Cheap ebay E35-2?

Hello,
Great forum. A real boon to someone who has rashly bought a boat, unseen, thousands of miles away.
I have compiled a short list of buy/not buy criteria for the E35 I have bought, but paid nothing for yet, for $6100 on ebay. I would appreciate it if one of you with better knowledge that I could cast an eye over my list. My overall knowledge of boats is adequate, it is the Ericson specific details I am keen to be sure on.
This is my checklist so far:
1. Chainplates and main bulkhead. Remove chainplate covers and inspect.
2. Deck core around chainplates and hardware mounts, stantions etc.
3. Fuel and water tank corrosion. I am not sure of the location of them.
4. Blisters.
5. Slack in rudder stock.
6. Corrosion of mast, especially at base, Spreaders.
7. Forestay tang.
For this to work for me I have to be sure(ish) of the viability of the project as I have to ship her to the UK. The $7000 this will cost makes the whole thing a little more complex than if I just had to set to with a hammer, saw and sheets of plywood to sort her out in the US. I am competent with tools and wood and Ok with glassing so the bulk of the costs I will face, should I get her home, are materials. Any help would be gratefully received.
Thanks.
Nicki

Nikki,

Congrats on the purchase. I too bought my 32-2 on E-bay. Turns out though, that the boat was very near by i.e. she's still in the same marina slip as when we bought her, and the owner took very good care of her.

As for your list, if you paid $6,100 for a 35-2, you got a great deal but expect to pour at least that much into her to get her up and running. Hire a surveyor and let the surveyor go over the hull, rigging and boat systems. If you're asking where to look to discover problems, you're likely not experienced enough to recognize a problem if there is one.

Sandpaper, paint and varnish do wonders to improve the appearance of the boat. Work on the main things -- engine, standing rigging, running rigging -- and get out there and sail.

With our ebay purchase, the prior owner thought the engine might need to be replaced. Turns out, we were able to rebuild it. I believe we were very fortunate to have the prior owner so involved and remain involved (i.e. he bought a new boat now in the same marina)

Good luck and good sailing

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

Hi Jim,
Thanks. I am as stoked as I am nervous.
I'm reckoning, as you do, that I will need to spend at least as much again, plus shipping home. I reckon to be in for something in the order $18k or £10k. As to a surveyor, I have always done my own surveys for the many boats I have bought and by and large had no really nasty surprises. The things in which I am primarily interested are the Ericson-specific faults. Rigging is rigging and usualy needs replacing. keelbolts ditto, but things like the experience of one of the previous contributors here with his forestay tang breaking are relatively rare and, it would appear, a product of the specific method of bending and attaching the tang. If, when I see her next week, I am in any way unsure, I will be obliged to reconsider the whole deal. My usual buying criteria are that if the boat is 1 cheap enough, 2 doesn't fall at all the hurdles you put before it, 3 you have spent a bit of time finding the weak spots of the specific type vessel, and 4 the money all makes sense, there is a very good chance that you will be OK. In this instance the, very few, Ericson 35s we see this side of the Atlantic, seem to go for somewhere in the mid £20k, ie: if it costs me £15,000 to get her up to spec, in the event of my suddenly needing to sell her, my money is safe. If it costs me £30,000 it is not. A crude, but effective boat buying method.
You were indeed very lucky to have the benefit of the previous owner's interest and proximity. I have yet to be so lucky.
Thanks for the reply and the advice. It is nice to know I am not alone in this.
Regards,
Nicki

Welcome Aboard

Nicki,
Welcome to the Ericson site! I was just doing some 'net research and it appears that you live/sail a little bit north of my Lat. (46), in an area with a LOT of sea-going history.
I have not owned a 35 mk2, but would encourage you to search this site for information, and to d/l any file of interest on this model from the Specs and Docs section of the site.
As to "keel bolts", that model should have internal ballast, so there aren't any.
From lurking on this site for quite a while, I would guess that your survey would focus on the chainplates and any leakage that would affect the structure under them, and also on the deck coring. Actually, this would be true for *any* boat from over 20 years ago!
If you focus your searching on the Mk 2 E-35, you should have hours of fun... I hope you have a high-speed connection.

Once you find a thread that you want to save and study, click on Thread Tools, and then click on Show Printable Version. This gives you a concise display of information that takes up a lot less room on screen or on paper.

If you have questions about this site, just ask.

And be advised -- most of us would like to visit someday! You may end up having to reccommend some B&B's.


Best,
Loren in Portland, OR
(which some pioneer named after Portland, Maine... and which was in turn named after Portland ... UK)

Loren,
Many thanks for the welcome. Also thanks for the advice on using the site. I have been crawling all over it for the last couple of days since I bid on and won the E35. Mightily impressed I am with the site too. I prized resource. The only thing I am having trouble with is opening the downloaded files. It may be that I am a Mac man and it needs configuring to open PC files. Don't know as I am nearly computer illiterate.
Very comforting to know she has encapsulated ballast; always makes so much sense to me. The whole deal is such a long shot, but as a non-earning househusband, it will be a long time before I am able to afford something as good as this E35 could be if I put in enough sweat, blood and tears. All will be revealed (if I have done my homework) next friday when I go to Florida to see her. Wish me luck for my first time in the US. can't wait. Only going for three days though.
My lat long is 51N 04Ws. Much boating history as you say, not to mention open ocean and huge tides. A great place to learn to sail. If you can handle tatty houses stashed away in loads of trees near the sea, then there is always a warm welcome here.
Portland Oregan eh? spent years being confused by the two Portlands in the US until I grew up and checked out a map! I have used quite a bit of Portland, UK stone on various projects. It carves a dream and has the softest of colours. It will hold any shape and good results can be expected by anyone with determination and a little practice. Funny place though; it really does feel like a different country even though it is attached to the south coast. Thought about buying a house there once.
regrads,
Nicki

Welcome - Downloads

Hi Nicki -

Welcome to the site - and good luck with the 35-2 you've purchased. That's some feat - purchasing a yacht and having it shipped to the UK! Please document everything with a digital camera - I think it would make an interesting page for others to see...

FYI - I deleted your duplicate post...you only need to click the 'Post' button once...

To read the downloads, you first have to unzip them (they're compressed to save room on the drive). At the top of the document index are links to free copies of WinZip (for PCs) or Stuffit (for Mac) which you can use to unzip/unstuff them. Once you do that, they're just straight PDF format files...

We'll be interested to see what you come up with. Do you know where the boat is now? Perhaps one of our members could stroll down the dock past it and take some images....

//sse

Hi Sean,
Thanks for the welcome to your fantastic website. Thanks also for the advice on opening the files. I will act upon them as soon as I have cooked the family supper.
With regard to the buying and shipping being some feat' I think sheer lunacy would be a better word to use. I mean you should see the size of my budget. Scary. Put it this way, I applied for a credit card yesterday.
I will document everything in detail. I am still not sure which is the cheaper way to get her home: have her shipped or spend tha same or less on sorting her there and sailing her back. I prefer the latter approach, but all these sly little extra costs such as child care creep in...... Boats eh?
I don't know the name of the boat, but she in in Cocoa Fl. She has apparently been at anchor in the bay for the last year. The very idea of an unattended boat at anchor in all weathers scares the life out of me but there you go.
From the oictures she looks to be some hundreds of yards offshore so, without a RIB or whatever, it would be difficult to see her. If someone does want to look that would be great, but it would be a bit of a job. If there is a member in Cocoa or surrounds who could perhaps show me the lie of the lasd vis a vis yards, spares and generally useful people etc I would be much obliged.
I'll keep you informed as to how it all goes.
Regards,
Nicki

I 'live' just north of you, on the Gower. A touch of sarcasm because due to my job, I spent one night at home in 2006, before my sister's wedding.

I have a 1972 E35 in storage on the Erie Canal, waiting for me to complete repairs (hurricane damage) before taking on the north Atlantic. During the work I will be making a number of modifications to improve seaworthiness, as the boat was not designed with that kind of crossing in mind.

The design is good for the Bristol Channel. She will handle well in the swells coming from the south west, and when the wind picks up; Ericsons are also renowned for their ability to move swiftly in anything more than 5 kts of breeze without becoming unmanageable as the rigging starts to whistle. For an overnight trip to Lundy Is. or Wales she would be ideal, or a cruise to Ireland with some modifications.

Where is the boat located? I ask for a number of reasons, including whether there is any chance I might be able to help you look things over on my upcoming travels. In addition to the chainplates, and deck coring, which has a number of common water entry points, including cockpit cubby holes, fuel fill, chainplates and after lower shrouds, the other design flaw for me was at the masthead, where I had to redrill the sheaves. Other than that, the basic construction was good, although there is enough rainfall on the east coast to cause major problems to a neglected boat. If the boat has been neglected, you can find yourself in a money pit very quickly.

The fuel tank is under the cockpit. Be sure to check the aft end (crawling on your belly on top), as water tends to sit there, and it will be the first point to fail. Water tanks are either under the forward berth or the cabin sole. Neither tank can be replaced without major work, as they were built into the boat. Also look at the engine mounts very carefully.

Without knowing your personal situation, let me tell you to sail across. Opportunities like that only come once in a lifetime. You will, however, have to allocate several months to the task.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

I think the question of whether to sail across or ship it depends mostly on what you intend to do with the boat when you get it home. If you want an ocean voyaging boat in the end, then sure, go ahead and outfit it appropriately in this country and make the trip under sail.

However, if you would otherwise just fix it up and outfit it for coastal cruising, then I'd think it would be more cost-effective to ship it and fix it up the way you want it at home. No sense in doing all that work away from home, and then put a lot of extra money into it to make it ocean-capable, just to get it home and spend weekends on it in less demanding conditions.

That's how I'd think about it anyways.

Good Luck!

Hi Gareth,
I love the Gower. When we had our Halcyon 23 my mate and I used to go there surfing.
Very interested to hear of your project. Maybe she is not desinged for long passages, but she certainly looks the part. She looks to me like a good, fast boat, easy to singlehand. Thanks for the pointers, they make clear my thoughts. Absolutely stoked she has encapsulated ballast. One major job less.
My boat is laocated in Cocoa, Fl. As far as I can tell she is just anchored a fair way out from the beach. Engine bearers are easy to see as there is no engine. Apparently she has 2 A4s to make one good one. OK by me really as 20 gallons of petrol doesn't take you far across an ocean. Thinking maybe a small (850 watt) genny for power and carry the engines in a locker. Probably have to put a diesel in eventually.
My personal situation is such that, boat condition being OK, I think I could swing the time. Be a rush job, but do-able. You are correct it is a rare chance and you can rest assured that I will make the very best I can of it.
Thanks again,
Nicki

Hi Nate,
Your point about style of usage goes straight to the nub of it. My goal is have an ocean-going, single-handed race boat capable also of fast, family cruising.
I think, if she is not totally rotten, I can achieve that with an E32. I have spent years looking at the vast range of strong, capable cruisers and racers from the '60s and 70's which came out of America. I am a big fan. All will be revealed next fri/sat. Definitely a time to be ruled by head and budget.
Thanks for your words and good wishes.
Regards,
Nicki

Nicki said:

Hi Nate,
My goal is have an ocean-going, single-handed race boat capable also of fast, family cruising.

Click to expand...

Phil MacFarlane won the 2004 Singlehanded Transpac overall in an E35-2. He placed first in division in 2006 and another 35-2 was second.

If you have notest the most clueless surfer in Rhossili, who spends most of his time going nowhere paddling out through the white water, almost never catches a wave, and immediately dumps when he does, that is me. Were you one of the people giving me pitying looks?

The one part of your statement that would concern me is 'be a rush job'. My experience with every project has been that until I start digging, it is impossible to know the size of the job. That said, my situation is different - I have posted pictures of my boat in the Gulf Coast page you can see if you go back a couple of years, see 'Come to sunny Florida'.

I go to Jacksonville from time to time, but don't go as far south as Coco Beach. Ask any questions you like after seeing things, there is very, very little of the boat I have not ripped apart. Post pictures too if it would help.

As for modifications for the ocean, there are some threads in the archives where I got advice, in particular from Seth and John Moses, and it would be worth searching for what they have written. If you have the version of boat with the engine in the middle of the salon, the best fitting engine is made by Betamarine in the UK, but it will need some carpentry as it is slightly too tall(there is no directly fitting replacement in current production). Seth's biggest recommendations were enlarging the cockpit drains and installing seaworthy top hatches. In addition, plan on the need to replace the entire electrical system if it has not already been done (the original wiring was hopeless); and installing some anchor tackle, there is something of an anchor locker, but no winch nor roller. There is probably no functional refrigeration system either.

I have single handed the boat on short overnight trips, but the list of modifications would be much longer before I would risk the ocean. I am hoping to find at least one crew for my trip.

Am I depressing you yet? When the sails are up and the engine quiet, she is a beauty.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

Congratulations! The only really extensive problems I have personally seen on an E35-2 had to do with deck delamination and colapse of the compression pose under the mast. This was a boat that was rode hard and poorly maintained for a very long time, and yet the new owner was optimistic about the restoration. My E35-2 had small pock like blisters across the entire hull when I bought her (resulting in a very good price) This condition is sometimes called "spring boat" because boats layed up in the spring had condensation on the gell coat before the first layer of glass went down and trapped it. Many tiny pocks and no big blisters is a sign of a well glassed boat that will do well with a blister job. A lot of Ericsons developed these sort of blisters. I haven't had a single blister return yet after a full epoxy job back in 2001. The keel is frp with an internal lead casting inside. The boat is built in two halves, and then they are glassed together. There is a little air space around the lead and the keel often fills with water on these boats. If you knock on the keel all around and it sounds as solid as if it is made of cement, then it has water in it. Not hard to correct, but neccessary. A boat came into the yard one day while I was hauled (another 35-2) and the guy had ground a hole in the bottom of the bilge to replace the engine mounts, only to find an artisian well in the middle of the boat. The boat had developed a crack at the bottom of the keel from a minor grounding and the glassing under the engine was all that was keeping the sea from ingressing. I had to drain my keel as a part of the blister job I did, but that water has not come back. My boat also had minor indications of grounding on the lower edge of the keel. The E35-2 is an absolutely wonderful boat. I'd be happy to help you with anything I know about the boat after 7 years of experience with mine. What hull number is yours? Or year?

Brisdon said:

My E35-2 had small pock like blisters across the entire hull when I bought her (resulting in a very good price) This condition is sometimes called "spring boat" because boats layed up in the spring had condensation on the gell coat before the first layer of glass went down and trapped it.

Click to expand...

Not to hijack the thread, but our first Ericson—a ’72 E27 #47—had exactly the same problem. Hundreds of pencil eraser sized blisters. My dad bought the boat in 1973. It was a total "stripper" -> no factory options. We bought all the parts from Ericson: electrical system, handrails, head door, etc. and installed them ourselves. We spent a couple of months in the old Cabrillo Boat Shop in San Pedro putting the boat together. IIRC the yard charges were 25 bucks a month including the steel cradle and $60 to splash it and step the mast.

What a coincidence, I did my blisters at Don's shop in Long Beach after the port prematurely ejected them from their old (and yet undeveloped) location. They should have left old shelter point running until they were really serious about a plan. Of course they tore down all of old Beacon Street 20 years before they had any idea what to put there in place of some of California's most historic buildings, but then I digress. How did your blister job hold up?

Gareth,
Thanks for the offer of advice. I have set up a blog and will upload some pics as soon as possible. I can't remember the address just now, but I will post it here as a thread as soon as I have some pictures of the boat.
With regard to the 'rush job' I have no real option. Time, as a busy househusband, is scarce. Imay still be the case that the best way to get her home is by boat. I have had a quote from Jacksonville to Southamton, UK of C$8500 including and cradle which is mine to keep. Not bad I thought.
I've been checking out the threads you mentioned. Some very useful stuff. Seth seems to be something of an oracle. Very useful.
Regards,
Nicki

Brisdon,
Many thanks for the advice, comments and offer of future info exchange. It is massively appreciated. This site is a real boon. I would feel far, far less confdent in this daft prject were I alone.
My natural optimism compels me to believe that the bat is fine and the bargain of the century; my head and experience so far of boats balances that out in the other direction. I hope this will allow me the bebefit of cool objectivty. Watch this space.
Regards,
Nicki

Nicki said:

Seth seems to be something of an oracle. Very useful.

Click to expand...

A very true statement.

Have you figured out what paperwork needs to be done once you get the boat to Devon?

Gareth,
No.Nothig figured out on the paperwork front. I think that is all included inthe quote for the shipping. I know I will have to pay VAT at 17.5%. OK on £3k. If I sail her back there is no hurry as it won't be until june anyway. I think my part of the deal with regards to the shipping agent is to provide good title to the boat. I am assured by the seller that she carries 'clean Florida title' so we can only hope. Any idea what actually constitutes title in the States? Here it is a Bill of Sale.
Nicki