Ralf Marek built his OE 32,"Vagant", in 1976 and already launched her the following year. Now, 25 years later, he observes while a lot of what he did was good, at the same time some things could have been done better.

I built my OE 32 (no. 68) in December 1976 and launched and sailed her in Gothenburg at midsummer the following year – still with a chipboard floor as the only interior apart from the bulkheads! Later on of course I installed the real interior. At that time there was no building kits for the interior (as there was for the cockpit details) and my interior, using the original drawings by and large, is sawn from a mahogany log. So now, here I am 25 years later, of course wondering: what should I have done different? Are there any regrets? What am I particularly satisfied with?

Before the construction, my wife and I went around and looked at other OE 32’s and spoke with the owners/builders. They gave me many ideas, and – perhaps more importantly – to dispense with a few of my own ideas that perhaps would have been less than successful! Several months before commencing my own project I helped a friend with his boat building and that gave me a wonderful groundwork about how things worked before I went to Oxelösund.


I had with me some proposals to the ship yard management:

1. The holders for the chain plates should be fibreglassed on both the outer and the inner hull in order to minimise the risk for de-laminating of the balsa which had at that time been used as the filling material..

2. A container for a life raft should be fibreglassed under the starboard thwart, hanging above the quarter berth. The hatch for this could then be made from the outside.

3. A ”glove box” should be fitted in the side of the cockpit, I wanted to fibreglass the boxes while the underside of the hull was still reachable in the mould.

4. The coach roof should have port holes that would lay tight against sunk laps. The shape for these laps could be lodged in the deck mould.

5. The deck should be provided with Trakmark (or a similar material). I wanted countersinking for that as a more suitable alternative to the safety non-slip surface

The shipyard was understandably hesitant about these plans – they were worried about their careful time table and that working ”overtime” in the evenings was not allowed. I abandoned points 4 and 5. I pestered them about points 2 and 3. They were extremely doubtful about the holders for the chain plates until they consulted Olle Enderlein, who thougt it was an excellent idea.

The shipyard was also hesitant about my choice of engine: a Perkins 4-108, 50 hp. They also laughed at my 16 inch, three-bladed propeller. I was promised that they would use plasticine to augment the propeller hole in the mould. I have never regretted that – it feels enormously secure when one, for example,. goes out between the harbour piers at Le Havre in strong onshore wind and high seas!

Now when I couldn’t do the deck covering that I wanted, I thought that I’d just put in teak ”like all the others”. But for some reason I didn’t have the money for it just then and the years went by. By now I have seen many boat owners – especially at the laying up places around the Mediterranean– lying and chopping off their leaking teak deck and I am really glad that I kept my standard deck.


What do I regret?
It is mostly the following details

I should have been more accurate with that first layer of matting after the gelcoat spraying. Especially on the cockpit coaming where it has, now and then, come up a few annoying ”small cavities” of several mm. These are due to the fact that I didn’t rub down the matting properly in those difficult to get to places. It is of course easy to take care of afterwards.

I should have done proper – not 25mm (1 in) but 50mm (2 in) the lead-through and hoses for cables inside the boat so that afterwards I could easily supplement the electricity and water pipes.

The location of the through-hull fitting for the engine’s cooling system has become increasingly inaccessible now that I am older! It should have been put in another place.

I shouldn’t have been so afraid of leaving visible screws in the interior – my desire for a high finish was competing with that all parts of the boat should be easily accessible!

When I assembled the through attachment for the stanchions through the toe rail I should have left a 5mm gap filled with Thiokol, a polysulfide sealant; around the thick ”bolt”. Already, from the start the toe rail fractured) since the attachment for the stanchions always moves slightly.

I fibreglassed an extra water tank under the berth in the fore cabin but it didn’t take long for me to realise that the OE 32 doesn’t tolerate so much weight in the fore. The tank now works as a ”collision space” that I so far haven’t had to try.

The rigging
I still have my old “Atlantic Ocean rigg” that I bought second-hand from Seldén. I have of course fitted a furling device as well as an extra fore stay for using a storm jib. When sailing in my home waters that stay is fixed out of the way, tightened down towards the forward lower shroud chain plate. I had considered a self tacking sail but it wasn’t to be. I was hesitant about a bow sprit because of that forward weight division. If I was buying the rigging today I would get an in-mast mainsail – but there were none in 1976. And of course I would also have installed self-tailing winches from the beginning.

The head and the stove
It is true that I have exchanged the head but, on the other hand I have left the Lavac-system which is really reliable and simple. Two identical Hendersson pumps, one of which empties the head to the tank and rinses at the same time, while the other one empties the tank into the sea when it is suitable. One sits on the head facing forward on my toilet there is a simple hand grip in a leaning position which is really practical, particularly when the boat pitches in the sea. All seacocks onboard are Blake brand which is the only brand that I trust.

The stove is a Taylor 030, paraffin with an oven and a separate tank. The burners and some other things have been changed since 1976. A really good gyro-suspension and saucepan holders helps to keep things easy and level when working while sailing. Even the heater uses paraffin.

Electricity and other cables
I guess that all boat owners are continuously modifying their cables. New instruments, bigger cables, alarms, electric windlasses and so on. When I built the boat, I used large capacity , tin-plated cables but when I later made small adjustments I used ordinary ”car wiring cable” which I have got reason to regret now and then. Now I am going through the electrical system to make it well arranged and uniform again. But mostly I am ”proud but not satisfied ”, for my electrical system which has work worked really well with two generators, one of them propeller-axle driven, and three different battery banks. But that’s another story!


Ralf Marek
OE 32 S68 ”Vagant”