This post has no real purpose

[DevinWalker]

Except that the SE section is not well represented so I thought I'd scrawl on the imaginary wall.

I'm looking forward to next weekend when I'll be cruising my E27 "Horizon's End" down Mobile Bay and into the ICW for a three-day Widespread Panic concert at a joint called The Wharf. Weather looks good *knocks on wood,* and it'll be the last trip before she's on the hard in the yard for a bottom job and whatever else I feel like throwing a couple hundred bucks at!!

I'm thinking I'll attempt this paint job that I found on another E27 . . .

OK. I'm done. Fair winds my friends.:egrin:

[ThirdCoast]

Hey-

This reply is about useless, too.. Thought I'd give the forum a try. I KNOW there are many more Ericson owners on the Third Coast. Why aren't they joining? But then I just joined today. Only took me 10 yrs to finally get around to it. I currently own and liveaboard an E39 (A) in the Galveston area at Harborwalk Marina on West Galveston Bay. This one I've owned for 8 yrs- I'd owned an E27 prior to purchasing "Neodesha" in 2000.

Love the paint job. Did you get around to trying something similar on your E27. My E27 had a beautiful Imron paint job. I did love that boat- just wasn't large enough to live aboard. AND- marinas are getting plumb picky about size of boats they'll allow someone to live on.
:egrin:

Cheers- Don Smith

[DevinWalker]

No, the paint job is still a few weeks away. I'm puling it out of the water at the end of April for bottom paint, topsides paint and several other projects. The yard guy is cool and said since he's doing the bottom job I could leave it in the yard for a while so I can complete a few things. Going to be a bit weird seeing her on the hard for the first time.

[Randy Rutledge]

Devin

You missed a great time on the Dauphin Island race. Should have been there for the sailing and the party.

Are you a member of one of the local sailing or Yacht clubs on the bay?

[gulfcoaster]

Hey Third Coast! We will be sailing from Kemah to Harborwalk over the Memorial Day Weekend. We have a 1987 Ericson 32-3 named LIL BIT A SOL. We should be arriving around 1-2pm and will be in slip A-13 on the transient dock near the pool. WX permitting... Hope to meet you and get my first glimpse at a 39 footer.

[ThirdCoast]

Hi Gulfcoaster--
I will be right here, up to my neck in repowering :esad:..

Look for me in C-22..

[DevinWalker]

i finally got the boat out of the water, and on first blush it looked fine . . . however after powerwashing, it turns out there are some big blisters and some goofy epoxy patches. I'm thinking about just scraping it down myself w/ elbow grease and a sander then building it back w/ Interlux 2000E -- it's a better option than $165/ft to have it sandblasted, epoxied and repainted.

suggestions . . .

[ThirdCoast]

You have the right idea, Kevin. The old epoxy fills previous blisters and has probably done its job. Be careful with the sanding, careful of the gelcoat, dry and fill the blisters, give it a fresh barrier coat if you take it down to the gelcoat, then two coats of ablative dual biocide (Interlux or International- same paint and almost always comes out on as best in the tests.) That should do the trick. Pour on the elbow grease. Save a ton by doing it yourself (costs $30/blister at our local yard!)

[DevinWalker]

I can actually see the glass under several of the blisters and the rest of the paint is very brittle. My plan is to scrape sand everything to the gelcoat or beyond then come back with the 200E, but i think i'm going to go w/ a hard paint w/ slime killer (Trinidad SR) instead of the ablative. Local opinion -- outside of the chandlery -- says it's the best for my current conditions.

[ThirdCoast]

Whatever suits your needs. Trinidad SR isn't recommended by yards here for casual cruisers because of costs to strip and reapply- it's not as forgiving as ablatives for reapplying every couple of years. Our water is just a bit more tainted here on the Texas coast (all the way to Mexico) and we prefer ablatives on our sailboats (except serious racers and they strip and recoat with the hard stuff pretty often.)

If you already had your mind made up, why'd you aski?

[DevinWalker]

LOL -- my mind wasn't made up as of the first post . . . and I'm still researching. I've got A LOT to do before I even get to the anti-fouling:egrin:

[HughHarv]

Hello Thirdcoast, I have a neglected Ericson 39 that I'm repairing up on Lake Michigan. It's a short sailing season involving yearly haulouts and I'm thinking about moving her to warmer climate where she can be sailed during the winter. I looked at Kemah area a couple years ago but the water is fairly skinny there. I'm wondering how much of a problem you have with the 5' 10" draft outside your marina? Which do you prefer to sail, the gulf or the bay?

[Morgan Stinemetz]

Hello Benton Harbor,
Is the House of David baseball team still alive?
I am the Florida west coast editor for the Waterway Guide and co-author of Cruising the Florida Keys. Seventy inches of draft is a tad deep for a lot of the western coast of Florida. I draw 4 feet, and that's comfortable. But it's a 27-foot boat. Six feet in Tampa Bay is usually fine. But there are some shallow spots in the ICW that could nab you.
I think you'd be okay most of the time if you didn't get too adventurous. But having an annual contract with Sea Tow would be a wise investment.
More information available anytime. You get a full year's worth down here and the long waterline on the E-39 would allow you to make some cruises that smaller boats might not attempt. Sailing down here is like high school sex; you'll never find out how much fun it is unless you try it.
Morgan Stinemetz

[HughHarv]

Sorry Morgan, not a baseball fan. In fact, I'm a boring guy. I don't do much besides work and work on my sailboat. I've sailed in Charlotte Harbor and a little on the gulf. Liked it but I scraped sandy bottoms in a couple of inlets and that was with a 3' 6" draft. Couldn't picture myself kedging a 20k lb boat accross a shallow inlet. Would like to try Tampa Bay some time in the future though.

[Morgan Stinemetz]

For a boat with that kind of draft, you cannot gunkhole down here. And I don't do marginal passes either. There are lots of marginal ones down here. They are not worth the possibility of grounding. Hitting bottom in a pass while drawing 3' 6" is not the fault of the pass.
Morgan Stinemetz

[DevinWalker]

it occurred to me I never posted shots after the bottom job. i ran out of time and cash for this go round, so the cove and boot stripes will have to wait for the winter. I took the pictures in the yard right after a storm blew through and before the final coat of anti-fouling . . . thus the disheveled look of the tape, paper and clamps.

[Lawrence B. Lee]

Great to hear from the third coast but there is Ericson activity here on the Atlantic part the SE coast. I sail an E 32-200, Annabel Lee, out of Savannah, GA. There are at least five other E boats around here. My previous boat was an E 25+, Shaken not Stirred, the bane of the local C fleet regattas. She is now sailing out of Colonial Harbor in Va. Charleston, SC has more than a few E boats and I know they exist in NC as well.

Locally, the Geechee sailing club sponsors a St. Patrick's Regatta right after the big March 17 hoopla. IF we had the race on the 17th most of the sailors would be at the parade and in no shape to sail and the rest would be out on our local river in no shape to sail so we have it a full weekend away from the parade which attracts 400,000 (no stuff) to Savannah every year. The regatta is a tad smaller than 400K.

Octoberfest Regatta is the third weekend in Oct. Not as big as ST. Pats but a ton of fun.

Just a word or so to let you know we are sailing in the SE.

Larry Lee
E 32-300 Annabel Lee