In a classic example of little things that go wrong big, a tiny leak under the head sink caused the delamination of the cabin sole near the head. One of those gray Qest hose fittings had split, invisibly, probably as the result of being overtightened with a wrench. I suppose it had been leaking...
There have been several good hatch lens replacement reports lately. Rick R. takes on Lewmar Rollstop hatches here. I found this video adds a bit to the critical procedure of finishing the visible seam where the acrylic joins the frame. My older video is here...
I spent the first two weeks of ownership divesting. For a few days I wasn't sure I would ever get to the inside of the hull of the new Thelonious, it was so packed full of past needs and future spares. The Previous Owner (PO) was getting out of yachting, and apparently had no use for 13 years...
Five-minute video of hull and engine survey:
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I was proud to see the first Thelonious, an Ericson 32-III, leave my stewardship on a truck headed to green pastures in the Pacific Northwest. She had taken me to Hawaii and back, and I was confident her new owner would do well by her and never be...
In many households a moldy cardboard box contains 8 mm home movies, faded VHS tapes, piles of VHS-C from early video cameras, and other analog records from when the world was young and telephones had cords. Anyhow, mine did. Five years ago I set out to digitize it all, with some success. Only...
I have a duplicate on board of every boat tool in the garage. It took 50 years to accomplish that. For the first 40 years I felt that it was morally wrong to have two of everything, when those less fortunate had only one, or even none at all. Then I just gave up and bought another entire...
As owners, we must be attuned to complaints. Some are challenging, such as, "Can we talk about me, instead of the boat?" Others we take in stride, as, "My cousin's Hunter 46 has a bedroom." When guests complain about heeling over we promise that the boat will always return to upright, an...
Video:
Price hovers around $1500 from Internet suppliers.
The outboard is quiet and light, and easy to mount on a bobbing inflatable because it has three parts. Each can be lowered aboard individually.
With no fluids, the unit can be stowed below on its side, rather than mounted on a stern...
At too late a date I realized that people whose sailing company I enjoy don't always enjoy being blasted by the Latitude 34 sun.
Does this mean a bimini to shield the cockpit? A dodger? A connection between the two? Maybe.
Gales, however, don't like windage any more than I do, so maybe there...
Cams on the mast are an easy solution to an issue created by halyards led back: how does one person work the halyard at the mast?
As you may have noticed, hauling up the main on the cabin house leaves a pile of halyard at your feet. But the line clutch and the winch are (in)conveniently back...
The teak surround of the cockpit coaming locker is a simple yet confounding piece of trim. For three years mine defied improvement by sanding, gluing, bleaching and oiling. It was built of teak scraps in the Ericson woodshop, no doubt on a jig--a jig I didn't feel like making for one job. The...
Video update for the Ericson 381:
Forum thread searches for "aluminum rub rail" go back many years and tell the story of Ericson as a yacht manufacturing company just out of business, then picked up by Pacific Seacraft, then with owners left to their own devices. For a while, PS still had...
It's a tribute to the bulletproof velour upholstery that Ericson used in 1985 that in many boats it survives and even flourishes. My zippers remain sound. The cloth is robust and unstained. Even so, damage occurs. Many years of UV through an uncovered forward hatch led to the destruction of the...
Hatch boards have been around a long time. Arriving means pulling them out and putting them somewhere; departing the boat means stacking them back in, which I tend to do in the wrong order 30 percent of the time. What hatch boards have going for them is that they can store in a small...
The 1985 Raritan 6-gallon water heater still worked without complaint, heating fine while under power and keeping the water warm until breakfast the next morning. The electrical heater no longer functioned, but then I never had cause for hot water when plugged in to a yacht club slip. Perhaps...
You may wish to cut me some slack for having no companions to talk to during 48 days alone at sea. Or you may simply feel glad that neither you, nor anybody else, was there to have to listen. However, the books are real and their inhabitants saw further horizons that we ever shall, and to voyage...
With some astonishment I realize that my early family sailing experiences with an 8mm video camera in hand now constitute a museum show of ancient American yachting.
We were members of the Raritan Yacht Club, in Perth Amboy, N.J. The club occupies high ground across from Staten Island, with...
Deck winches are easy to take for granted until, when trimming the big genoa in 20 knots, the drum loses its grip and you're holding a runaway winch handle by the tail.
Possibly I am not the only one who put off the obvious and elementary task of annual winch service. They seem so sturdy, etc...