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Ericson 34r-- seeking build info.

Fathomoslack

Junior Member
Hi all, new around here. I'm looking to take on a restoration project of a Erickson 34r, which is a rare boat it seems, but much what I'm looking for(a high performance, minimalist cruiser with a lot of light air weather ability)-- and it seems pretty ideal. It's a bit beat, but repairable, and I've restored 4 boats in the past so I'm pretty familiar with what to worry about. But I'm trying to find out details on the hull coring situation. I've heard it's airex, and it appears to continue well below the waterline. If anyone can knowledgeably confirm that to be true, I'd appreciate knowing. The details on the 34t that exist do not discuss coring, through the hull is the same shape.

Thanks!
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I hope some forum members can comment. You are right about the relative rarity of the 'R" model.
From my knowledge of the regular production models, all the Ericson's and Olson's were solid layup, unless you have a special model with coring...
(Which is like saying that I am not 100% sure...)

FWIW, back in that era C&C was building a few boats in that size range with partial coring in forward sections, so perhaps there were some lightweight Ericson's as well.

Anyone? Class?? Bueller???
:)

Loren
 

Fathomoslack

Junior Member
It definitely appears cored, with a pronounced step in the inner laminate just below the sheer. The question is really 1) what is it and 2) how far down does it go. The boat has little usage, but some minor grounding damage and I'd like to know what I'm getting into. It all repairable, even in the worst case, but it's really a matter of whether it's worth it.
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Innnteresting... I would have bet that the 34R (later called 34X) hull was solid layup. I know for-sure that the 34T hull is, and IIRC the hulls came off the same production line.

But I just dug up a dusty jpg-copy of the 34R brochure and, sure enough... Airex core.




.

34R.JPG
 
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PDX

Member III
Innnteresting... I would have bet that the 34R (later called 34X) hull was solid layup. I know for-sure that the 34T hull is, and IIRC the hulls came off the same production line.

But I just dug up a dusty jpg-copy of the 34R brochure and, sure enough... Airex core.




.

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Also, saildata shows the 34X as slightly longer than the 34T (? thought they were the same mold) and significantly lighter. The 34T is 33.67.' The 34X is 34.12. And while the shorter 34T weighs 11600 lbs the 34X weighs only 10000. Weight difference presumably due to the foam core. For comparison the later E-34, solid layup, weighs in at 13000 according to saildata, albeit longer still at 34.83.'

I'd be interested to know why Ericson experimented briefly with foam coring and then gave it up. Even the later Olsons, which had foam cores when Olson made them, had solid layups when Ericson did them.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Speaking strictly about the effect of cored hulls, the "official" weight of the one (and only one with hull coring) O-34 built by Pacific Boats was stated as 8500#. All subsequent hulls were constructed by Ericson and were solid layup and the brochure weight for those was/is 10600#.

Even allowing for common practice of production boats to build out heavier than the published figure, that's quite a difference and should be worth something in speed (and also hull stiffness which in theory would affect rig tune).

Interestingly, in the real world of racing in SF Bay, all of the Olson's and also the Express 34's (Expresses are all cored, afaik) raced in the 99er class, i.e. all racing level at a 99 phrf.

Given a choice of coring in a hull, I would take foam over balsa. I know of two J-30 hulls that had to have their bottoms reconstructed due to wet/decaying balsa coring. At least the foam is stable even in the presence of moisture. At least that's what I believe; a good friend warns me "not to believe everything that you think!"......
Some wisdom in that. :rolleyes:

Please keep us posted on the purchase.

Loren
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Any other details would be appreciated if they exist in the literature you have access to.

I have scans of the 4-page brochure, plus a sail-plan drawing. I can't figure out how to upload them to the "download center" but if you PM me an email address I'll be happy to email you a zip-file.

I also have, somewhere out the Dark Scary Place that is my garage, a file folder with a few other E34 tidbits. I doubt any of it includes the layup schedule or any info that would show how far the foam-core extends, but when I get a chance I'll mount an expedition and see what I can find. Traveling right now, so soonest chance will be this weekend.

Bruce
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Also, saildata shows the 34X as slightly longer than the 34T (? thought they were the same mold) and significantly lighter. The 34T is 33.67.' The 34X is 34.12. And while the shorter 34T weighs 11600 lbs the 34X weighs only 10000.

not sure where saildata got those numbers.

The brochure for the original 34 says OAL = 33'-8", displacement = 10,000
The brochure for the 34T (available in the download center) says OAL = 33'-8", displacement - 10,700

My guess is the difference in weight is a combination of solid layup, more structure in the coach-roof, and more furniture.
 

bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
Three tidbits from the garage

Three flyers from early in the life of the E34

The photos in the first one are, I believe, the deck- and hull plugs (although I don't know why the hull plug would have a rudder and keel attached. Maybe those were added by artists to make the image look complete)

In the second and third flyers, the boat is hull #1, later called "Pizazz", owned by Ernie Johansen in the yellow slicker and Don I-don't-remember-his-last-name, steering. I "think" the guy sitting on the main hatch is the guy who owned the Ericson dealership in Newport Beach, "Transpac Yachts". I wish I could remember his name. He owes me money ;-)

Note that in the sailing photos the primary winches are on islands quite far inboard from the edge of the cockpit. It was thought to be a cool idea, in that the jib trimmer could sit behind the winch, facing straight forward when trimming. In sea trials we figured out that it didn't work - if you needed to apply a lot of helm (close-quarters turn or whatever) the winch islands blocked the arc of the tiller. If you lifted the tiller up high enough to clear the winches, you basically lost all leverage. So after photo-day, they pulled the boat out of the water, rebuilt the deck (and the deck plug) so that the winches were farther outboard.

As far as I know, Pizazz was the only one built with those inboard winch positions. For sure, hull #7 ("Seduction") was built from the revised deck tooling.

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bgary

Advanced Beginner
Blogs Author
...and, the 4-page brochure

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...you can see in the original sail-plan handout (the last attachment) the winches are shown inboard, but by the time the 4-page brochure came out the deck plan (on page-2) they had redrawn the position of the primary winches.
 

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Fathomoslack

Junior Member
Cool, thanks! I took the plunge and bought the boat, as the price was right, and will spend the winter doing a re-fit. Should be pretty sporty when all cleaned up.
 

Fathomoslack

Junior Member
Hull 19. It's pretty straight, but old, and just needs a refit. The price is right, and obviously was well built in the day, and should make a fine high performance minimalist cruiser which is precisely what I'm after.
 

Fathomoslack

Junior Member
Some interesting updates: First, some empirical data. The E34r/x or whatever it is that I've got(says x on the serial number) is waaay lighter than otherwise stated. Without the inboard engine(which I'm not going to replace) didn't even break 8000lbs on the crane. Whether that's because it's a custom job that someone lightened after the fact(possible) or built that way is unknow. With the tall rig it should be pretty quick. The boat itself is a mixture of really nice and really stupid construction, doing a lot to correct the stupid stuff( like bulkheads not in any meaningful way attached to the hull, basically from the factory-- weird paraffin wax fairing in the bilge that was then glassed over-- other oddball stuff. Cleaning up pretty quickly, hopefully no major issues moving forward.
 

sbrockway

New Member
34 "Pintail"

Hey there,
I too, picked up a 34 that will need gutted, and refit. Any info, history, "war stories" are appreciated. It's named presently is "Champagne". Previously in the eastern region it was "Matrix. Made the "deal" February 1 2017. Thanks.
 
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