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| Felicity Jane doesn't look very big from the top of the mast but you can see a long way and you feel like a real sailor |
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| The dark stripes are bulletwood, and the lighter golden ones are some kind of teak substitute |
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| I wish tat weird piece of rotten foam wasn't in this picture. It is some kind of dock fender thing they were all over the beach that summer but the Raymarine st1000 doesn't care, it drives the boat wherever you tell it to. Just keep a lookout. |
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| Fourth of July 2010 with the 170 genoa set wing on wing |
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| Looks like I parked in the middle of the Willamette but really distances over water are deceiving |
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| These Christmas lights are on the boat this setup won me a free month moorage |
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| I got tired of looking at the fuel tanks all day so I made this grated locker out of purpleheart. I didn't want to steal a milk crate to set the propane tank in so I made one. Purpleheart, too. Crazy |
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| When the trains hit the bridge it makes a jazz drum solo of rythm. This is Willamette Cove in St Johns |
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| I'm willing to make a deal for the dinghy because it fits perfectly on the bow deck, it's light and easy to tow and to row |
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| This is why I love the lower Columbia, flowers and sunshine and plenty of room to swing on the hook. |
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| I spent a whole winter with Ashley's Book of Knots propped open on the settee to the section on coach-whipping and turks-heads, and a small fortune on tuna cord. |
Felicity Jane
advice for the new owners
Ericson Yachts started the 27 production in 1970. This one was #88 in the production run. It wasn't until 1972 that boats had to have hull #s like a VIN # so you won't find one. I really went into it so you won't have to. She was last hauled out in 2009 The hull was in good condition with no delaminations or soft spots. There were some dings in the gelcoat but I glassed and filled them and they didn't amount to much.
Here is a rundown of what it is you are looking at.
Anchors
There are 3
anchors, 24 lb plow, a big old patent danforth style and a little danforth
lunch hook. The littler anchor hangs from the stern pulpit, and the big
storm anchor is down in the cargo area under the cockpit. There is a rope
locker under that vent in the stern if you want to put the anchorline down
there.
There is a several hundred feet of 9/16 bonded nylon rope, or, if you insist, anchor line. The rope is dipped through a bonding agent to keep out sand and grit when it lays on the bottom. There is also a
bunch of galvanized 1/4 proof coil chain on the boat. The rope is made off with eye splices and galvanized thimbles into 60 foot
and 120 foot modules put together with shackles. There are plenty of shackles
in the box or already on the shots of line and chain. Chain is also in 5 and 10 fathom chunks
so you can mix and match.A fathom is 6 feet.
I set up the
plow as the main anchor it is heavy enough to set and hold and you can still
retrieve it without a winch. I run it through that big snatch block hanging on
the pulpit, kind of my own invention, so that when you retrieve you are pulling
horizontally instead of upwards which is in my experience a lot easier to do
and it doesn’t strain my back so bad.
The
eye-and-shackle assemblies will run through the block if they hit it right, so
just back it up and twist a little and it will eventually go through. I
generally run just the one 120 footer of rope and a 30 footer of chain and they
will take a lot of current and wind but you can add another shot if it is
gusty.
The Samson post
is hella stout, it is lignum vitae through bolted into teak blocks and the rod
through the ears is brass. This post can take more than you can so feel free to
snub her up if you need to.
The anchor lays
on that built-up billboard which I don’t varnish and I expect it to get smashed
up so It can be replaced easily its just some mahogany.
There’s a chain
stopper on the bow deck to take the strain while you fiddle with the gear. I
keep a little pigging string up there to tie the anchor back when I am running
so it doesn’t bounce off the bow which would be embarrassing.
I’ve never had
occasion to set the storm anchor. If I did I would take a light line and run a
buoy from the head of the anchor for a trip line.
I did the same
from the lunch hook when I used it to keep the stern away from a piling down by
Jim Crow point. I ran it out with the dinghy. If you do that pile all the rode
into the dinghy first and pay it out from there trust me you cannot row
it out from a pile on the deck you don’t have enough weight.
Autopilot
The tiller pilot
plugs in to the panel just inside the starboard companionway. Be careful of the
pins they don’t like getting bent. Turn the circuit on at the fuse panel, and
push the standby button. Then you get her going where you want and drop the
socket over the pin on the rudder. Then you push the other button on it will
keep that course, more or less. Steer by pushing the 1 or 10 degree buttons. There’s
a book with all the details of how to run this thing. It is very handy when you
are by yourself trying to get the sails up in an orderly fashion. It uses some
juice so be aware of the tradeoff.
Backing Up Like A BOSS
No not duplicating your data I mean actual movement in reverse. Backing up is considered the achilles heel of sailboats because they are so underpowered for their weight. All the random forces that act on a vessel, like intake current, discharge current, rudder shadow and differential thrust make backing up a nightmare.
This is the very cool thing about this particular motor setup with the outboard. It backs up like a BOSS. Because the motor is aft of everything the prop gets a clean bite in undisturbed water. The rest of the hull acts like a sail so the whole effect is like a windvane so you can back up actually dead to windward all day long. Which I defy you to do with a conventional setup where the inboard drives a shaft to the propeller located between the rudder and the keel.
Since the outboard is aft the rudder, the discharge current from the motor strikes the rudder strongly emphasizing every deflection, so you can actually steer in reverse to an uncanny degree. When in doubt, back out.
BBQ
It’s pretty self
explanatory I always use the little aluminum tank which lasts all summer long
and I grilled every day. I kept a bit of seasoned cherry to put chunks in the
grill to make it smoky. This grill gets real hot and stuff burns easy so keep a spray bottle handy and
pay attention. And you cant really adjust the flame very much at all.
Books
Chapman’s is the
bible for small boat handling and general seamanship but I got a lot out of “Knight’s Modern Seamanship” a Navy
manual for destroyer drivers. I’m also leaving the coast pilot for the west
coast it is fun to read late at night when the wind is howling and the rain is
pounding on the housetop. I’m keeping my Ashley book of knots, sorry, but it’s
a good one to have, and I’m leaving the one about the rules of the road.
Charts
There are rolled
up charts in the overhead that cover the river all the way up to Portland, and
the coast up to Tatoosh Island. There’s a whiteboard with some clips that makes
a dandy portable chart table with the clear overlay to keep splashes off and to
write on with a dry erase marker. Paper charts are essential, as you know. The
Columbia River Cruising guide has a new edition out, it is a bargain. $44 at
Sexton’s...
Christmas Lights
There are several strings of colored lights under the starboard settee. And a couple strings of white icicle lights too. Fun stuff. Mostly also the spare electric stuff as well, like wire and doodads and fixtures.
Compass
That’s a nice airglide
by danforth, it is pretty close to correct but I never use compass. In the
river it is easy to only navigate by eye. I have swung it, though, and there’s
not a lot of magnetic variation. The light comes on when ever there is any
lights on at all I don’t know why maybe there’s too much current in the ground
side. It doesn’t seem to hurt anything.
Dinghy
The blue thing
on the transom is extra flotation so you can swarm back in over the transom while
swimming. The seats are sealed fore and aft for more flotation.
Don’t use
a motor it isn’t made for one and it would shake it apart and the weight
wouldn’t spread enough. Its not rated for motors. Those oars are old and they
are spruce and they get you around pretty good.
There’s a little
tiny grapnel anchor for the dink, I tie it open with some rubber strapping.
To tow the dink
I used that ½ in Samson braid letting her sag back to the back of the second
wake wave and I make a little bridle from those two angle irons by the motor
well so it gets less drag than if you tow from a side cleat.
I always paint
the whole dink every spring. It doesn’t take that long and it looks sharp and
you get compliments on it and feel like a salty dog for sure. I use Miller
porch and deck paint its cheap and tough.
There’s a gripe
with bronze snap-eyes you can clip on the bow and stern with a loop in the
middle to pick up the dinghy with the spinnaker halyard, this picks it up level
and you set it down on the bow deck face up which is OK now and then.
Better is to
pick it up by the bow clip only and then swing it over the hatch cover standing
on the stern float, then lower it gradually upside down to rest on the
billboard. I put a little fender under the edge to make a softer landing. It leaves
enough room you can get up there to work the anchor or dock lines. Keep a line
on the stern eye for a tag line so you can guide the stern as it comes out of
the water. You dangle the dinghy over the side and the hold the stern line and
she will kind of fold down onto the water slick as can be. Clip the boathook
onto the spinnaker pole fitting and thrust the hook end into the loop of
halyard near the shackle and you have yourself a picking boom to keep from
hanging up on the railing as she clears the lifelines.
Dock lines
There’s a bunch
of them 5 or 6 made off into 8 and 12 footers I use springs and bow and stern
lines and a couple left over.
Electric
The shore
power charger works great, it keeps everything topped off. The Honda has a 10
amp charger wired into the battery bank with clips so you can move it to the
other battery. 3 or 4 hours of running will give enough juice for the nav light
and the anchor light and the pumps for a night on the hook but the autopilot
eats juice so be sparing when you are charging up.
All the wiring
runs to a distribution panel on the bulkhead behind the sink under the cockpit,
Its all labeled back there. And the same nomenclature as the fuse panels. The
little fan on the fireplace isn’t in the system, it just clips on to a battery
I never got around to changing it, my bad, sorry.
The big battery
is 2011 and the little one is older so it will need to go soon.
Fenders
There’s a fender
board behind the ladder in the cabin. Hang it from line in the corners when you
want to lie next to a piling and put a couple fenders under it by your hull
without chafing yourself to death.
Galley
The
thermocouples on the little burner get ungrounded now and then you have to
fiddle with them to make it work, or fold up a matchbook and put it behind the
dial to defeat the safety lock. There’s a little battery below the oven that
goes to the self-lighter clicker. The label with the serial # etc is also down
there look with a flashlight if you need to know the numbers for parts or
service there’s a ton of stuff online including manuals for the range. Other
than that I am clearing out my galley stuff, its old and battered and you have
your own.
Gaskets (sail tie-straps)
I made a set of
old fashioned French Sinnett harbor gaskets just for fun, but it turns out they
are excellent things, soft to your sore hands after a day of sailing, and easy
to tie because they slide through themselves easy. I keep a couple of them tied
to the bow pulpit to smother the genoa when the day is done.
Head
This boat has a raritan toilet with it that has
never been installed. It came with the
boat. I got another Jabsco gusher pump for the holding tank,. but I never did
install it either. The instructions for installation are onboard. The
through-hull fittings are in place, and there is a y-valve, so really all you
need is fifteen feet of 13/4 sewer hose and a bit of 1” water hose and you
would have a proper toilet. But so far, every body uses a bucket.
Heater
Wall furnace,
propane, Newport Dickenson works great keeps things toasty in the coldest
weather especially on the hook. There’s also an electric radiator for the shore
power.
Heaving Line/Monkey's Fist
You should keep it in the cannister. The bitter end has a loop that you lift out and step your foot into or tie off before you do anything else. That's why it is called that, the bitter feeling you get when it disappears over the rail. Anyway line that is stacked at random in a pile will run out clean and fair, if you try to throw a coil it will tangle every time. You hold the line 2 or 3 feet from the monkey's fist, which by the way has a 1-lb lead ball in it, and give it a twirl and throw it OVERHAND like a baseball on an atlatl. (the Mayan spear throwing lever) You might not be able to throw all 80 ft but you will throw a very long way, and when you are slipping down the current and you really need to get a line to another boat or to the dock you will find this comes in right handy. then when you are done you keep the loop end out and you just stack in the line letting it fall how-she-will until it is all in there with the ball on the top, then fold in the loop and put on the cover. It helps if you let the line dry out before you put it away. The nylon line is pretty but it wants to mildew.
Horn
I used a Triton
shell cut like the Polynesians do but I’m keeping it get yourself an air horn
or something they are cheap and loud. The bracket for the fog bell is on the
traveller crossbeam to stbd.,
Lights
I
use the kerosene lamps on the hook, and the 12v lights have never been
connected. You don’t need the drain on the batteries. Kerosene is cheap if you
buy a 2 ½ gal jug at the hardware store. Don’t waste your money on “lamp oil”
it is just expensively de-scented kerosene anyway.
Manuals
I found a Honda
BF 15A motor manual online, and one for the galley and for the gas furnace.
There’s also stuff for the radio and the autopilot and the tv and for the Ericson design.
Mast Steps
Try climbing
them at the dock. The are a godsend if something happens and you need to get up
there to tend the halyard blocks or the lights and the view is very inspiring.
Motor
Honda BF15A the serial # puts it in 2001 or so.
Starts
pretty good cold or hot, COLD choke and mid-throttle, pull hard. HOT no choke,
low throttle, pull quicker if you can. IN BETWEEN is when it gets tricky, try
choke low throttle, then no-choke high throttle, be patient. Also be sure and
squeeze up some fuel until the squeeze bulb stays hard.
Watch out for
water in the fuel, do the routine of draining the lines: Disconnect from the motor, and
stick a blade or the hook off a bungee into the ball valve to open it up.Get
yourself a clear jar or jug and squeeze the bulb to pump the contents of the
hose into the jar so you can see if there’s water in there, and you can see
when it starts to run pure gas again. Take the cover off, and follow the fuel
line around the back of the motor and pull the filter out of line. You don’t
really need a tool for the hose clamps, they pull off and shove back on
without. blow out the filter, and reinstall it watching the arrows for correct
flow. Now, down at the bottom of the carburetor there is a dangly rubber tube
that goes nowhere, and there’s a screw slot in the housing that drains the fuel
etc out of the bowl. Turn the screw, drain it all out, tighten the screw back
up. Try to start now, it might work. If not, take out the sparkplugs and dry the with a rag and lay them in the sun for a minute. To get
fuel moving through the system it will take a bit of pumping to fill all the
things you just drained. Now with the choke on and the throttle set low you can
pull vigorously and she should be good to go. It never doesn’t start for no
reason. See how I worded that? There’s always a reason. Usually water, but once
it was carbon buildup on the plugs which were the wrong plugs anyway that the
last owner put in there.
Dave T changed
the oil last year and it never uses any oil at all. Keep the tanks covered with
that blue rubber cover to keep water out of the vents. I cover the tarped-up
tanks with the purpleheart gratings I hated looking at that red plastic.
It burns about a
gallon an hour, and gets 6-7 miles per gallon. It cruises at/near hull speed.
You might want to get a lower geared prop, that one is a 8 3/8 x 9 ½ I think,
and 8 x 10 4-blade would be a bit better but this one works ok.
Pumps bilge and freshwater
There’s a Rule submersible
down in the bilge in the middle of the cabin and an automatic float switch. The
discharge is that weird clear hose aft by the motor well. It runs through a
whale/gusher type diaphragm pump under the portside cockpit seat. The gusher
drips a little but it works pretty good so you can still pump out if the
batteries get zapped or something. The fresh water supply pump is under the
port settee.
I got a gusher for the heads also it is in a box in the locker.
Radio
New in 2009
Somebody has a
radio somewhere that’s always on and emits a signal on chan 84 so the scan
function gets stuck there I keep a stick handy and bop the up arrow to get past
it. Watch the volume control it over modulates and goes to a horrible BWAAAK if
it gets too loud. Otherwise pretty good range. The bridges are on 14 and the tow
boaters talk on 3,4 and 7
Rope Locker
Under mattress in the v-berth there is a hatchway. I keep all the extra anchor line and miscellaneous rope in there. Lines. Don't be pedantic. The shit is called rope when it is in the rope locker, and line when you take it out and make it up to use for a specific purpose. There are two more 120 footers and two 60 footers of new anchor line, and some old half inch samson braid to use to tow the dink, and a very long braided line I use for extra sheets. The tanks are accessible through this hatch, and when you put the toilet in you will become intimately familiar with this space. Fresh water and blackwater.
Running Rigging
There was a full spool of brand new samson braid on the boat when I got her in 2009, and I made up new halyards and jib sheets that summer. Every fall I splice a length of tuna cord onto one end of the halyard, and then pull it through the blocks and then take off the halyard lines and store them in the dry. It gets so wet around here that algae blooms all winter and it will ruin the braid by building up organic matter inside the weave. Then in the spring yo use the cords for a guide to re-thread the samson braid and good to go. The spinnaker halyard is the one I use to hoist the dinghy. It is too long but I hate to cut nice rope like that so I just ignore how long the tail is.
Sails
The main is OK
not pretty but good shape still the vang helps and the traveler is a pain but I
gotta admit it works nicely. I put in heavy battens. They work fine.
The Jib is
pretty small but when it blows that is a good thing. The Genoa is huge.
There are 2
spinnakers, one that’s too small and one too big but you can clip one corner to
the forestay foot and fly it like a flying jib without a pole and if you pay
attention it is nice in light airs. In really light air the big one should get
you going but take it down early because too late can be dangerous.
The boathook has
a clip in the end to use it for a whisker pole quite nicely but it will
collapse if a big foresail starts chuffing and flapping.
Sonar
New in 2009.
The little hatch window on the Stbd after cabin bulkhead unscrews so you can work the fishfinder display. The transducer
is glued to the inside of the hull just abaft the rudder post and to starboard
in the overhang under the cockpit. It is set in epoxy pretty firmly but watch
when you stow stuff in that area so you don’t knock it out of its seat.
Spreaders
The are crude
but strong brackets that hold the spreaders are homemade but they seem to work
OK. I did drop a spreader, though, had the shrouds too loose. I had to buy 12
ft of tube so there is an extra chunk of tube with spinnaker clips in the ends,
a whisker pole but if you need to make a spreader that’s the stuff.A hacksaw or a minigrinder and you are in business.
Sunshade
There’s a canvas
sunshade awning that goes over the boom and ties to the stern pulpit with a slippery sheet-bend knot, just throw the running end over the rail,
then poke it through the little loop, and tuck it under itself to finish, they
don’t come untied and you just pull the tail to let it go.. A slippery half-hitch is ok too. Roll down the side
panel in the afternoon when the sun creeps under. The slot fits the tabernacle
strap, then tie the little ties to make it go round.
You can throw a
tarp over the boom for a rain fly but the old one wore out you will have to get
another one at Ace Hdw for $10 or so. It is a good investment it is nice to get
in and out of the hatch without the whole wet world coming into the cabin.
Survival Suit
There’s a full Gumby
suit in excellent condition in its bag in the head locker. Get it out and
practice with it at least once so you know how it handles. It is not new but it
has been regularly inspected and the neoprene is in excellent shape. If you
test it in the water have some help handy to get you back onto the dock, and
let it dry out completely before you put it away.
Swimming
Ladder
I use it tied to
the two winches in the cockpit railing try and dry it out before you put it
away it wants to get mildew. It seems like it is too long but you need at least
three steps under water to get started up wards once you get used to how it
follows the contour of the boat and you use your arm strength to keep your
weight in close to the sides it is OK but it takes getting used to for sure.
Those are Mathew Walker knots under the rungs. They can’t be untied. Don’t try
to.Look it up. It is tied by unlaying the rope into yarns and then knotting the yarns and then re-laying the rope to the next one.
Tankage
20 gallons of
fresh water under the v-berth. The 12 volt freshwater pump is under the
port settee forward of the galley. It runs to the little hand pump on the back
of the sink and a toggle switch above the sink. If the electric fails the
little hand pump works it is tedious though but it has a check valve and keeps
a prime.
The12 gallon
blackwater holding tank is under the v-berth.
Gasoline...6 1/2 gallons in the bigger gas tank, 2 gallons each in the two red plastic jugs.
Propane...5 gallons more or less in the big steel tank,with a splitter after the regulator to feed both the galley and the furnace.. 2 in the little aluminum tank that goes to the grill
Topping Lift
I made up a topping lift but I never
used it, and I took the block down as well. The line is made off with a twist
shackle like the main halyard. I ran it through a pad eye on deck. There are
plenty of shackles if you want to hang it back up.
