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Mast substitution questions re: my E35MkII

Ron G.

Junior Member
My name is Ron G. and nearly 10 years ago I bought an E35 MKII hull that had been stripped of its parts.
I got a salvage mast from a 1970 E35. It is about 41'7" and is not the 43ft. or 40 ft. that came on MKII.
It has heavy standing rigging with 11 inch turnbuckles. The MKII is apparently several inches wider than
the E35. Anyone know if it is going to work? The wooden spreaders are shot and Ballenger has offered
to make them for $1k, with a one month wait. Anyone know what length upper/lower spreaders I should
be getting for this setup? Anywhere else to get spreaders for this mast? Thanks for your replies. Ron G.
 

PDX

Member III
If I understand you correctly, you have an E35-2 hull/deck that you're going to fit an E35-1 mast on? I believe the E35-2 is normally a double spreader rig. Isn't the E35-1 a single spreader rig? Are you having him fabricate a single spreader setup, to original E35-1 size? Does Ballenger know this is going to go on a boat designed to have a double spreader rig? Maybe the easiest answer would be for him to fabricate two sets of spreaders and brackets, both to the E35-2 size and spreader locations, so you'll have a double spreader rig like the boat is designed for. That way you would know it will work with the E35-2 chainplate locations, loads, etc.
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
Fitting a MKI mast to a MKII hull is an engineering project that is way beyond my expertise. Suggest bracing for a multi-year hunt for parts that will be compatible with the rest of the boat - gooseneck, boom, sails, to name a few - that will be like filling an inside straight.

However, I do know a thing about Ericson wood spreaders.

They're very simple. My E32-2 has double spreaders on a deck-stepped mast. The spreaders are made of Sitka spruce, one of which broke at the end of the season about ten years ago. The spreader's shape is nothing more than a trapezoid, jazzed up with routed edges so they'll hold paint a little better. Using the old spreaders just for the total length and width of the sides touching the mast and the shrouds (i.e., not as a pattern as you might trace with a router). I just cut mine with a band saw, a yardstick, and a pencil, then routed down the edges by eye.

You can get slabs of Sitka spruce from high-end lumber shops. My Sitka was sitting on the shelf waiting for me to wander into Condon Lumber in White Plains, NY. I think it cost me $50 for a piece large enough for all four of my spreaders. It's impressively light, strong, and rot-resistant, and I was told it's used for trim in high-end kitchens. I borrowed an electric planer to shave the unimpressive-looking raw lumber into nice smooth stuff the proper thickness. Apparently this is a standard cabinetmaker's tool, but I'd never seen or used one before.

This was a pretty decent-sized project but fabbing the spreaders was easy once I understood how to use the planer and the bandsaw. The vast majority of the work was in the dumb little details of repainting the aluminum plates that sandwich the spreaders on either side of the bases, coating the spreaders with epoxy, drilling everything out so that all these many parts are correctly oriented and fit together (assuming this can waste a lot of time in rework - I used a Dremel with an engraver to label each part), refilling the holes with epoxy and redrilling to prevent rot, and painting the result with Brightside.

I just had the mast down for unrelated work and after a thorough sanding, the spreaders turned out to still be close to pristine. But this time I refinished them using Perfection.
 

Zbingham

Member I
Used mast and boom

I randomly came across a guy on Ebay a while back that was parting out an Ericson 35 mkii. His seller name is "longbaugh1". I just messaged him and he still has the mast and boom for sale, but he does not have any listings on Ebay at the moment.

I'm not sure how much he wants. It looked like it still had all the standing rigging and spreaders attached. I am trying to get him to send contact info...but Ebay tries to prevent you from sharing contact info with each other so it may take several attempts. I will let you know.

I think your best bet would be to buy a used E35ii mast...or else have one custom made to the same specs.
 

Zbingham

Member I
Used mast contact

My name is Ron G. and nearly 10 years ago I bought an E35 MKII hull that had been stripped of its parts.
I got a salvage mast from a 1970 E35. It is about 41'7" and is not the 43ft. or 40 ft. that came on MKII.
It has heavy standing rigging with 11 inch turnbuckles. The MKII is apparently several inches wider than
the E35. Anyone know if it is going to work? The wooden spreaders are shot and Ballenger has offered
to make them for $1k, with a one month wait. Anyone know what length upper/lower spreaders I should
be getting for this setup? Anywhere else to get spreaders for this mast? Thanks for your replies. Ron G.

I just sent you a private message with the guys phone number. Good luck!
 
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