A CINDERELLA STORY — M
y introduction to Cinderella began one rainy fall day in Seattle at Fisherman's Terminal. A friend asked me to come look at an old Ericson 35-2 he was considering buying. She was listed as a "spartan racer/cruiser." The description could not have been more accurate. The interior was nearly empty, aside
Ava and Pajo. He's spent years messing about with boats in the Seattle area. She's a 'Jersey Girl' who had never sailed before.
from a couple of settees midships and a Porta-Potti suspended on a piece of plywood forward. The seller, a nonprofit, had accepted the boat on donation and was eager to get her off their dock. What Cinderella lacked in comfort, she made up for in structural upgrades. Longitudinal stringers and tabbed bulkheads stiffened the hull. Santa Cruz 50 tie rods replaced the old-style chainplates that held the standing rigging loads. Of the 13 thru-hulls that came standard from Ericson, Cinderella had only three. The wheel steering had been ditched. In its place: a custom tiller and tiller head set atop an oversized, balanced rudder. At the time I was not interested in another sailboat, much less another project sailboat. But the friend opted out of the purchase, so I made a ridiculously low offer of $6,000 — and I was soon on my way to pick up this newest project. I just needed to make her comfortable so Ava (who's now my wife) would come sailing with me. During the sea trial, the Yanmar 2GM20F was extremely hard to start. The engine would crank and crank and crank, and pretend to start, but ultimately shudder to a stop. After letting the starter cool down a few times, we tried again, and she finally crackled to life. We motored out into Salmon Bay, and for the rest of the sea trial, the engine seemed to function perfectly. Excited to be purchasing a new boat at such a great price, I chalked up Page 68 •
Latitude 38
• May, 2020
ALL PHOTOS / 'CINDERELLA' the hard-start engine to prolonged sitting at the dock. The day came to load up the 12-odd sails she came with and deliver Cinderella to her new slip at Fremont Boat Company on Lake Union. Again, the Yanmar crackled and hissed and fought, but once again finally came to life. When we had to stop to wait for the Fremont Bridge to lift, the RPMs slowly dropped — and the engine died. Definitely not an ideal situation for all the other bridges and locks of the area. Bugga! Over the course of the next six months, I battled with that Yanmar. Eventually I would spend more than $1,000 in parts alone to try to win it over — new lift pump, new starter, new exhaust elbow . . . it was adding up fast. But on nearly every outing, I would return to Seattle 'engineless', often with a boat full of friends. I was forced to get really good at sailing in light winds and onto docks. On more than one occasion, I was stuck waiting for the tugboat to come tow me home, through the Ballard Locks, and back to my slip on Lake Union. The whole experience was embarrassing and frustrating. In the end, I was thankful to have purchased BoatUS tow insurance.
T
he frustration culminated big-time when Ava and I planned to sail Cinderella north over the Christmas holiday. We wanted to cruise to Victoria for Christmas, on through the Gulf Islands, and eventually to Vancouver to meet friends for New Year's Eve. I filled the fuel tank with fresh fuel and treatment, and we set off. The first leg of our trip was motorsailing to Port of Everett Marina. Just as we arrived, like clock-
We were forced to double down on seamanship. Sailing plans were now based on the Puget Sound tides and the currents they drive rather than the fickle, unpredictable wind forecast. Overnighting or afternoon anchoring in tiny little nooks, waiting for the tides to turn, became the norm rather than motoring against currents in tight passes. We had to just be patient and prudent. Slowing down gave us a real taste of cruising. We opened our eyes to the nature around us, so easy to miss when we were meeting timelines. We watched bald eagles soar and dive for fish, and sipped tea while seals twisted and played like bioluminescent torpedoes. We sailed into Victoria Harbor on Christmas Eve. We did it! Christmas in Canada! From there we headed to Salt Spring Island, part of Canada's Southern
We needed to make sure the system was robust enough to take offshore, and powerful enough to get us out of trouble. work, the engine began spitting black smoke into the cabin as it ground itself to a halt. F&%#K! We proceeded to troubleshoot with the Yanmar specialist at the chandlery and were devastated with the diagnosis: the engine had hydrolocked — sucked water into one or more cylinders! This meant the whole engine had to come out and get refurbished. This was a huge bummer. After dinner and a few beers at Scuttlebutt Brewing, Ava and I decided to continue the trip, engineless. It's a sailboat, right? That decision had unforeseen benefits.
Gulf Islands. We made it to Vancouver just in time for NYE festivities with our friends — all without an engine. That sailing trip had a profound impact on Ava and me.
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ight around that time, a prominent YouTube sailing channel, Sailing Uma, had just finished a DIY install of an electric motor drive system. Uma showed us that going electric could be far less expensive than a new or secondhand replacement engine. Going electric on Cinderella seemed so logical.
