Recent content by Billk

1971 E-27. Yanmar 2GM w/1400 hrs, Harkin roller furling with a UK 150% '01 and Lee 110% '99. Main Lee '00. New dodger '01. This is a clean well maintained sailboat. It is a great day sailor and vacation cruising boat. I am the third owner and have had Sea Spray for 7 years. I am selling...

ForeSpar has very good instructions for whisker poles on their web site. They cover safe and effective use. http://www.forespar.com/catalog/whiskerpoles/about.htm

Racor filters come in 2, 10, and 30 microns. The advice I have gotten is to use the finest filter element, the 2 micron. This is the same as most secondary filters, so the secondary filter should not get dirty. The reasoning is that since my racor primary filter has something like a 30...

The short answer is everything. Since the boat was neglected you cannot assume anything is in good order or has had proper maintanence. The long answer is inspect the tiller and rudder, all standing rigging, all running rigging, and all the sails. You also want to check the condition of the...

Hull ID number On my 71 e-27, which was made before hull numbers were required the hull number is stamped on the rudder post socket in the cockpit under where the tiller mounts. It is just the hull number, not an ID number. In my case it is just 33. Bill Kramer "Sea Spray" PDX

Your back stay adjuster can do two things. It will tighten the fore stay and it will try to bend your mast. The mast on an E-27 is not designed to be bendy so tightening the back stay will mainly tighten the fore stay. The place to start is with tuning the rig. You set up the shrouds so...

Morgan, The chain plates on the E-27's were glassed in. This gives neat appearance, but no way to remove them for inspection. The only way to inspect them would be rip/grind off the layers of glass holding them in. This is something I'll bet most of us have not done. Where did your chain...

roller reefing stress Sean, When you reef your genoa the sails atempt to unroll is resisted by the furling line. It would be possible for the furling line to break if it were old and damaged by U.V., letting the sail unroll. My Harkin Furler manual suggests inspecting the furling line...

Sean, If you want to get rid of a varnish build up you can either sand with a sanding block or you can use a cabinet scraper (not a paint scraper.) Cabinet scrapers are available at hardware and wood working stores that have a good stock of hand tools. Scrapers are neat, but if you are not...

The question of an older boat always depends on condition and equipment. I have found that the cost of repairs and upgrades can equall and even exceed the purchase price of a boat like an E-27. Find out as much as you can about the boats and if any upgrading was done by the former ownwer. The...

I would like to correct Tom's reply. My Ericson 27 is kind of SLEEK for how slow she is. This is a boat you buy for comfort not speed. That said, I do pass boats I shouldn't but I have good sails and I keep my boat in good condition. If you want to go fast there are other choices, but for a...