Ericson 39 flush deck feedback?

Fred

New Member
Hi all-
Can owners give me feedback on the Ericson 39? I am looking at one in San Carlos, Mexico that looks well-priced and equipped. Am particularly interested in the standing headroom and handling in an aggressive chop. I am looking to sail the Sea of Cortez. I'm an experienced coastal sailor, but haven't had a boat with an inboard since 1981.

http://sancarlosyachtsales.com/sail-boats-for-sale?item=2948805

Fred
Phoenix, AZ
 

gadangit

Member III
Hi Fred-
We have an Ericson 39 and really love it. The standing headroom won't be a problem unless you are over 6'5" tall. I tend to think that Galveston Bay has a pretty aggressive chop due to it's long fetch and shallow depth. A heavy boat like the Ericson 39 tends to move through it a bit easier that some of the lighter boats.

As to that boat you linked to.... They moved the pedestal off the bridge deck to the middle of the cockpit. It was kind of in the way before, now it is really in the way. I'd want to take a very close look on the quality of the work done there.

Our experience has been that a lot of the deck penetrations eventually leaked which caused a lot of balsa core damage. I think that is pretty common, so be on the look out for that.

Having gone through this with our boat, I'd say the asking price of $15,000 will be insignificant to the overall cost of getting this boat back to sailing shape. Just my two cents.

Chris


Hi all-
Can owners give me feedback on the Ericson 39? I am looking at one in San Carlos, Mexico that looks well-priced and equipped. Am particularly interested in the standing headroom and handling in an aggressive chop. I am looking to sail the Sea of Cortez. I'm an experienced coastal sailor, but haven't had a boat with an inboard since 1981.

http://sancarlosyachtsales.com/sail-boats-for-sale?item=2948805

Fred
Phoenix, AZ
 

Fred

New Member
Hi Fred-
We have an Ericson 39 and really love it. The standing headroom won't be a problem unless you are over 6'5" tall. I tend to think that Galveston Bay has a pretty aggressive chop due to it's long fetch and shallow depth. A heavy boat like the Ericson 39 tends to move through it a bit easier that some of the lighter boats.

As to that boat you linked to.... They moved the pedestal off the bridge deck to the middle of the cockpit. It was kind of in the way before, now it is really in the way. I'd want to take a very close look on the quality of the work done there.

Our experience has been that a lot of the deck penetrations eventually leaked which caused a lot of balsa core damage. I think that is pretty common, so be on the look out for that.

Having gone through this with our boat, I'd say the asking price of $15,000 will be insignificant to the overall cost of getting this boat back to sailing shape. Just my two cents.

Chris

Chris do you have the flush deck or the 39B?

Do you see things in the pictures that would worry you or are you basing your cost statement on experience with old boats?

I don't mind putting money into a boat if I can sail it while spending boat$ but want to be able to enjoy it in the meantime.


Fred
 
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Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
hmm

Appears that the water tanks have had issues, and have been replaced by one where the quarter berth was.

Hard to tell from the photos what other modifications have been made.

The rudder needs a lot of work, but you could make it bigger at the same time using the plans that Bruce King made to do so.

Standard issues for a boat of this age come into play, such as the need to redo the headliner correctly.

Also you can be sure that all of her deck hardware will need to be removed and bedded after having been on the hard for a while in Mexico.

There is some work there, probably quite a bit. The electronics if that is important to you are antiques, and most likely do not work, if they do work your phone is probably more powerful than all of them combined.

The boats themselves are wonderful, and would take you and yours anywhere that you want to go, once they are fixed up.

The water tanks under the floor need to be fixed and that water tank up high and aft of the center of the boat needs to be removed. Get as much of the weight back into the middle as Bruce designed it and she will sail better.

Suitability to purpose, could you sail for quite a while in the Sea of Cortez and have a great time. Most likely, I would inspect that rig very carefully however. There are a lot of pieces of the rig missing suggesting that it needs a complete rerig. (Just starting with the missing lowers is enough to tell us that).

The lights are original, they never worked very well to begin with, so you would need to replace them. Sounds like the sails are pretty beat, or non existent.

Right off of the top of my head, I would say that with about $30k over whatever you buy her for you could have a very nice boat to hit the Sea of Cortez in. Compounded by the fact that she is in Mexico, and parts will be more expensive (I assume that you are providing all the labor, if you are not, then this is not the boat for you, pick something that doesn't need this much work).

will you be able to stand up. Maybe just.... The standing headroom as I recall is about 6'3" so you are going to have to take your shoes off. You will fit on the berths though. We had several friends sleep aboard that were your size they all said they did fine.

The wheel moved to the aft end of the cockpit isn't going to make the boat easy to sail I would put it back where it was originally at the front of the cockpit. That location makes the boat easy to single hand.

The deck is Balsa cored and will have areas that are going to need to be addressed. The addition of some of the backing plates in the inside of the boat, over the headliner hint to some areas that are going to have issues. (The main traveler supports being one of them).

Prop strut looks fairly normal, if it doesn't wiggle around. There is an article I have on here about how to remove it somewhere on this site. The fairing being broken wouldn't worry me all that much though.

I would also get rid of that monstrous Arch. These boats don't like a lot of weight in the ends (None of them do, but the 39's have a fairly fine bow and stern section if you look at the wetted surface profile). That much weight and windage is going to affect the way that she sails. Get the radar on the mast, where it isn't going to irradiate the crew, or if you are short on money, dump the ancient radar and get an ais reciever, most people find these work better for them while cruising anyway.

Judging from the fact that you are looking at this boat I would guess that you are not fat on cash, (who is these days?). I would caution you to think about what you really need in a boat, and see if this fits it. New rigging, new sails, getting some of the problem issues sorted out (The water tankage, autopilot, led lights and fixtures for the interior, rudder repairs, and making sure the systems are correctly working is going to set you back a chunk of money on this boat. Say 30K as a rough ballpark.) Beat down whoever is selling it to as low as you can go, and then do the work yourself if you are able, and have done this kind of thing before. If you haven't then it is going to cost a lot more to have someone else do it, (At least triple the amount!).

They are tough and great sailing a boats, wonderful ride, comfortable, and once you have the 1970's oddities worked out of them, they sail easy and are easy to single hand with a good turn of speed still left in them. (note that even cruising couples are really serial single handing!)

Before you hire anyone to survey it, fly down there yourself and look at it.... For a long look, not just a couple of minutes, be with the boat for a few 3 or 4 hours, and see what you see. Take a ton of photos and send them to me, and I will tell you what I see in them. (Within reason on my time).

Note: you need to look at the mast base, and the metal (mild steel), member that connects the fwd bulkheads together under the sole. These along with the tanks which are also under the sole are areas that there are frequently issues with.

Guy
:)
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
Chop

Oh we spent a year in the sea on Pnuema a Ericson 39, and it handled the chop just fine. There are days there with square waves that nothing will go in but other than that we had a blast!

Just looked up some notes I have in one of my logs, and you should fit below with your shoes on. (unless you are trying to dress in the same era as the boat was made in with those silly platform shoes, in which case, there is not hope for you and you will get arrested at the boarder by the Mexican Fashion Police....)


Guy
:)
 

gadangit

Member III
Do you see things in the pictures that would worry you or are you basing your cost statement on experience with old boats?

I don't mind putting money into a boat if I can sail it while spending boat$ but want to be able to enjoy it in the meantime.


Fred

Hi Fred-
The cost statement is a cautionary statement based on our experience and what I am seeing in the pictures. The only work we have not done ourselves is painting, stainless welding and some carpentry. Our list so far: recoring deck, rebuild rudder to newer design, remove/replace steel beam below cabin sole, entirely new electrical system, new LED lights inside and out, solar panels, repowered boat, new fuel tank, new head (cabinetry, toilet, sink, holding tank, shower pan), new water tank, new headliner (in progress), new icebox (in progress), new anchor roller/forestem, new backstay chainplate, sistered on SS chainplate to aluminum chainplate above deck, new traveller, new hatches, new portlights, new blocks everywhere. I'm sure there are many many more.

This may seem like a lot, but every thing we did had a reason (namely that the boat is 44 years old.) Its a big boat, so everything takes more time and parts that are more expensive than our smaller boat friends.

But we've sailed the boat through all of this. I stow all the tools, shop vac up all the dust and off we go.

Guy is right about the pedestal location. The helm forward is a pretty great idea. I can reach all the mainsail controls and step back to trim the headsail. We sail single and shorthanded all the time with no problems at all. I see that picture of the relocated pedestal and I am puzzled. And it makes me question the things we can't see.

I will quibble about Guy's arch comment. We have an arch integrated into a pushpit and side rails that we like. It carries 480W of solar panels that also double as our bimini. We won a race last weekend in 25+kts of wind, so she still goes upwind like a banshee. I know we violated some aesthetic committee rules, but the functionality won out.

If you want a boat that sails exceptionally well, this is your boat. If you can make your way to Houston, I'll take you out so you can see for yourself.

Chris
 

Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
I know that boat. That's Nitefighter. She stopped in Newport Beach back when I had a 39. She was owned by a nice couple and I'm sorry to hear he passed away. They were living the cruising dream and were
headed south. She looks cruise worn in the photos and I would plan on doing a total resto if it were my boat. As already mentioned, I would move the pedestal back to the bridge deck. The 39 has a Y shaped cockpit.
One of the pleasures on that boat was being able to sit facing forward protected by a dodger while steering. One thing I can add is that having spent time in San Carlos while waiting to truck a boat home, I can tell
you there wasn't much there in terms of parts. Maybe that's changed 10 years later, but I remember project boats having to ship in parts from the states, and the wait times often long. It is manana land after all.

Martin
 
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