Touring the NorSea 27 ENTR’ACTE

                                    Entr’acte is a Nor Sea 27 sloop                                                      Designed by Lyle Hess

On Deck: Entr’acte carries 4 anchors, roller furling and an inner forestay for hank on sails.

 Cockpit: The center cockpit is well protected from following seas. The grate raises to provide a sun deck and outdoor sleeping area when in warmer climates.

                                      Entrance to the Aft Cabin

Stern: The rail and boom gallows provide security at sea and a secure mount for “Max” our Aries wind vane self-steering gear.  Entr’acte also has an  electronic autopilot for use in very light wind and when under power.

                       Slide up panel                       Water maker, tool locker, life raft          Medicine cabinet

Aft Cabin: The separate aft cabin offers privacy for the off watch. This arrangement makes Entr’acte feel much large than 27 feet.  Entracte is a bit different from other NorSeas in that she has “crawl through” access between the main and after cabin.

  Looking aft from the head compartment             Nice on a rainy day             A lot more room than you think

Engine Room:  When the wind dies the Yan-Mar 20 hp diesel can move us along at six knots for 300 miles. It also powers a 125-amp alternator that supplies charging current to 260 amp/hrs of battery. Pictured in the back on the starboard side is a reverse osmosis water maker that converts salt water to fresh at the rate of 3 1/2 gal/hr. This has since been re-located to the head compartment.

Prop Shaft:  Prop shaft alignment is critical to performance long engine life.  It is sometimes mis-understood.  Here is a link to demonstrate just what constitutes a well aligned prop shaft.  What is shown in the video clip represents what we consider to be the “lowest acceptable shaft motion.” If your shaft wobbles more than this, consider re-aligning the shaft.

Click the link to watch the video clip

NorSea 27 Prop shaft alignment

                                  Access from main cabin                        Access from aft cabin

Navigation Station: Entr’acte has entered the electronic age. The navigation station consists of steering Compass, Hand bearing compass, GPS receiver  with intigrated AIS reciever.  The Gps also includes  electronic charts for the area we are currently exploring. VHF/SSB/HAM radios,RDF. We connect a Macintosh Laptop computer to the SSB radio and Pactor Modem to download weather maps and email while at sea. Yes, we still use the sextant and paper charts.

     Table folds out to accommodate a paper chart.

Trailerable-    Oh, by the way— Entr’acte is trailerable.  On the trailer she weighs in at 10,300 lb.  We have used a Chevy 3/4ton Suburban but have since switched to the Dodge Ram 3/4 Ton / Cummins Diesel.  We absolutely love the Dodge/Cummins combo.  We dont even know it is back there. We have trailer her from NY to Florida and then sailed out the Bahamas numerous times.  On one occasion we left NY on a Friday at noon and by Monday we were anchored in the Bahamas.

The best is that not only can we go to far places and be back in time for work, we can store Entr’acte off season right next to the house.  We save not only boat yard fees but also have a wonderful place to work in the off season.

Dinghy: Our current dinghy, “Fiddle Stix” is a Tinker Foldaway RIB. It is 9 ft long and when deflated folds up into a very small package which stows just behind the mast. It also has a sailing Rig. It powers well, rows well and sails well.  We LOVE IT!  It is without doubt the driest dinghy we have ever owned. Unfortunately it is no longer manufactured.

Click the link to watch:   Repair of” Fiddle Stix”

                    Powers well, sails well, rows well!