The Ericson mast base is different, and I got a pretty close up view of it
over the last several weeks. I had thought it wasn't adjustable, but once
the mast is out it can be moved fore and aft. Unfortunately, my base had to
move laterally, so I had a new mast base built. The yard shaved the wooden
block down to remove the recess into which the mast butt sat and then
fabricated an adjustable mast step closer to the centerline of my hull. It
looks good and the mast now goes through the partners about in the middle.
I will try sailing with the new roller furling headstay tomorrow. I haven't
bought a sail to fit on it yet, so am hoping my racing sails will bend
around the fairly small Harken drum without too much distortion and tack to
the deck.
While the mast was down I renewed some mast head fittings, added a Windex light and replaced the wiring, which was somewhat frayed. The upper spreader had become a bit sloppy-not enough for me to notice sailing but clearly loose when the rig was down. I had the yard weld a filler in the mast to hold it tighter. A good fix. The new hydraulic backstay adjuster is a lot meatier and I hope it will hold up better than the original. It is faster by far, and the throw is nearly twice as long. I'm hoping that off the wind I can move the mast significantly farther forward.
The keel removal wasn't so bad. Everything was structurally sound and the keel bolt holes weren't far enough off center to worry about. The keel was crooked because Ericson shimmed the keel at the time of installation and got the tip 2.5 inches off centerline. Once the shims were removed the keel went back on almost perfectly. I had a flexible joint made between the keel and hull and then sealed it all with 5200. I used a lot less faring compound than the original, so instead of a round hull joint it's now pretty much a sharp angle. It looks much more modern.
I used black Trinidad, which a lot of you recommended. This is the first time since I've owned the boat that I haven't had a white or very light blue bottom. It takes some getting used to the color, but I think it's a good choice. I had all my old blister repairs re-sanded and checked, so the bottom is in very good shape.
Because Ericson used wire rigging I will suffer some stretch over the next ten or twelve sails while the new rigging breaks itself in. I have a static tune which looks pretty true. I won't know if it's a racy tune until next week when a number of us who sail in the SF 30 fleet on San Francisco Bay race the Leukemia Cup. We may have 5 Olson 911s on the line, which will be fun.
Good sailing to all.
Bob
Jane Doe
28555
Robert E. Izmirian
rizmirian@comcast.net
From: owner-olson911@sailpix.com [mailto:owner-olson911@sailpix.com] On
Behalf Of Thomas F. Brielmann
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 2:51 PM
To: olson911@SailPix.com
Subject: Mast Base Olson 1987 911s
When I recently pulled the mast to add radar etc. to my 1987 Olson 911s I discovered that my rather normal appearing mast base was badly corroded on the bottom and cracked in four places. No big surprise I suppose, considering the boats age but I would like to add some comments here for those who run into the same issue: I suspect that the corrosion was due to water trickling down the mast and collecting in and below the base, a normal occurence on this rig. The compression on the base eventually caused cracks yet the base appeared to be normal with the exception of hairline surface cracks that were difficult to see. As the mast compressed the corroded base it did slightly alter the tune of the rig, as the aftmost end of the base suffered the most trauma. I did notice that a previous owner had drilled a hole at the base of the sail track, but not through the teak block that supports the base. This d rill hole appears to have caused the most trouble as the cracks appear to have originated there. It was probably drilled in an attempt to allow water to drain, but there was no outlet. I would not recommend this drill hole be made and new bases do not have it. It turns out that Ballinger Spars still stocks the part (around $90 US) in matching anodized aluminum and they were able to overnight via UPS. An easy way to keep water from running down the sail track is to place a bead of silicone in the track above the mast collar. Water will still come through the mast and enter the bilge at the base of the mast but not through the sail track. Drilling a hole through the teak block at the base is not a good idea because foreign matter will eventually plug the hole. Cheers - Tom Brielmann
Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail <http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/index.htm?ncid=A OLAOF00020000000970> ! Received on Sat Sep 22 16:47:41 2007