Hey all! just found the forum by luck and what a great site!
My father has a Ericson 36C that we've owned for about 15 years now. Sorry, I don't know the hull number at the moment but I know its a 1976 for those that will be curious.
Anyways, a little background, she's docked in the SF Bay Area at the moment where she's been sitting for the past 5 years since my mother was diagnosed with cancer. My mother and father were planning on cruising around the world with her however, those dreams died when my mom passed 4 years ago. Since then, my father has, as far as I can tell not done anything with her. I've gone down to the boat every few months and checked on things, made sure the bildge was pumped etc. Well, I go down there last week (after being away at least 6 months) and find a few inches of sea water above the cabin floor. NOT GOOD .
Find that the batteries are both dead. Ran and got a new battery and managed to get the bildge pump going although it appears to be stuck in the on position in automatic mode, guessing the float switch is stuck or something. Anyways.... I can't tell if this is normal water seeping in or if we have a bigger problem somewhere. I did find that just about every seacock on the boat is open... I'm kicking myself now since I apparently have never checked them before now although I can't imagine any of us would have left them open after the last time we actually sailed her.
The engine had a couple inches of water on it which really bugs me since right before my mother got sick they bought a new Yanmar diesel for it and it has only ever been ran a few times. There is a bit of rust on the lowest pulley on the front, other than that it actually doesn't look too bad. Of course I'm guessing I need to start with an engine/tranny oil change before I attempt anything else with the engine but, anything else I should be aware of?
I'm guessing ultimately the entire cabin sole will need to be ripped out and replaced, however in the short term, I'm hoping that cleaning it up, bleaching, sanding, oiling will at least make it presentable/usable until I can afford to take on such a big project.
So, my question(s) is... where do I start? I personally think the engine is the first step... if that is shot, then I'm pretty much done as I can't afford any major expenses right now. Anybody know anybody that does (cheap) work on diesels in the bay area that may be able to take a look and see about getting it running?
I am going to need to check the seacocks, a couple of them that I tried today didn't seem to want to budge and I didn't think too much force and risking breaking something without any tools or preperation for a disaster would be a good idea. I forsee a haul out being needed in the near future and probably some replacement of seacocks in addition to the knocking off of 6 years of growth and bottom paint.... anything else that I'm overlooking or should be thinking of first?
I attached some pics I took with my cell phone, first is the sight I saw when I opened the hatch last week. The rest were taken today with all the water out of it. You can see in the last one how low she was sitting in the water before I drained her.
Any suggestions are welcome as I'm completely lost. Worst case I'll end up selling her for cheap but I'm getting more and more interested in trying to save her for myself.
My father has a Ericson 36C that we've owned for about 15 years now. Sorry, I don't know the hull number at the moment but I know its a 1976 for those that will be curious.
Anyways, a little background, she's docked in the SF Bay Area at the moment where she's been sitting for the past 5 years since my mother was diagnosed with cancer. My mother and father were planning on cruising around the world with her however, those dreams died when my mom passed 4 years ago. Since then, my father has, as far as I can tell not done anything with her. I've gone down to the boat every few months and checked on things, made sure the bildge was pumped etc. Well, I go down there last week (after being away at least 6 months) and find a few inches of sea water above the cabin floor. NOT GOOD .
Find that the batteries are both dead. Ran and got a new battery and managed to get the bildge pump going although it appears to be stuck in the on position in automatic mode, guessing the float switch is stuck or something. Anyways.... I can't tell if this is normal water seeping in or if we have a bigger problem somewhere. I did find that just about every seacock on the boat is open... I'm kicking myself now since I apparently have never checked them before now although I can't imagine any of us would have left them open after the last time we actually sailed her.
The engine had a couple inches of water on it which really bugs me since right before my mother got sick they bought a new Yanmar diesel for it and it has only ever been ran a few times. There is a bit of rust on the lowest pulley on the front, other than that it actually doesn't look too bad. Of course I'm guessing I need to start with an engine/tranny oil change before I attempt anything else with the engine but, anything else I should be aware of?
I'm guessing ultimately the entire cabin sole will need to be ripped out and replaced, however in the short term, I'm hoping that cleaning it up, bleaching, sanding, oiling will at least make it presentable/usable until I can afford to take on such a big project.
So, my question(s) is... where do I start? I personally think the engine is the first step... if that is shot, then I'm pretty much done as I can't afford any major expenses right now. Anybody know anybody that does (cheap) work on diesels in the bay area that may be able to take a look and see about getting it running?
I am going to need to check the seacocks, a couple of them that I tried today didn't seem to want to budge and I didn't think too much force and risking breaking something without any tools or preperation for a disaster would be a good idea. I forsee a haul out being needed in the near future and probably some replacement of seacocks in addition to the knocking off of 6 years of growth and bottom paint.... anything else that I'm overlooking or should be thinking of first?
I attached some pics I took with my cell phone, first is the sight I saw when I opened the hatch last week. The rest were taken today with all the water out of it. You can see in the last one how low she was sitting in the water before I drained her.
Any suggestions are welcome as I'm completely lost. Worst case I'll end up selling her for cheap but I'm getting more and more interested in trying to save her for myself.