On Aug 13, 4:09 pm, Gordon wrote:
Been looking at old Alberg 35s as a possible single handed cruiser.
The 35 was made by Ericson and Pearson and one other company.
Does anyone have a feel for any differences in quality between the
different builders?
Thanks
Gordon

Good Old Boat Magazine did a article on the 35s you might be able to
track it down but anyway there is an interesting story on how Ericson
started building the Alberg 35s after Pearson abandoned the design.
Apparently the Pearson plant in Sausalito dumped the mold for the hull
at the dump because Pearson decided to concentrate all production on
the east coast. Anyway the workers were suppose to break up the mold
but didn't. Someone spotted the mold, trucked it down to Orange and
the rest is Ericson history. Bruce King did some redesigning on the
keel. Pearson later sued Ericson over the hull after they put the
Alberg 35 into production but lost the suit.
You notice how the later Ericsons have split windows? It's because
Columbia sued about the window design and won.
So Ericsons solution was to just split it.


Ericson was a new company and money was tight but they did not
compromise on quality. They did not cut corners on manufacturing. The
plant even had a water tank that they dunked each new yacht into to
test for water tight integrity.
The Ericson 41 was the boat to have at the time and did well in yacht
races so kept the company in the money.