1987 E-32 "Midwatch" in Seattle

Ok people...

1987 E32 for sale in Seattle - It is bigger than the commodore's 30' cap, and more expensive than the galley slave's original budget, but it looks pretty sweet.

I am actually hoping that it will not be "too much boat" to single handle or sail with light assistance from my new-to-sailing-but-pretty-darned-competent commodore. Those of you following my tortured saga will remember that we are moving up from an E-23, love to day sail on the lakes and want something capable of Puget Sound weekending (with the dreams of something a little longer). I want to go bigger but not "overshoot" and end up with a beast that is beyond my capabilities and pocketbook.


Any thoughts from the peanut gallery will be appreciated! You all know a lot more than I do!

Greg

Greg,

I regularly single hand our E30+ and think it would not be much more challenging to single hand an E32, so I wouldn't let that deter you. The budget limits are a whole other story! :0 The larger the boat, the more expensive everything is going to be, from moorage to new sails and other equipment. As well, any new used boat will require modifications to suit yourself, so make sure you have enough money after the purchase for that.

Good luck!

Frank

GregB said:

Ok people...

1987 E32 for sale in Seattle - It is bigger than the commodore's 30' cap, and more expensive than the galley slave's original budget, but it looks pretty sweet.

I am actually hoping that it will not be "too much boat" to single handle or sail with light assistance from my new-to-sailing-but-pretty-darned-competent commodore. Those of you following my tortured saga will remember that we are moving up from an E-23, love to day sail on the lakes and want something capable of Puget Sound weekending (with the dreams of something a little longer). I want to go bigger but not "overshoot" and end up with a beast that is beyond my capabilities and pocketbook.


Any thoughts from the peanut gallery will be appreciated! You all know a lot more than I do!

Greg

Click to expand...

Is that an E-32-3, with the head forward or the alternative interior with the head located aft in the E-32-200 ?

Having done a lot single-handing in our 11K displacement (approx) 34 footer, I would guess that your prospective purchase would be just as easy to handle. While I would prefer, for single handing, to stick with models with the mainsheet and traveler aft by the helm, most owners seem to adapt very well to the late 80's Ericson main sheet scheme.

Best,
Loren

ps: no peanuts, but I am actually munching some cashews at this very time!

Nuts to you Loren...

No pictures of the head (I thought that was required!) and I haven't seen her yet, but i am deducing from the galley location that the head is in the pointy end! (Therefor E-32-3)

Here is the listing:

http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1987/Ericson-32-2676198/Seattle/WA/United-States#.UsxeAvRDt8E

G

I have that boat, and it is easy to handle alone. The main is only 200 square feet, so forces are low. Of course, with a big wheel on a pedestal it is not like having a tiller. Here are some thoughts on the topic. The video link to Vimeo there will take you to four or five videos of the boat sailing to Catalina and so on.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?131-The-90-Percent-Jib

Also, many of the projects commonly necessary for mid-80s 32s are described in mind-numbing detail in my "Thelonious" blog.

[I looked at the listing. The boat has a diesel heater, a windlass and a refrigerator, all expensive add-ons. I also think I see new Lewmar opening ports, which if true means the originals have been replaced. That's not a bad start for a listed boat, and if it was me I'd definitely want to see it.]

Nice Boat

Nice Boat, I have one. Single-handing is very nice, handles well and tacks nice. That alternator bracket is one that I've learned has to be updated.

GrandpaSteve said:

Nice Boat, I have one. Single-handing is very nice, handles well and tacks nice. That alternator bracket is one that I've learned has to be updated.

Click to expand...

Sorry for the hasty response! We love ours, the admiral here has no boating or sailing experience, but she loves spending time aboard and we find it a really great getaway for two on the weekends, and fun to take friends daysailing.

It is the first boat I've owned after sailing other people's boats, and I feel great sailing her, she likes to sail! Yours is pretty, I hope you buy and enjoy her.

My comment regarding the alternator bracket is true, I wish I knew to take care of it early. Learning about it post purchase had me worrying all summer. I am replacing it this winter.

Here is a link to a listing for Glory Days before I bought her:
http://boatsalemarket.com/1987-ericson/

Looks very nice.

Get a survey done before writing the check.

Single handing a 32-3

She looks like a nice boat! I single hand our 32-3 regularly. I see that Midwatch already has self tailing winches on the cabin top, I had to add those. These will make things easier. I also changed out the original rope clutches with new lewmars, this makes releasing lines under load much easier and also allowed the lines running thru the clutches to move thru more easily when the clutch is closed. Looks like there is an auto pilot, this makes single handing even easier. Another thing I did was change out all the blocks in used in the mainsheet arrangement with ball bearing blocks, this made sheeting much easier.
Overall IMHO this is an easy boat to singlehand and is not too much boat for single handing. In addition my wife and I stay on board every weekend in the summer and find comfortable for two.

My $.02, and that's probably all it's worth.

Thanks! More nudging needed...

For those of you who care: Still wavering...We went and saw it on a very rainy dark day. It is very clean and appears (at a casual glance) to be simply appointed, but very well maintained. Minimal, very old electronics on the one hand, but not a lot of weird holes and wiring from prior iterations of stuff. Minimal sail inventory, but what is there looks to be what we would want and in good shape. As some of you have noted: fresh lines,refrigerator, self tailing winches, windlass, and heater are all nice upgrades. The only negatives: Tired cushions and covers, and a bit of a funky odor to the boat. I couldn't tell if it was head, shower sump, kerosene heater or "all of the above" so I don't know how serious this is (if at all). I suspect it had been pretty tightly sealed up for a while before we got there. No evidence of leaks etc. and just a bit of water in the bilge, though there was some water at the mast base. (As I mentioned it was raining like mad while we were on her so this seemed to be reasonable to me.)

I really wanted to raise the sails in the slip to see how tough this would be, and to see what the sight lines looked like from the cockpit with the sails up but the broker (sensibly) said that first we need to get an offer in and accepted, then comes "test sails" and the like. If we get past that point - OF COURSE a survey would be done, but thanks for making sure I have not lost my mind.

Now- Is it the right boat?! That is what we keep coming back to. I couldn't get an accurate bead on bridge clearance, but it looks to be about 50', so we would need to raise every bridge in the area. A casual day sail on lake WA becomes restricted by rush hour bridge opening rules, and a trip to the salt H20 requires 2 bridge openings and a lock through. Are we sacrificing afternoons on the lake for the possibility of Puget sound sailing? We live about 15min from lake union where we keep our E-23 and a lot of the sailing we did last year was in short bursts on Lake Union and Lake Washington. Mooring it on the sound would add a lot of "commute time" to our sailing adventures. I am coming around to the idea that I could handle her with a bit of practice (docking etc). Now I am trying to get my brain around last year's usage patterns vs. anticipated future usage patterns.

Do any of you "day sail" your big boats? Will lake union feel like a rain puddle on this baby?

I am agonizing, and the commodore is strangely silent...

Help!!

What you need now is the boat's "air draft" or bridge clearance. That's the total clearance you need including room for spendy masthead wind transducers, spar fly, and vhf antenna.

Brochures are helpful sometimes, but as you get more interested in this boat... just take your 50' tape with you and measure it the old fashioned way...
use the main halyard shackle, and do add a light down-haul line as well just in case the tape comes loose. measure to the deck line. Then drop the end of the tape from deck to water and add that. Last, eyeball the additional part at the top for the masthead and instruments - likely about 4' tops.
All together that will be the true "air draft" for that boat, and a figure you can count on.
There may (or may not) have been two mast heights offered when new. If sailing in Puget Sound, a taller rig is never wasted... lotta light air there.

Regards,
Loren

>45 = too tall!

Thanks Loren - I got pretty far down this path before I realized that it is just too tall so it doesn't really matter. I am pretty sure the bridge is 46' and the mast is 44'. Add the free board and the antennas etc I figure it is 50' + so we are definitely too tall. How much too tall doesn't really matter!

Loren Beach said:

What you need now is the boat's "air draft" or bridge clearance. That's the total clearance you need including room for spendy masthead wind transducers, spar fly, and vhf antenna.

Brochures are helpful sometimes, but as you get more interested in this boat... just take your 50' tape with you and measure it the old fashioned way...
use the main halyard shackle, and do add a light down-haul line as well just in case the tape comes loose. measure to the deck line. Then drop the end of the tape from deck to water and add that. Last, eyeball the additional part at the top for the masthead and instruments - likely about 4' tops.
All together that will be the true "air draft" for that boat, and a figure you can count on.
There may (or may not) have been two mast heights offered when new. If sailing in Puget Sound, a taller rig is never wasted... lotta light air there.

Regards,
Loren

Click to expand...

Lake union and lake washington would still be fine for day sailing

You could still do the duck dodge every Wednesday isn't it? And be fine on Lake Washington.

What you gain though when out in the salty stuff will make you sail a lot less on either lake. You live in some of the best cruising grounds in the world (Maybe the best, although the SCUBA diving isn't very good up there), you open up your useful range from a couple of lakes, to an area from Olympia to Alaska.

We sailed on the lakes our first year on our E-39 before we moved ourselves and our boat out to Shilshole. The experiences with both good, but completely different. The lake was easier to get to by car, but more difficult to get out of by boat. There was nowhere to think of doing a night out on the hook etc. We liked going through the locks, strange that we are, the lockkeepers and the other boaters were for the most part fun to hang out with. (We were there on a day that a drunk, but very nice looking woman, on land, took off all of her cloths, and jumped into the lock next to our boat. That was really exciting and educational.) However we hated the RailRoad bridge, and got stuck there too many times for HOURS waiting. When we shifted to the Sound with the boat, we spent a lot of weekends on the hook in nice little coves. Occasionally even a weeknight at anchor if we could slide around or work times a little in the morning. For us there was a lot more majic in the sound than on the lakes. We would occasionally go back to the lake for a Duck Dodge, but it kind of felt like going back to elementary school once you were in college.

However if what you are interested in is only sailing, and not the idea of anchoring out, and cruising to places far and near, I would keep your smaller boat. It is cheaper, and easier to maintain, berth, and sail.

As always the first line on any kind of survey worksheet should read: "Suitability to purpose".

Guy

Man, you remind me of me. It is much easier to just go on impulse. However, since you are afflicted with logic and the AAYU virus (Authenticate Actual Yacht Usage), allow me to blab:

Tired cushions and covers, and a bit of a funky odor to the boat.

Cushions are expensive. You can cut foam yourself and even do the upholstery yourself, but it's a big job. If the covers are serviceable, i.e. not rotten or ghastly ugly, you can launder them. Sometimes the foam can be salvaged and mildew killed with spray treatment, but if they have big black areas that smell bad they'll have to be replaced. . There are, believe it or not, about 15 interior cushions on the boat. Bad cushions need to be realistically budgeted for.

As for smell, on my boat it came from numerous sources--head, bilge, cushions, engine. But in the course of cleanup I was able to eliminate all odors, and I think in most cases you can make odor a non-issue. If it's the holding tank hoses, they have to be replaced. Wet your finger and rub the hose. Your finger should not smell. Most salt water boats do have a marine "scent," a sort of salty somewhat musty ambiance. But stink you can get rid of.

Singlehand

]It is not too much to singlehand.[ T]he 32-3 is actually fairly small compared to other production 32-footers, which are heavier with bigger rigs to drive them.

Usage

It's a tough one, and I certainly don't have a good insight. Seattle is way outside my experience on bays with easy, sometimes distant, ocean access. I'm thinking of Long Island Sound, Barnegat bay in New Jersey, Biscayne Bay in Miami. Here in SoCal we are right on the Pacific, but nowhere much to go for a new harbor every night.

But even there, the best most people do is a week or two of family cruising every year. And it usually means a slog to get away from your home port, with lots of planning and persuading of family members.

What I mean is that, realistically, cruising is a small percentage of usage for most of us.

Day sailing is how the boat earns its keep. We invite friends, promise to be back at 5 pm, pick our weather, and enjoy all the work we put into the boat to make it an object of pride and satisfaction. Which is why we bother, I think.

To give up convenient day sailing--well, I want something big in return.

For what it's worth....

Hi Greg,

We had a 23 foot San Juan on a lake before we moved to the coast and bought our E30+. While as Guy says, sailing is sailing and it's nice to be on the water, there is really no comparison between lake sailing and coastal ocean sailing--the lovely bays, islands, rock formations, seals, whales, dolphins, otters, various sea birds, and the greater distances.

BUT, sailboat use is almost directly proportional to how easy it is to get underway. That includes distance to travel, time to get the boat ready to leave the dock, ease of leaving the dock in different wind conditions, distance to motor til you can get the sails up and in your case, maybe the bridges (by the way, our E30+ mast is 46', so the E32 may well be a bit taller). And maintenance is harder to do if you can't get there as often.

So while I'm all for coastal sailing, and love single handing our boat when my wife can't join me, I would agree that finding the right boat at the right time in the right location is really important.

Good luck with your decision!

Frank

If your magic number for bridge clearance (water fluctuations aside) is 44 feet, an E27 would probably work. Any Ericson larger would be problematic. The distance from water to mast crane (excluding antennae or wind transducer) on my 30 is 42 feet, and it has a notably short rig.

OTOH having sailed our boat briefly in the Sound, I wouldn't let bridge clearance stand in the way. I've sailed on lakes. They are OK, in fact they are nice, but they still don't compare.

1987 e32-3

read your concerns. We've owned our 32-3 for 14 yrs and have thoroughly enjoyed the boat. We have a shoal draft at 4'3". I believe bridge clearance is 46ft. Our hull # is 713. Curious what the hull number is on that boat.

Boats cannot be rationalized. Period. Go by feeling. If you do not trust yours - get the Admiral to sit in a few places on the boat. She says "Yes" - go ahead. Otherwise, keep looking .

Going under the bridge.

Hah...

You could get under that bridge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiv0fxFcV3I

LOL

Going under bridge

Wow! Awesome video, thanks for sharing.