternoon on Thursday August 20th and spent three nights on the boat, in 3 different coves on the lake. The single burner camp stove I used worked well enough for french press coffee in the morning, eggs and pancakes one morning, and a few other single pot meals. The charcoal grill on the rail that came with the boat worked very well for a few other meals. We had a great evening at the marina on Saturday night with an impromptu get together at the pavilion at the end of our dock. It was a great opportunity to meet new people, see their boats, and give them a tour of our E25 when they asked to see her. As far as I know, she's the only Ericson in the marina. It was interesting to see the different pluses, minuses, and compromises among the boats. Catalinas in the 22, 25 and 27 variety are by far the most common on this lake, along with a handful of Precision and Hunter boats. I wish the E25 had the cockpit space of some of those other boats, but I'll take the trade off of bigger cabin volume and frankly just much more pleasing lines and deck space. All were impressed when they had a chance to see our E25 and the character she has, particularly in the cabin (aided no doubt by the glow from the brass hurricane lamp on the main bulk head), and were equally surprised to hear she's a 1978 boat. I think her life to date sailing in locales with a substantial off season has clearly contributed to her overall good condition with the opportunity for regular cleaning and maintenance.
Having multiple days on her was great to get to know her, start a gear and to-do list, and mostly improve our sailing ability and figure out things like battery usage, anchoring procedures, and how to not foul the genoa sheets on the open forward hatch while tacking, etc. We had light winds with brief opportunities to get her up to 3-3.5 knots or so for the first 2 days, and finally some better wind on Sunday to get her over 4.5 knots. I do look forward to sailing again in better wind - we had too much time drifting in blazing sun this weekend. We need to figure out a way to add a bimini that can negotiate the adjustable back stay. We rigged a temporary boom tent with a SilNylon tarp while anchored and swimming and that was welcome relief from the sun.
I have now started a google sheet with tasks and priority rankings to help keep me organized. Thankfully the highest priority task that we can do right now is go sail more - everything else are smaller tasks that can happen in time or over the winter. I need to investigate the centerboard as it seems to take more effort on the winch to raise than I think it should (but perhaps this is normal ?? She lowers on her own easily). I dove and scraped the remaining gunk on the CB and in the trunk that my power washer couldn't get to and that didn't completely resolve my concern. I also need to get someone in our club who knows standing rigging to go over the boat with me and make a plan - it is of unknown vintage. I see some obvious things I need to address/replace, but I don't know what I don't know. Replace it all would be the easy button but I'd like to spend that money elsewhere if I can justifiably do so.
I appreciate the other E25 information here and elsewhere, as it greatly aided our decision making and boat search, as I had no opportunity to view an E25 in person before stepping aboard #377.
A few questions that perhaps others with E25's can answer:
1) Is it safe to remove the compression post face board with the mast up and tensioned? It doesn't seem like that board has much tension on it but I wouldn't really know until I tried to do so. At a minimum, the two bottom screws are loose and those holes need to be filled and re-drilled. I can certainly look into this over the winter with the mast down, but it would be great to remove the board and see the CB pendulum condition and operation while in the water (with the mast therefore up).
2) For future reference, is it possible to remove the center board pin with the boat on the trailer, perhaps temporarily install a smaller diameter easy to remove pin of some sort that would keep that end of the board in place, strap the center board up to the boat while on the trailer, launch the boat and move to shallow water, then remove the center board while in the water for inspection and any maintenance? And install the board in the reverse order? I have been trying to think through how I might do this without getting the boat off of the trailer on land. I realize I can acquire some boat stands and negotiate the boat off the trailer, and that might be easier than wrangling a center board in the water, but I figured I'd ask anyway. I do not have a lift anywhere near my location.
3) I have been unable to find detailed examples of how bimini's are constructed, deployed, and stowed on an E25 or E25+. I found a video of Europa with a 4 bow bimini that is exactly like I am inclined to add, and it has a slit and hole that allows the split adjustable back stay to travel through the bimini. But assuming the bimini is stored in the air to the stern of the boat, how do you get the front two bows back past the back stay? Do you temporarily disconnect the back stay? Could I still access the boom pigtail attached to the back stay when lowering the mainsail, or would I be better off adding a separate topping lift to eliminate the need to disconnect and connect the pigtail each we time raise or lower the mainsail (likely the latter)? I need to spend time on sailrite's website on how to build a bimini but figured I'd ask for specific into regarding biminis on an E25.
I'm sure I'll have more questions, but that is it for now.
Kevin
Pittsburgh, PA
Ericson 25 C/B Hull #377
