WOW! I just bought an Ericson

[skywalker]

I would like to introduce myself here and let everyone know that I have just bought a 1988 Ericson 38-200. Right at the moment it is in Racine, WI where it will sit for the winter. My intention is to bring it to Lake Ontario next spring then next fall head down south somewhere (not sure yet). I see that there is a lot of good information here. I will be visiting this place many times over the winter.

Here's a picture

 

[SASSY]

New Ericson

Congradulations on your new boat! I bought my 87 E-34 last April and sailed her home over the summer. Were abouts on Lake Ontario are you? We are at QCYC in Toronto.

 

[skywalker]

I'll be bringing it to the Bay of Quinte here in Belleville at the BQYC

 

[rbonilla]

nice skywalker...how about more pics? which cabin layout did you go with? did you look at many? if so...what were the general price ranges you saw in the mkt...i am keeping my ear to the ground for a nice 1883-1988 e38-200....cheers....richard / colorado

 

[noproblemo2]

CONGRATS!!!! Welcome to the "Family"....

 

[Mindscape]

Congrats!

the 38 is a beautiful boat! you'll enjoy her - welcome aboard!

 

[wheelerwbrian]

I've got a 1988 38-200 as well. We'll have to compare notes.

 

[u079721]

Welcome! The 38 is a great boat (must be, since I owned one.....) and is very well represented here with lots of present and former owners. Probably just about any E-38 maintenance or design question you can think of has probably come up on this board at least once.

You will probably spend all winter putting together a massive TO DO list of things to check and improve. In fact it's pretty common for folks buying used boats to comment here that they are overwhelmed by all there is to do to the boat. The best advice in such situations seems to be to balance work with sailing, as you don't want your twenty plus year old boat to be nothing but projects.

I will, however, add one thing to your list. Please check out this thread:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=545

and next time you are aboard, go below in the aft cabin with a Philips head screwdriver, remove the access panel to the steering quadrant, and check whether the factory ran your control cables in the same "wrong" way as shown. If they did, you probably should put replacing those cables fairly high up your "must do" list next spring.

And when you get the chance, we require more pictures!

 

[skywalker]

Some more photos

nice skywalker...how about more pics? which cabin layout did you go with? did you look at many? if so...what were the general price ranges you saw in the mkt...i am keeping my ear to the ground for a nice 1883-1988 e38-200....cheers....richard / colorado

rbonilla........Thanks. The boat has an aft head and the engine is under the stairs. I had many boats on my list and time after time I kept coming back to the Ericson. There was one freshwater boat (the one I bought) and about 4 I saw in the NE. If you check out YachtWorld you'll see them from $74K to $95K. The difference in price was how well they were maintained and sail/canvas/electronic upgrades. If you are looking at one of the ones in the NE I can tell you what they are like.

Here are some more photos.

 

[skywalker]

Nice welcome

noproblemo2 "CONGRATS!!!! Welcome to the "Family"

Mindscape "the 38 is a beautiful boat! you'll enjoy her - welcome aboard!"

Thanks for the welcome

 

[wheelerwbrian]

The aft head was something I was looking for - keeps the water out of most of the cabin when coming in with foulies on. You can toss them right into the shower to drain. Plus when ur alone on the boat its a bit faster to take care of business and bet back to the cockpit.

 

[skywalker]

Hi Brian, I see that you have the same year and model. I like the separate shower area as well for the same reasons. The boat right now has one problem that needs to be dealt with. Where the mast sits under the floor board the water seems to pool and over the years now this has damaged the sole around the mast. It seems that the water is not able to drain. Do you have anything like this happening?

 

[skywalker]

Welcome! The 38 is a great boat (must be, since I owned one.....) and is very well represented here with lots of present and former owners. Probably just about any E-38 maintenance or design question you can think of has probably come up on this board at least once.

You will probably spend all winter putting together a massive TO DO list of things to check and improve. In fact it's pretty common for folks buying used boats to comment here that they are overwhelmed by all there is to do to the boat. The best advice in such situations seems to be to balance work with sailing, as you don't want your twenty plus year old boat to be nothing but projects.

Thanks Steve,

I see that you owned 'Rag Doll'. I may have considered it but correct me if I'm wrong I think it had a 6'6" keel? I wanted the shallow wing for the Bahamas.

My 2 projects (for now) are to put in a windlass and an inverter. For the windlass I am considering the Lewmar Pro-series H1000 and the inverter I'm looking at is a Xantrex Prowatt SW1000.

 

[wheelerwbrian]

Yep, same problem, hence I had to replace my sole last year. I remove the two boards around the mast step when I'm off the boat, and I've sealed the bottom and endgrains of the board and the sole with epoxy to keep it dry. I haven't had the occasion to pull my mast yet so I'm not sure how the step is put together. I imagine that it has a lip that extends up into the mast. But there is a hole in the step for the wires to exit, so that should provide drainage. Consequently, I think the water is coming down the sail track and there must not be a drain there, so the water runs out and across the step. A solution would be to drill a drain, but I don't want to do that until I have the mast pulled and can see what is going on.

If anyone else has encountered this problem, or has a pic of the 38 mast step they could post, that might be helpful.

 

[u079721]

Yep, same problem, hence I had to replace my sole last year. I remove the two boards around the mast step when I'm off the boat, and I've sealed the bottom and endgrains of the board and the sole with epoxy to keep it dry. I haven't had the occasion to pull my mast yet so I'm not sure how the step is put together. I imagine that it has a lip that extends up into the mast. But there is a hole in the step for the wires to exit, so that should provide drainage. Consequently, I think the water is coming down the sail track and there must not be a drain there, so the water runs out and across the step. A solution would be to drill a drain, but I don't want to do that until I have the mast pulled and can see what is going on.

If anyone else has encountered this problem, or has a pic of the 38 mast step they could post, that might be helpful.

I had this problem too. For me the fix was easy since I unstep the mast each fall. I just drilled a 1/4" hole to let the water that came down inside the mast get down into the bilge more easily, and the problem went away. There is a hole in the mast base plate, but it's the front end, and depending on heel and list the water may pool aft inside the mast on top of that plate, and leak out under the plate and onto the wood. Once I drilled that hole just inside (forward) of where the aft edge of the mast rests inside the base plate the water never pooled again.

I then sanded down the discolored edges and undersides of those boards, sealed them with epoxy, and coated them with about 8 coats of white marine enamel paint. Didn't have to touch it for the next ten years.

 

[skywalker]

Mast Leak

Yep, same problem, hence I had to replace my sole last year. I remove the two boards around the mast step when I'm off the boat, and I've sealed the bottom and endgrains of the board and the sole with epoxy to keep it dry.

It sounds like Steve here has found the solution to the problem. Brian how much did it cost you to replace the sole?

 

[skywalker]

Mast Leak

Thanks Steve thats terrific. This website has already paid off. This was the worst problem on the boat but I knew that there had to be a way to get this fixed. I guess the mast does not need to come out all the way to do this? This will be a good job for next spring.