suitability of '89 E-34 for offshore passages?

Loren Beach said:

There are quire a few threads discussing the various E-boats for offshore use here. While the site software has ok search functions, I use Google to search it.
From the web here's a "review"....
http://www.sailingmagazine.net/component/content/article/6-used-boat-notebook/1046-ericson-34-.html

Note that the late 80's 34 is part of a design family including the 32-3 (and 32-200), 34, 35-3, and 38 series. All have a great underbody for ocean conditions and have their hull and deck glassed together on the inside -- a seldom-seen and more costly way to build a boat.

Loren

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RichCaruana said:

Thanks for all the information! I looked at an E34 over the weekend in Bellingham. I liked the E34/35 model. The storage and layout looked great (though the V-berth itself seemed somewhat vestigial). Unfortunately the E34I looked at was a little tired and would probably require more refitting than I would be willing to invest in given the current asking price. But if I find an E34/35 in better condition I'd seriously consider it. Thanks again for all the advice.

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Christian Williams said:

Of your boats listed, I personally wouldn't go to sleep on a Westsail 32.

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Christian Williams said:

I remember when they came out. Buy a hull, finish it yourself. Just like the boats of our heros. New kind of Tahiti ketch. Reviewers were excited.

That was before modern weather reporting, GPS, reality, and the invention of the wheel.

The cockpit is about as comfortable as sitting on a saw-horse for that dream voyage across the pacific. If you get pooped, it doesn't hold much water. There isn't any boat back there anyhow, since it's a double ender. And I'll bet you do get pooped by every overtaking wave.

Down below, oppressive to my taste. Hot, deep. The V-berth on my little Ericson 32-3 is six feet wide.

Nobody denies that the Westsail is slow. Wallowing slow. Dangerous slow. When that storm in mid Pacific is coming, you want to get on the right side of it. A fast weatherly boat can do it. A Westsail 32 will just get run over.

True, these are modern notions. Used to be, you were out there and nobody heard from you till you reached shore, or single-sideband range, and the whole idea was to be able to survive being rolled, submerged by breaking seas, and when in doubt heave to for a week.

So, basically and unoriginally, I claim the Westsail is a romantic throwback that never actually earned its keep. It looked right, but it never was. The 42, which at least had some room, was a little better. Walter Cronkite had one, and a friend sailed with him in a Bermuda Race and they came in just about last. My friend was driven insane by the inability of the boat to proceed at all in the Bermuda High, the variables that test crews the last part of that race. They begged Cronkite to start the engine. He said he was racing (and that's the way it is).

Sailboats should sail even when not in 25-knot trade winds.

And in 25-knot trade winds an Ericson, or other modern boat, will go by a Westsail like a shot--and in much more comfort.

Naturally I wouldn't say any of this on a Westsail forum, and like all strident overstatement, some of my cracks can be refuted.

But jeez, check out the Westsail cockpit--no backrest of any kind. That's by design, but is it good design?

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