E-38/200 Question

[Loren Beach]

The owners of this model all seem to love 'em. We have been aboard several of these and also a Mk1 version with the traditional layout.

We have been tempted several times to pull the trigger on a 38/200 purchase, but the thing that stopped us cold was the mini-nav table, where you face aft, perched on the end of the settee. Not even a back rest.

We both really like the our aft head ("tri cabin") layout on our Olson with the large forward-facing nav desk.
The E-38 trumps us, however, with a separate shower.

So, how do you happy Ericson 38/200 owners cope with the lack of a "functional" desk on your 38's? (Yeah, I know that "navigation" is supposed to be all electronic and only a little screen is needed, anyway. Maybe - on some other boats...)

We use our present nav. table for added food prep area, computing, a place to lay out books, magazines, and catalogs, work on repair projects... and, as the joke goes, sometimes even for... navigating! It has room under the lid for flat chart storage, too. The surface comfortably holds a folded-once chart (1/2).
I will append a layout of our boat, from an old dealer flyer. It shows some dark lines on the nav table denoting the opening lid(s), but the table surface does go out to the end of the curved part of the drawing.

If we had our druthers, we wish the aft part of the E-38 interior had been like our present boat... just bigger!
:nerd:

Thanks,

Loren

 

[u079721]

Interesting point. I never found the layout on my 1989 E8-200 to be a problem, though I will admit that it would have been nice to have a back support while sitting at the nav station. The desk seemed adequately large, or at least as large as found on most 38 footers. You tend to sit cross-legged sideways up against the seat back cushion for support while underway, which always seemed stable enough unless the boat was rolling a lot (in which case the nav station was the least of my problems!). If you could put in the arrangement you have on yours it would be preferable, but that would take up a lot of room that the 38 devotes to storage, with lockers aft on starboard and forward on port and starboard.

I remember at least one boat-show boat I saw that came with the same layout, but had a removable back support cushion that could be mounted when you needed it underway, but removed while at the dock or at anchor and you wanted the full settee for seating. That seemed like the perfect compromise.

All my cruising on our 38 was coastal, with two or three single overnights a year, not extended passages. But even for those I can tell you that I would always want an aft head for ready access and better motion while underway. The aft head and separate shower stall were big selling points for us in choosing our 38. Not everyone uses the stall, but in our yearly month long cruises my wife would bath in ours every day (even if she did usually use lake water from a solar shower).

On my one offshore delivery a couple of years ago my friend's boat had a proper nav station with a seat back, but the back was so far from the table that you couldn't really use it for support and still see what you were doing. In that case I found myself wishing for my 38's layout where I could at least press sideways against the seat back cushion for support.

 

[Kerry Kukucha]

38-200 Cult

Loren:

We don't seem to have any problems with the nav station layout. The desk top lifts up for chart storage & the top functions OK for all the all the uses you mentioned (albeit on an angle). When navigating, I usually spread my charts out on the dinette table; have never really thought nav stations on most other boats I have sailed were very useful.

Overall & during our brief ownership period, we have found the 200 layout, spaciousness, storage, hanging lockers (4!), full sized shower (which serves as a great wet locker/cooler/misc storage area) fantastic!!!
I just went back & looked at pictures of a C&C 37+ (40' LOA) we had put an offer on (prior to discovering Ericsons) & am amazed at how well laid out, spacious & bright the E-38 is below deck & how much cockpit room we have as well! Needless to say, we are happy members of the 38-200 cult!!!!

 

[Bob Robertson]

Hi Loren,

Our 38-200 is a 1988. We've had it since it was new. I guess it would be nice to have a back rest, but we have never really missed it or thought about it before. Because our radar display is at the nav station, we do tend to spend time at the nav station for longer periods at night and particularly in heavy fog. Our radar display faces forward, so when I am navigating using radar I occasionally kick back with a pillow against the forward bulkhead.

Please let me know how I can be of help with your project.

Best of luck,
Bob

 

[footrope]

What do you want to do at the nav table?

In our forward head & shower layout our nav table is somewhat larger than the 38-200, but not big enough. Our radar & chart-plotter is there, so in fog and when our estimated position needs collaboration, we duck in there. I think, because of the small table, that is where we sit to write the log. The detailed readout of position, boat and GPS speed, and wind is there and and sometimes we record that info. Our computer will fit snugly there when underway and is a backup navigation tool.

The map location, in practice, is the dinette table or the cockpit. We have three types of charts - regular government paper charts, electronic in the plotter, and a large Canadian chart book, plus misc. cruising books. The government charts and the Canadian chart book never make it topside, and don't fit on the nav table anyway. We often bring the smaller cruising books to the cockpit if we're in an interesting or tight area, where the chart segments, diagrams or pictures are useful. For local navigation we have a medium scale planning chart cut to fit the dinette under plexiglass.

Our nav station has no backrest either and I'm not sure we miss it. I might sit there to read when we're not underway, but the foot room is poor, so I sit a little sideways. The nav station may be renamed "Radio Room" on our boat once we add ham radios. We are looking at locating a new radar/chart plotter in the cockpit or in the companionway.

 

[Dan Morehouse]

A lot to like

Loren,
I hunted around on Yachtworld for nearly two years before buying a 1981 E-38 in January. I methodically went through nearly every model in Practical Sailor's "Practical Boat Buying Guide", and every other I could think of. On the first round, I moved past Ericson 38s in part because the nav desk in the aft cabin seemed unorthodox. It only appears in a scant few other designs. But on a second round of hunting, the 38 jumped out of the pack by virtue of the efficiency of the interior, the quality of the build, the pedigree of the design, and the perplexingly low price level. Nothing else I considered scored such solid hits on all these marks.
I find the nav desk not expansive, but adequate on mine. And let's face it, a nav desk that had the room we REALLY wanted would seat six for dinner. I find mine compares favorably with the better than average ones I've seen; and although there is no back rest, Steve's comment on adding a removable one has gotten my interest piqued.
There is a side benefit to locating the nav station inside the aft cabin. The sole space needed for the access to the nav station also accrues to the benefit of the aft cabin; and the space above the nav desk does as well. You can stand there and pull a sweatshirt over your head and not bonk your shoulders and elbows doing it. We've chartered a half dozen other boats from a Hans Christian 43 to Jeanneaus, a Catalina, and an Island Packet...and like the aft cabin space on the 38 best.
The two downsides are the unfortunate lack of a hanging locker in the aft cabin, a real pain; and as Steve mentioned, the head forward is not as convenient to the cockpit or as friendly a motion as an aft head. Even so, every time I'm on the boat, I find myself marveling at how many thiings they got right 27 years ago...and about half the time, I'm sitting at the nav desk thinking about it!

Dan Morehouse
1981 E-38 "Next Exit"

 

[Trucker Doug]

You're pretty sharp to realise that beforehand. As someone mentioned the footroom makes it difficult to sit squarely so you end up sitting sidesaddle. When I really need to plot a course it ends up at the dinner table as the admiral is going to have her input anyway. All in all, I think the shower is well worth the space. In the slip it 's the dingy's spot and anchored out the boss likes her privacy.
Mine is an 86, the layout with the engine under the sink and I like it. The newer models have the engine under the steps and I think there was an opportuinity missed. If they would have used the same counter as mine there would have been storage on the kitchen side of it and a huge easily accessable place for a bigass toolbox. I hate moving cushions to get to tools as I'm usually covered in paint, grease, epoxy, glue, you name it.

 

[noproblemo2]

Loren, we owned our E-38 for 26 years and did Mexico for 8 of those as well as living aboard her a great portion of the time, we never had any nav. issues with her. One can always alter the design by creating a back support. Due to health reasons had to sell her last year, the new owners after 3 months decided they preferred power boats and put her on the market again!!!