One less Ericson
Looks just like the boat that caught fire @ the fuel dock a short time ago, next to the entrance to our club (RCYC). The fire was confined to the cockpit area and the flames were really visible for a short while. The occupants were able to put an anchor over, and it was parked for a number of hours after the local fire boat put flames out and took the occupants off.
The sheriff river patrol and a separate USCG boat were standing by for quite a while, too.
At one time there must have been 4 pieces of fire fighting apparatus parked on NE Marine Drive, just west of our gate. They were concerned that it might drift into some of the covered moorages just downstream from us and catch other boats on fire.
When it was towed away a day later I was wondering where it went.
Pure Speculation: it is a gas engine boat and they had just filled up. When the fire erupted, there was no vapor room in the (full?) tank to cause an explosion, and the fire was shooting up from the fill. That would explain the damage to the cockpit and boom/sail. Just a guess, however.
Whoever wrote that CL ad probably acquired the wreck for a dollar, which explains the misspellings.
Mast was not directly in the flames, so that would be salvageable, IMHO. Boom did get a lot of fire and heat. Several of us were guessing that it was an E-35-2, from a low rez picture seen on the tv news.
It's sad to see, but the occupants were rescued anyway.
I know several craftsmen that could rebuild it like new, but then you'd be $60K (plus) into a $20K (max retail) boat. Parting it out makes the most economic sense.
Situation could have been a lot worse..... just off that same dock, a few years ago, a gas-powered cabin cruiser exploded violently and sank, in pieces. Not completely the 'fault' of the type of fuel -- just really poor maintenance of the fuel system (tank inlet hose was not connected well to the deck fill fitting and they inadvertently pumped many gallons into the bilge..... and then hit the Start button for both V8's.) :0