Jeff Asbury
Principal Partner
Anyone else seen this yet? Love how the boat is rigged with a bow sprit and as a cutter.
Great video too!
http://youtu.be/tZUINBUzLi0
Great video too!http://youtu.be/tZUINBUzLi0
Great video too!For easy access, the links are:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?104-Sailing-an-Ericson-27-across-oceans
and the real one here: http://cdlloyd.blogspot.com
Caution! Have a couple of hours to spare before you click! Hard to look away.

Jeff, I was wondering if you ever decided to take off and go exploring, would you use your E27 or would you get somethng bigger? Like you, I'm at that age where I regret not doing something like this when I was young but would like make up for lost time.
Chad
Hi Chad,
If I do decide to go cruising and cross oceans with my E-27 I would make some modifications like, adding at least two more cockpit scuppers, replace the glassed in chain plates with external chain plates, beef up the rigging, add a baby stay, probably replace all the 40 year old spars, add water maker, solar panels, wind vane steering and modify the rudder, reinforce the slats that hold the companion way hatch boards, replace all the windows, hatches and port lights, add lee cloths, gimbaled stove...... Boy this list is getting pretty long. :thinker:
Hi, Y'all. I'm the guy from the blog. I did do a lot of modifications, but I did them myself and for cheap. I spent a total of 16,000 on the boat to date, after purchase (8,000) moorage for a year in Seattle (1200) and fuel costs for six years of ownership (650) I ended up with spending not a lot on the modifications. The bowsprit was simple, the roller furler was self-made out of a tube of aluminum and some toilet fittings, the wind vane was self made for about 100 bucks, mostly the stainless mounting hardware, the dodger was about 140 bucks (again the stainless tubing and hardware, but I bent the tube myself with my hands (so it isn't that great of a bend, but cheap))
As to time it takes, I spent three weeks building the first iteration of the bowsprit, the first iteration of the wind vane and the dodger, before leaving to go to Alaska. They all needed further work later on, but I was able to do that in the water under way.
At the same time, I agree with Jeff, that having a boat built for this sort of thing is nice. A watermaker isn't necessary, since you can carry water just fine and then don't have to deal with the damn thing breaking. (also the heavier that Altair was, the better she sailed) A boat designed to sit comfortably in waves is nice, and the Ericson 27 is not.
Ok, I guess I'm rambling and not making a point. I think that going on a trip is the important thing, and how you go doesn't matter as much. Little boats can make the trip, just like big boats!
The other thing I guess is that if you have the little boat now, there isn't much point waiting, since most people are going to do a few year trip and then return, don't get fixated with living the rest of your life on a boat (and therefore require the boat to be "perfect"). Suffer a little and have the time of your life.
Christian
cdlloyd.blogspot.com
Hayden a very smart, poetic guy. Also, quite surprised to be shot in the forehead by Mikey Corleone.

Good for you captain Christian! Cant wait to get done working my dead end job and devote some time to researching your story. I say go now go small just do it before health, age, commitments or society decides some thing else for you. I left from Blair NE on a 25 ODay ended up on a 416 Out Island crossed the gulf a few times. Spent 5+ years living free, broke, happy, made lots of friends. Im back on dirt now and its quite an adjustment, but i will return to my favorite spots, look up old friends and sail my e-27 proudly to places i have been and discover places that are in my dreams.Well a big Hello to you Christian. Thank you for chiming in and explaining some of your modifications and some of the sailing characteristics of your boat. Do you still have Altair? I am originally from Washington State and sailed extensively through Puget Sound, the San Juans and BC as a kid and young man. Also did a bit of sailing around the Alaska pan handle.
I am very impressed on how you were able modify your boat in such a "Econo" fashion. Your videos are amazing, love the professional quality and the the sound track music, not to mention the kite filming. What did you use for communication offshore? Just VHF or did you have a Sat phone or single side band? Well I guess a lot of my questions will be answered if I finish reading your Blog.
Hat's off to you Mr.Christian, Bravo Man!
From Sterling Hayden's book "Wanderer":
"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"