E31: Is this sacrilege?

[A Sailing Odyssey]

I’ve recently acquired an E31 Independence. My interior is in rather good condition, minus the mold from sitting a few years, but I’ll be honest the dark wood is not my favorite. I’m planning on re-doing the cushions in a light tan color, but would painting portions of the interior wood hurt my resale value in the future? I’m not sure how purist people are regarding the E31’s. I’ve outlined the sections I’d like to paint in the one photo below. I would love to know the community’s thoughts!

cheers

 

[Frank Langer]

I’ve recently acquired an E31 Independence. My interior is in rather good condition, minus the mold from sitting a few years, but I’ll be honest the dark wood is not my favorite. I’m planning on re-doing the cushions in a light tan color, but would painting portions of the interior wood hurt my resale value in the future? I’m not sure how purist people are regarding the E31’s. I’ve outlined the sections I’d like to paint in the one photo below. I would love to know the community’s thoughts!

cheers

If you can find the pic of Christian's interior, where he painted the upper area around the ports white, it looks good and brightens the cabin. I think he used Brightside Hatteras White. I think that would look ok on your boat, but I would not paint the lower teak boards, as that would be too much white.
Sailors who buy the E31 tend to be traditional, so any change from the original may be a bit risky. But if you do a good job, it will likely look good, and should be ok for a future buyer. In the meantime, it's your boat and you have to be comfortable in it.
Frank

 

[reginaldobaker]

Cheers and congrats on the new boat! Have always thought the E31 Independence was super classy and beautiful.

my personal opinion is teak/finish wood should not be painted. Spent a few weeks on a former boat scraping off paint, with a heat gun and spoon, to refinish the teak with Cetol. It’s a lot of work to do well and if the current finish is not in poor shape already it’s just cosmetic. But just my $.02! The interior wood on your 31 seems to have a lot of charm.

some alternatives to “open up” the interior may be led lighting strips or if anything just small accents of paint.

Good luck whichever way you go

 

[peaman]

For a couple years, I ran a 70+ft charter boat from a respected yard with only a few sister ships, each of which had well crafted teak interiors. I was fortunate to visit a couple of the sisters, and what I saw, I think compares to what you see in your boat. The boat that I ran had been professionally decorated with a perfect combination of light, off-white panels of vinyl wall covering, highlighted with high-gloss varnished trim. And the difference between that and the sister ships was impressive.

Like Frank, I would not paint the lower panels, largely because that would be a virtually irreversible choice, and I don't think it is necessary. I would consider vinyl wall covering on the forward bulkhead, also on the panels flanking the companionway, and also on the panel at the forward face of the galley cabinetry and perhaps also vinyl on the panels above the main deck A simple beige runner carpet along most of the length of the sole will further lighten the space. All of the "solid teak" trim (as opposed to the teak veneer panels) should be varnished in high gloss.

Good quality vinyl wall covering is more visually interesting than paint, and should be more readily reversible or re-doable than paint.

 

[Loren Beach]

Interior refinish ideas: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/ideas-recommendations-for-interior-refitting.19482/
And: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/interior-rehab.4500/

If you check our blog entries, note that we cleaned and bleached our interior teak surfaces from dingy and dark to a natural golden look. This brightens up the surfaces a lot, but nothing like the look Christian obtained with his slick paint job.
(Probably just another example of differing choices and opinions....)

 

[Christian Williams]

I would not paint the lower teak boards, as that would be too much white.

Agree. But the cabin house is a good candidate. I used Interlux Brightside Hatteras Off-White, which goes well with the Ericson headliner.

...

 

[David Vaughn]

Congratulations and welcome to the E31.

We are delighted with ours. They are a pleasure to sail, plenty of room for the two of us (we lived aboard for 5 months) and we get lots of compliments when we dock at a new marina. I had to allow at least an extra half hour when doing a project on deck because someone will come by and ask questions about her. The teak interior is part of why Kotona chose us to be her new owners. It can feel dark though, especially at night.

On Kotona, changing out the factory lights with well-placed bright but dimmable LED lights has helped. Adding LED tape lights or something similar, in the galley above the dish and cup storage, as well as above the chart table also makes a difference.
The lighter color for the cushions will make a difference. Ours are a striped fabric but the dominant color is cream and it does brighten it up.

I agree that the teak above the settees shouldn’t be painted. Covering it with something removable is an option, but part of the charm is that old school look. If something happened to Kotona and we were looking for another E31, I’d probably pass on one that had been painted. I will also agree though, that the veneer lining that you indicated in your photo is fair game, and it would make a difference. Something like what Christian did, could work nicely.

But at the end of the day, it’s your boat. If it feels like a place you want to be, you’ll go more often. And more often is better.

 

[Alan Gomes]

I think on some of their boats Ericson overdid it with the teak. Especially on a small boat like mine it creates a kind of peat bog aesthetic and makes an already tiny vessel feel closed in.

I replaced my cabin sides teak by the portlights with white Formica. As is common with these boats, leaks (in my case from a PO) did a real number on the wood, and there was no way I could get the substrate looking good enough for paint. The Formica, though not easy to work with, gave an excellent result to my eye.

I agree that I would not paint or do anything to the wood strips below that, just above the settees, other than to give them a good varnishing.

Before and after pictures below. (Please excuse the construction mess!)

 

[A Sailing Odyssey]

Thank you all very much for the replies! This is exactly the information I was looking for. I will be painting up the veneer around the port-lights and leaving all else untouched. Brighter cushions are still in store and I’ll just go enjoy the boat instead of fussing over the interior. I plan to be in the cockpit more anyhow

Cheers all!