Cinderella for Sale

p.gazibara

Member III
Heya all,

Looking to gauge interest here before we put her on the market. We are on the hunt for a new boat tht will better fit the family. I know the E35-2 was marketed to a family of 5 back in the day, but I don't think that family of 3 was meant to live aboard full time!

Which means I need to come to terms with selling Cinderella. Shes a great boat and I would be hard pressed to find a boat I trust more whether crossing oceans or racing around the cans.

She has quite the history, originally owned by the commodore of the SFYC and berthed in slip 01 until the second owner purchased her and renamed her Cinderella from Scampi. She was raced/sailed hard her whole life. In the early 90's the PO managed to separate the internal pan from the hull. She went on the hard in SF for a number of years where many major tasks were tended to. New rudder, water removed from the keel, 500lb of lead shot was added. A vinylester osmosis job was done. An Express 34 rig was added, and she was converted to tiller steering. A bulkhead was added in the stern for the new rudder tube. Longitudinal stiffeners were added along with bracing to stiffen the hull and stop the oil-canning. The interior was removed and she was brought down to ULDB specs (5 ton) to compete against Express 34s racing the Pac cup. She set out twice for HI, but ran out of wind both times and sailed back to the mainland.

Turns out the older hull shape doesn't surf well, so she went north to Seattle and cleaned house on Lake Washington under PHRF. Under 8kn of breeze, she was unbeatable and many trophies hanging on the wall at Ivar's bear Cinderella's name.

I found her in 2015 on a dock in Ballard after she changed hands a few times. She has been at the dock so long the fenders wore the paint off in a few spots.

From there I started fitting her out for a circumnavigation and added... 3 tons of gear. I fit all new running rigging in 2016, a baltic birch ply interior, roller furling, electrical system, plumbing, watermaker, fancy masterflush head with 19 gallon blackwater tank (about 2 weeks on the dock worth of capacity). I also fitted the electric drive system, wind vane, numerous other offshore items.

We set off down the coast in 2017 and have since sailed her ~15,000nm to New Zealand via Costa Rica and up/down the north island here. After a few maintanence items, she will easily go the rest of the way around.

When we got to NZ back in 2019, all of the deck fittings were leaking along with the portlinghts, so I went in with a grinder and removed the GRP headliner to find the leaks. I added substantial stiffeners to the genoa tracks, deck winches, and the cabinsides to prevent some of the flex that ultimately led to the bedding failure and the leaks. She is now insulated underdeck and down the hull until the waterline. I rebedded all of the deck fittings after first making sure all bolt holes were done properly (overdrilling holes, filling with epoxy, drilling through the epoxy). I also added a 2m x 2m roof over the stern for the 700w of solar and water catchment. We had a SS arch incorperated into the pushpit and nice solid SS railings around the cockpit.

Working for Navico, I was able to deck her out with the latest and greated Simrad/BnG electronics package, on top of her 12v onboard windows PC that runs openCPN as a backup. That computer also houses the full mainanence log for the boat that I have kept since ownership.

I just replaced the lifelines and added lifeline netting. The flares and fire extinguishers are brand new. I had the forestay fitting off and to a welder for reinforcement and a new anchor roller added. The forestay bolts are all brand new. I went to split backstay chainplates when we put the roof on as it's not possible to inspect the original. They are oversized and allow for a dyneema cascade system to adjust the backstay tension.

We are currently staying aboard full time as we save for the next boat and I am slowly adressing any issues I find. I am about to replace one electric bilge pump, and the LPG detector. I will be removing the boom soon for maintanence/replacing the reefing lines. The sails are quite old, the main is probably due to be replaced, but still driving us to windward. I will be servicing it when the boom comes off iin a couple weeks. I had the jib recut and serviced by Willis Sails in 2020, it is still in great shape. She came with several headsails, but we decided to go with the 100% jib on the furler for our trip to NZ from Tonga and haven't seen the need to swap it. She still moves well under 10kn of breeze and tacking is much easier. We also carry a spare 130% jib, symetric kite in a sock, storm jib and a trisail.

We raced the Swiftsure Lightship Classic in 2017 after I pulled the rig for the first time as a shakedown. We took 3rd in our division, behind the Schooner Martha and a Cal 43. Most of the trip back from the swiftsure bank had us sitting over 10kn. We were neck and neck with the Cal 43 until race rocks where I made a bad call with the kite and we broached. I have surfed her to 13kn, but she digs a big hole and doesn't like to stay on a wave. She sits happily at 6-7 kn cruising downwind in the trades an sails happily on any course. Hard on the wind she sits at and easy 6 kn fully powered. Most people are shocked at how well she balances and the little effort required at the helm. On flat water on Lake Union the most I have seen her sit at was 7.9 kn close reaching.

The bads:
-There are 2x soft deck spots that remain after all the leak mitigation work I did. I will repair them this summer if she is not sold before, one is a small circle beside the mast and the other is in the port cokcpit bench beside the traveller.
-The partial bulkhead aft of the galley needs to be replaced again (I have done this once already, but it was before I resolved the portlight leak issues and it was damaged again)
-The keel stepped mast always lets water into the bilge (all halyards 2x kite, 2x jib, mainsail, and pole lift/staysail halyard are internal). I added a gutter channel, but the way I have the water routed has started to damage one of the plywood seats and it will need some work to remove the rot/scarf in some new ply.)
-The mounting plate for the electic drive motor needs to be replaced. I have to retighten the drive belt every other time we go out.

There are other small projects on the boat (it's a boat) but they are not reqired before going back offshore.
-I have a new motor controller that would allow for better regen that I was hoping to install but its pretty far down the list.
-I'd like to rerun some of the plumbing so the watermaker can be mounted in a quieter place (its on a bulkhead now which acts like a drum when running)
-The chainplate bolts are beginning to leak again, its very slight. If I kept the boat, I would pull the rig again, rebed the chainplates and probably hang new dyneema riggig as its very affordable. The current set was installed in 2018 (its about halfway through it's life). I would use covered dux next time and it will last for 2-3 decades.
-Reconnect the SSB

I recognize the boat is in NZ and that will probably make it out of reach for most on here. She is duty/tax paid here in NZ and in the USA. (Doesn't have to leave NZ)

If you know anyone that might be interested feel free to forward my info/reach out. IMO Cinderella would fit a couple of true sailors or a singlehander nicely. Shes a very low maintanence boat with low loads and easily manageable to singlehand. Being electric the motor range is limtied, but for a ture sailor this is not a problem we have been able to go anywhere we wanted. I'd love to hand the batton to someone full of energy and see her go the rest of the way around (circumnavigation would be complete in Costa Rica's stunning Gulf of Nicoya). I believe she would be the first electric cruising yacht to circumnavigate. She was featured in a magazine article and I wrote for Lattitude 38 a few times during our voyage.

What am I asking? She was just surveyed for insurance and is comprehensively insured in NZ coastal waters for $900/year NZ. The survey puts her worth at about $48,000 NZ. I realize she is an older boat and am not expecting top dollar, especially with the outstanding work items I listed. Make me an offer and we can go from there.

Ideally we find someone interested in downsizing and we trade her in on a larger family cruiser, but that is probably a bit of a reach.
 

Mr. Scarlett

Member III
@p.gazibara
What were your reasons for the lead shot?
What results did it have on pointing, speed (up, off, and downwind) and stability?
Would you have done it if not going offshore? Would you do it again?
I have never heard of anyone doing this. Did you consult an N/A or engineer? A modification like that takes guts. I hope it paid off.
 

p.gazibara

Member III
@p.gazibara
What were your reasons for the lead shot?
What results did it have on pointing, speed (up, off, and downwind) and stability?
Would you have done it if not going offshore? Would you do it again?
I have never heard of anyone doing this. Did you consult an N/A or engineer? A modification like that takes guts. I hope it paid off.
The keel is encapsulated, and many of the 35-2s filled with water from the bilge area from the inside over the years. This happened to Cinderella. The PO remedied this during the blister job. The lead in the keel I believe is just set in place with gaps around. The lead shot was added then everything was sealed in place with vinyl ester resin. He probably added the lead shot to compensate for the express 34 rig which I believe is taller than the stock rig, but I’m not really sure.

I’m gonna guess he had NA friends involved. The companionway, fridge and tie rods holding the rig loads are from the Santa Cruz 50 yard. He probably had advice from them when building the bigger rudder as well.

I’m not sure how well she pointed before, but 30 degrees off the wind was pretty normal when I bought the boat and was racing around Seattle.

I didn’t do any of those jobs, I purchased her well after and just enjoy how well the boat sails .
 

p.gazibara

Member III
Well, I have an update to the story. Our offer was just accepted on a 1972 Spencer 44 ketch!

The boat is built like a tank and was cruised by a family (friends of ours) for the past decade. Their girls learned to walk and grew up on the boat. They are the family that inspired us to raise our family afloat, so I'm beyond excited.

We feel honored to take over stewardship of this boat. It's abroad at the moment and I will be flying out in the next week or two to get eyes on everything and perform a survey.

We are unsure whether we will deliver her home to NZ (its early cyclone seaons) or to just wait a few months and fly to the boat at the start of the cruising season to splash her and cruise the tropics before bringing her back to NZ. Its a complicted logistics problem, but one we are very excited to have.

All this means we now have to come to terms with letting Cinderella sail on with new ownership. She has been a great home and adventure vessel for us. Crazy to think I bought her in 2015 and that was nearly a decade ago!

It will be a challenge to off load all of our stuff and put her up for sale. Not only because we are currently living aboard, but because we have soo many magical memories forged on her. "Epic payoffs" has been our mantra for quite a few years now, and Cinderella made it all possible.

What will be her next steps? Is there a young aspiring sailor who wants to take the torch and sail her the rest of the way around? Will she go to a kiwi and be a low maintanence family holiday boat?

I'd love to see her carry on W and cross our track somewhere in CR. She would become one of the few Ericsons to circumnavigate. I'm pretty certain she would be the first recreational electric sailboat to make it around. I know we were one of the first all electric sailboats to complete major ocean passages (aside from the Vendee Globe boats). I think we landed in Hiva Oa before Dan and Kika sailed across the Atlantic on Uma. I'm proud to say that the Cinderella Project has helped convice many sailors that electric drives are a viable option for not only day sailors, but long distance cruising boats. There are even a whole slew of boatbuilders launching electric yachts now, critical mass has been reached!

Structurally, Cinderella is as sound as she was when we left, a testimate to quality of Ericson Yachts and the love she has had through her life. We are actively sailing her still, currently cruising New Zealand's Bay of Islands, but heading back to Whangarei this weekend.

If anyone has any interest in Cinderella, or knows someone who might be interested in carrying on W in a well found simple boat, feel free to get in touch.

-P
 

SailorJay

New Member
Is the 1972 Spencer in Tonga? If so, I know the boat and family well. I sailed aboard in Sea of Cortez and French Polynesia. She's a fine boat with a lot of great gear. She'll take you anywhere
 

p.gazibara

Member III
Is the 1972 Spencer in Tonga? If so, I know the boat and family well. I sailed aboard in Sea of Cortez and French Polynesia. She's a fine boat with a lot of great gear. She'll take you anywhere
Heya Jay,

Your name came up in conversation with E/K. They sent me the youtube link to your off grid floating home setup. Amazing!

I’m in Tonga now surveying the boat. Found a few issues, but that’s expected on an old boat. Trying to make my list of items I’ll need to ship up from NZ before we come back with the family and move aboard in a couple months. She definitely needs someone aboard her, no boat does well sitting on the hard in the tropics during the rainy season. She has faired much better than most boats in the yard.

They really spoke highly about how well she sails, can’t wait to experience that first hand!

Small world!

Cheers,
-p
 
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