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Ericson 38 for sale - BEST OFFER

Mel Snyder

Junior Member
I am going to sell my 1981 Ericson 38 on a "best offer" basis. It has a few cosmetic issues, but has a yard-maintained 32HP diesel that runs perfectly, a transmission with 5 hours on it (replaced transmission, propeller shaft, bearings and engine mounts in 2015, just before her final haul). But the reverse transom, after 38 years, needs to be Awlgripped, and there are some stains on the interior trunk cabin, a Benmar autopilot that needs service, and custom cotton velour upholstery that should be replaced (still have all the like-new extra fabric needed to replace it, if you don't have little kids) .

But she has a fabulous Force 10 propane stove with 2 recertified/re-valved 10lb tanks, Datamarine Corinthian instruments with spares, an Adler-Barbour "Cold Machine" that tested to 13F, totally replaced fresh water and bilge pumps, big Motorola alternator, insulated backstay for ham radio, completely Aerex-foamcore replaced balsa in deck around mast and anchor well cover, and more. Even the rare cockpit cushions! The boat is located in New Bedford, MA.

I'd planned to launch her in 2016, which then became 2017 as I played a bigger and bigger role in supporting my severely ill sister and her 24/7 aides. She passed away on Easter, and I've just lost any interest in doing the cosmetic fixes, and need to unload my beloved "Mel's Angel. My son and daughter moved to Asheville NC - no place to sail her. Someone is going to get a deal. Email me at melsnyder at gmail and we can talk. Interior pix at https://www.flickr.com/gp/melsnyder/4Mg583.
 

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Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Sorry for your losses; both of your sister and enthusiasm. Life is about our connections to others. May you find the connections and peace she would have wanted you to have.
 

Mel Snyder

Junior Member
Sorry for your losses; both of your sister and enthusiasm. Life is about our connections to others. May you find the connections and peace she would have wanted you to have.

Thanks, Tin Kicker. She died of the disease featured a week ago on Sixty Minutes, FTD. My peace will be found in my children, grandchildren and partner of 15+ years.
 

Ivanhoe

New Member
Hi, Mel, Sorry to hear about your sister. Recently, my father in law passed away at 94, after providing him with 24/7 home care. I can relate. On your Ericson, is that the 6'6' draft keel? What would it take to get her sea worthy enough to move her to Houston? Steve
 

Mel Snyder

Junior Member
Hi, Mel, Sorry to hear about your sister. Recently, my father in law passed away at 94, after providing him with 24/7 home care. I can relate. On your Ericson, is that the 6'6' draft keel? What would it take to get her sea worthy enough to move her to Houston? Steve

Thanks, Ivanhoe, for your message and sympathy.

My Ericson 38 has the 5’ Scheel keel. She is quite seaworthy now, but no boat with a cockpit as big as that on an Ericson should attempt such a passage. I can conceive of no 30-45 day period that would be necessary to safety make the passage from Buzzards Bay to Houston. Having sailed her offshore in November 1984 from Stamford CT to Norfolk VA on my way to Miami, I can tell you her hull speed gets too easily exceeded - she’s too fast. With just a furled jib, she hit 9+ knots, 2 knots past hull speed, squatted scarily, and fishtailed as the hull speed exceeded the point where the autopilot (or the helmsman) could stop her fishtailing. That’s a journey for a slow boat like a Choy Lee - not an Ericson, Sabre, Tartan or similar cruising boats with big cockpits.

I am trying to see how much it would cost to move her by truck. I no longer have the cradle in which she was shipped by truck from California to Mamaroneck, NY.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Truck is a good idea.

Anyone who has made a long offshore passage on an Ericson 38 will disagree with all the rest. And hundreds of us have.
 

Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Truck is a good idea.

Anyone who has made a long offshore passage on an Ericson 38 will disagree with all the rest. And hundreds of us have.

As I have the same 5' shoal draft on the 32 and you also know that boat, I'm curious what your thoughts would be of going offshore would be for us shallow guys. More directly, getting outside of the Gulfstream before heading south from the Chesapeake to the Bahamas?
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Mel's trying to sell his boat, and -- I'm trying to help him:). But this is a good topic for the Cruising and Racing Sub-Forum.
 

Mel Snyder

Junior Member
Mel's trying to sell his boat, and -- I'm trying to help him:). But this is a good topic for the Cruising and Racing Sub-Forum.

Thanks, Christian. It’s just that the range of weathers one could encounter on a Buzzards Bay to Houston run with a 38 year old boat might be very challenging for most sailors - and even risky.

If one could afford the time and money to pick the perfect weather for each leg of the journey - sure, over a period of months, and a big budget for hiding out when necessary. I never made it past Marathon because I didn’t trust getting it under the bridge with the VHF whip.

It’s an old boat, being sold at a bargain price, perfect for the casual, family sailor. I just have seen the cockpit pooped by following waves when the hull speed was significantly exceeded when running downwind - the design starts to squat down over 8 knots and REALLY squats at 9. Also, the scheel keel’s wake gets really wide at that speed, and makes it hard for the rudder to track properly...at least, that’s my experience.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I agree completely that an old boat--any boat, actually--needs a full refit for such a voyage, and shouldn;t be considered a mere "delivery."

However, this is the Ericson forum, and this thread will exist as long as the forum does and be searchable worldwide.

No doubt your experience with the design is accurate in personal recollection and emotion. As an analysis of sailing qualities, however, it is misleading and incorrect, especially as regards these Bruce King designs, which are sea kindly in comparison to any other displacement yacht.

In 10,000 miles offshore in Ericsons I have never been "pooped," and have run in 40 knots and 12-foot seas. The cockpit of the Ericson, with its moderate footwell, large bridge deck and four drains, presents no threat to the offshore passage-maker. In fact, it takes relatively little water aboard at all.

If you were overpowered while surfing downwind, with consequent loss of control and probably a terrified helmsman and the occasional wild broach, it was not the rudder, it was you. You had too much sail up, no doubt. You did not rig for conditions.

Inexperience is not a fault. It does, however, invalidate analysis. And since you are departing the sport, no need to leave confusion in your wake.
 

Ivanhoe

New Member
I agree completely that an old boat--any boat, actually--needs a full refit for such a voyage, and shouldn;t be considered a mere "delivery."

However, this is the Ericson forum, and this thread will exist as long as the forum does and be searchable worldwide.

No doubt your experience with the design is accurate in personal recollection and emotion. As an analysis of sailing qualities, however, it is misleading and incorrect, especially as regards these Bruce King designs, which are sea kindly in comparison to any other displacement yacht.

In 10,000 miles offshore in Ericsons I have never been "pooped," and have run in 40 knots and 12-foot seas. The cockpit of the Ericson, with its moderate footwell, large bridge deck and four drains, presents no threat to the offshore passage-maker. In fact, it takes relatively little water aboard at all.

If you were overpowered while surfing downwind, with consequent loss of control and probably a terrified helmsman and the occasional wild broach, it was not the rudder, it was you. You had too much sail up, no doubt. You did not rig for conditions.

Inexperience is not a fault. It does, however, invalidate analysis. And since you are departing the sport, no need to leave confusion in your wake.
Thank you for clearing that up. As a potential first time sail boat owner, I sure was a bit confused about the 38's capabilities. I'd like a boat that I can rely on to safely sail the Carabian. How daunting would it be to sail her to Houston if she were seaworthy?
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
It would be a fine cruise, with many harbors of refuge along the way. East coast to Caribbean is a yacht highway these days. But it's long, with traffic and weather, so experience required. The Ericson 38 is well suited.

However, in the case of a project boat and a distant buyer, it is rarely possible to sail anywhere far from the harbor of purchase. Hard to refit a boat if you're not nearby, hard to do sea trials, just about impossible, in fact, given the budget attending a bargain yacht. Fixing up takes a year or more, especially if you have to hold a job in the meantime, and will cost more than the boat did.

I think that if this boat makes sense for a far-away sailor, so will shipping it home.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I am puzzled by the "8 knot" comments. Just a few years ago I was crew on a delivery north from PDX to Pt Angeles. This is an '86 model 200 with a Yanmar diesel.
We had little wind until around midnight and then the wind really picked up to well over 20 from behind (a rare summer southerly) and we went from motoring at about 8 to sailing at something over 8 with only the 135 genoa.
Control was totally relaxed and stress free.
Surfing off occasional seas and just having a fine sail. It was, OTOH, pitch dark, and if there were crab pot toggles we did not see them..... :rolleyes:
This was out about 15 or 20 miles from the WA coast.
When the engine shut down and the genoa unrolled and filled with a bang, I woke up and asked if hands were needed and the other two said 'nope' and so it was back to seep for an hour.

Of course at dawn the wind promptly died again... and we turned to go down the Straights once more listening to the diesel.

Lacking Christian's credentials, I can only say that IMHO the 38 exhibits a soft and easy sea motion.
 

patrscoe

Member III
Based on this thread, (I know it is not the same size as the 38), if the sailboat was properly maintain, refitted prior to leaving port (replacing standing rigging, running rigging, lifelines, so on) and as seaworthy as possible based on the vessel design, taking a Ericson 34-2 from Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda would be feasible?

Eventually, maybe 4 - 5 years from now, I would like to attempt this passage single handed there and back. I have completed 4 to 5 day passages before, all single handed or short handed but not extensively offshore. Unfortunately my sailboat and myself will be 4 to 5 years older. Currently, me at 50 yrs old and my sailboat at 31 yrs old. Either I am going to refit my sailboat for the passage or purchase a different sailboat... either case, it's a few years out.
 

patrscoe

Member III
I know it is not the proper thread category 'for sale & wanted' but the topic of this thread seem to pivot a bit.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
So it would appear :). But it isn't every day a for-sale ad complains about the boat offered for sale....
 

Roger Janeway

Member II
Based on this thread, . . . taking a Ericson 34-2 from Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda would be feasible?

I expect so but as you have probably heard, the Gulf Stream can be rough. I did the passage between Newport RI and Bermuda a few times in a fast 39-foot sloop with plenty of other crew, and sometimes it was sedate and even boring, and sometimes it was absolutely exhausting.
 

Mel Snyder

Junior Member
Ericson 38 "Mel's Angel" was sold in June

I keep getting emails about it, but she's gone. Sorely missed, but after 38 glorious years, at 77 - and with my two "sea-soned" children raising my grandkids 400 miles from deep water, it was time to let her go. Tons of great memories, like this with my son and daughter-in-law at the helm in Buzzards Bay.

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