# New crush -- Ensenada 20



## bobmcgov (Jul 19, 2007)

Moo, You Bloody Choir. Yayayaah, it's a cow. I'm lightly smitten with this pocket cruiser, which seems as bombproof as a 1600 lb boat can be. If the coamings were any taller, they'd be a dodger. And she'll finish most races the day after the field, but hey! Our lakes are small. A slow boat will make them seem bigger, right?

We have this problem -- flat water, but winds like the North Sea. So we need a boat that isn't Panic Stations when the wind kicks over 30, which is _every single day_. This Ensenada 20 only carries 175 sqft with the working jib, but with a 150% genoa and spinny option to get the nose up. It's basically the Balboa hull with a ridiculously raised deck and oversized spars.

We''ll keep the Buccaneer18 in case our lives run short of stark terror. But does this boat strike you as a nice, mellow daysailer/weekender for a very high-wind location? Experiences? Thanks again.


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## poltergeist (Oct 26, 2006)

*Go for it*

Hey Bob --

You're right ... 175 feet is a modest sail plan, but you've got the genny for those days when it's not blowing 30. And 500+ pounds of balast should make her sit up pretty well. Looks a little light on cockpit and heavy on cabin, but if that suits your style, I'd say go for it!

Where do you live, with small lakes and big wind?

Kurt


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

175 feet is a modest sail plan, modest, my underpants are 175' sqr.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I say go for it...


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## bobmcgov (Jul 19, 2007)

SimonV said:


> 175 feet is a modest sail plan, modest, my underpants are 175' sqr.


Could I borrow a pair? My jib's all blown out.

PG: Wyoming. Mean wind speed at my house is over 14 mph. It's brilliant for sailing -- never a drifting day. But the summer wind jumps from 3 kts to 30 with no apparent cause or warning. Our weather doesn't come from fronts -- it's all local sloshing around. Typical mountain stuff. So a flexible sail plan is a must; I'll sacrifice light wind performance for a boat that'll take a punch. Our Bucc18 carries 175 sqft -- at 500 lbs, all of it above waterline. I've been blown off the lake on bare poles. BTW, it's a rare week in winter that doesn't see winds over 70 mph. I've clocked 119 mph in my back yard. Eek.

The Ensenada floats in 12", can sail even with the board up (unlike the SJ21), and only draws 4' with the board down (same as the Buccaneer). It is a very small cockpit -- they claim it seats five? But for all our social-sailing plans, 90% of our sailing is onesies or twosies. We have the Bucc with its nine-foot cockpit for scaring large numbers of people at once.

One big concern -- nearly all E20s I've seen are salt-water boats. Solid iron keel....


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## Simon123 (Nov 29, 2007)

I realize this is an old thread but I think it makes more sense in this case to keep the information about a relatively unknown boat in one place. I have one of these that I sail in the lakes around Dallas, when I finish my degree I am planning to take 6 mo's to year off and sail from Houston, with the intention of making it to the Bahamas but not out of the Carribean. I'm going to single hand and plan to do more of a coastal style, short passages trip. The relatively short duration overall means that I don't need much in the way of amenities, unlike what would be needed if a boat was supposed to be a long term home. My question is simply, am I completely out of my mind considering this boat for this trip? In it's favor, I own it already which means I don't have to spend half my budget on a boat, I'll be completely comfortable with it having sailed it for years. It's pretty stable though slow (I've already modified it to have a locking keel) and it's shallow draft (about 12 inches with the board up) would be convenient in the islands. Assuming that I will have the time to be careful about my weather windows and don't mind living on a 20 footer for that amount of time, is this boat unreasonable? If so, why?

Thanks
Simon


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## pbpg (Jul 7, 2011)

Bob, do you still have this Ensenada? I'm seriously in need of rigging pictures as to how the cockpit end/mainsheets are set up - especially tha dual block thing at the end of the boom? Do you have pictures, or can you describe the setup? Thanks!


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## bobmcgov (Jul 19, 2007)

Hey ho. What luck to see your post -- I rarely visit SailNet these days. We did not buy the E20 -- went with the SJ21 instead. Much livelier boat, but it has its own challenges. We did have some folks roll into Isthmus Cove (Catalina Island) this summer on an E20 and tie off to the stringline: brand new sailors on their first trip anywhere, and the boat took care of them on the crossing. Also the only boat we've ever seen at Catalina smaller than ours -- tho rather heavier!

For E20 information, you might peruse these sites:

Anungoday

Ensenada 20

Rick's Sailing pages

And don't forget to search for the RK20 and Balboa 20 versions of the boat. Or go to the Trailer Sailor BBS and ask for Rick or Noemi, both of whom sail the E20. Rick did a multi-day in the Apostle Islands this summer.

AFAIK, the E20 uses your basic boom-end triangular mainsheet setup: Sheet attaches to a becket on one coaming block; over the bottom sheave on the boom end fiddle block; down and around the other coaming block; back over the boom-end fiddle, top sheave; down and around the first coaming block, and thence to a cleat on the cockpit sole. Our SJ21 was set up the same, tho we have since changed to mid-boom sheeting.


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## pete c (Mar 13, 2021)

Time to resurrect an ancient thread.

Assuming the seller hasn't fibbed too bad, I will be the new owner of an E20 in a few hours. 

This will be my first boat. I do have very limited small boat sailing experience. I think it may suit my needs perfectly which is to putz around safely in New England lakes and coastal waters with a wife who will likely never set foot in it again if it heels over more than 20 degrees. 

She's not quite as adventurous as I. This is likely a good thing as it has kept us from getting dead doing anything, which would likely be our fate, were I in charge. 

I absolutely love the lines of the E20. The cabin top which goes as far forward as a cabin top possibly could. The high, swooping coamings which in addition to keeping the sea/lake where it belongs, just look bad-ass.

It may be a pig, but, by God, it sure looks fast!!!! Maybe I'll just stiffen the transom a bit and strap a ginormous Merc to it. 

Would appreciate any advice/warnings on this tub.

Thanks.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Here's my take, the Ensenada 20 was one of those, good news-bad news kind of boats. The good news is that the hull and rig was penned by Lyle Hess who was a very good cruising boat designer. The fractional rig is easy to handle, and the boats sail reasonably well in moderate breezes. They have a surprisingly large interior for a 20 foot boat.

Now for the less than good news. These boats were built by Coastal Recreation. (Coastal Wreck in the parlance of the day). In the early 1970's I had a job at a company who with no sense of irony was called 'Expressway Yachts' . Expressway specialized in selling trailerable sailboats. My job was to commission these boats. Outside of the job, I also would help new owners rig the boat the first time and give them a basic sailing lesson so I got to sail most of the models that we sold.

Expressway sold Coastal Wrecks and part of my job was to check for glaring defects while I was commissioning the boats.

Build quality and quality control was horrible. Most of the stuff was just goofy, like a genoa track that had all the bolts in place but only two of the bolts had nuts and washers.

In the worst case, someone stepped through the bottom. It turned out that there was gelcoat on one side of the laminate, zolotone on the other side and dry glass in the middle with no sign of any resin in the dry glass.
The Coastal Wreck service rep came to look at the warranty claim and reported commented 'what do you expect when you put a migrant worker on a chopper gun?'

Of course that boat is now 50 years old and if it has any major flaws, they would glaringly show by now.

I only recall sailing one once and I don't have a lot of clear memories of that sail. My recollection is that like most trailerable sailboats they were quite tender, but not dangerously so. They were not great in light air and when the wind filled in the boat didn't handle gusts all that well, but some of that may have been the new owner's and new sailor's lack of sailing experience.

Jeff


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## pete c (Mar 13, 2021)

Thanks Jeff.

I did buy it. Boat isn't perfect, most everything seems sound. Hull is rock solid, as best I can tell. There is the expected deck delamination going on forward of the boom. My plan is to attempt to get the entire deck section forward of the hatch off in one piece. Replace all the balsa, and hopefully replace the original deck skin. This skin is in very nice shape, with the original cross hatching and it would be a shame to have to toss it.

The keel appears to be in pretty fair shape and it does swing. At some point I would like to drop it and blast/epoxy it. Maybe next year. The rig appears to be complete. Sails aren't new, but perfectly serviceable. Tilt trailer is solid, but could use new tires.

I could drop it in the water and sail as is, if I really wanted to, but want to get that deck squared away first. 

I have talked to a guy who had one for years. He said with a few mods to the rig, it was a great cruiser and he took it all over Long Island Sound, even when there were small craft warnings. Said it is a very dry boat thanks to the high coamings.


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## olson34 (Oct 13, 2000)

I used to_ read_ (pre internet days...) that the Balboa 20 used the same hull mold with a different top. True, at all?

(just curious.....)


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

Many years ago I was interested in this boat
Seems like they were all/most in Calif
Offered good room for size
Pocket sailer on a trailer
Maybe a nifty and cheap sea of Cortez explorer


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