34 designs vs. 35's

[Gene Stoddard]

Currently I am looking to buy a 1988 to 1990 era 34 or 35 in the Southern California area.
There are some questions regarding the differences in models that are not readily appearent. Could anyone explain the difference between a 34 Olsen / Ericson (1990), 34 - 200 series (1988) and a plain 34 (1990)? They all seem the same except for a strip or color here or there and what may or may not be an inidividual upgrade.

The other question is a 34 verses a 35. What are the opinions of those that are familiar with the two boats? Sailing characteristic, construction, faults, problems, etc.

Thanks for any help,
Gene Stoddard

PS. If you know of one for sail (in very good condition) I am interested.

 

[escapade]

Gene;
I presently own an E34, 1988 vintage. To try to answer some of your questions, first the E34's built on or after 1987, either a 34 or 34-200 are really the same layout (aft cabin arrangement). There we're at least 2 earlier 34's, an "R" version and a "T" or tall rig version that share nothing with the 1987 & later boat. The 34 that Pacfic Seacraft built is also the later "aft cabin" version. All the 1987 & later boats are somewhat faster than the earlier boats, 123 PHRF base rate compared to 145 PHRF rate on the older one's. The 35 MkIII's don't have the "aft cabin" layout, but rather a large quarterberth that is open to the main salon. Sean Engle own's a 35 MKIII so he will be a good source if info on that model. The Olsen/Ericson 34 is another hull design altogether. It's more of a racer/cruiser, faster PHRF rate, not quite as many creature comforts, etc. as the E34. I would probably have opted for the Olsen/Ericson, but the Admiraless wanted the E34. What can I say. Loren Beach has a Olsen 34, so he can fill you in on the finer points of his boat. This should generate a lot of comment from other owners, so you will probably end up with more information on these boats than would ever imagine!!! In any event, any one of them would make you proud to say you were the owner. They are all slightly different but fine boats in there own right. You just need to decide which one is right for you. Good luck in your hunting. Bud

 

[Loren Beach]

"Fast Apples, Fast Oranges..."

For starters, there is a nice looking Olson 34 for sale now in Texas... And a clean E-34 in Seattle last time I looked...


There are major design philosophy differences in these Ericson-built boats. The 80's E-34 is a tri-cabin interior boat with head aft. Some like this layout, including me. The E-35 Mk3 is a "two cabin" interior with head forward and even a shower stall. The Friendly Administrator of this site has an awesome E-35 Mk3.


I believe that in general, the E-34 and 35 hulls are similar, design wise.
The Olson 34, OTOH, trades off storage and tankage for greater speed while still keeping the tri-cabin layout with aft head on one side and an enclosed aft cabin on the other. All these have similar engine setups, altho I like the better engine and shaft access in the Olson and Ericson 34. Then, OTOH, I like the shower better in the E-35...
"Everything's a compromise."


My Olson 34 is a "Schumacher inspired" design, and looks like the Express 34 hull, but with more cruising amenities. Ericson bought the tooling for my design, along with some other Olsons, when Pacific Boats went under. AFAIK all of the Ericson Olsons were built in '88 thru '90 (or until whenever Ericson closed the doors).
I believe that the late model E-34 survived for several years as the PSC-built "Ericson 350" (Did I remember that right?). The price took quite a jump when production moved to PSC.
The E-35Mk3 tooling was reportedly bought by a guy in the Tahoe area, with plans to try and build some semi-custom boats. The Olson 34 tooling went to a guy in the Puget Sound area who built one boat and went out of business. There is a rumor that PSC has destroyed the tooling for the E-350...

All of these are good boats, but with different markets. My Olson 34 was designed as a very fast cruiser -- it is great for single handing or vacationing with my wife. The E-34 and 35-3 have far nicer interiors than my boat, but I find the cockpit layout less planned for short-handed sailing.
If you search around in this forum and in nearby forums, you should find much more information.

Just my .02. YMMV.

Loren in Portland, OR
1988 Olson 34 #8

 

[Martin King]

There is a rumor that PSC has destroyed the tooling for the E-350...

Don't know how this rumor started, but I was out there a
couple months ago, and was assured that the tooling for
the E38 and 34 were intact.

Martin

 

[ccorcoran]

My .02

We are proud owners of a 1987 E34. While you have already had more than sage counsel from this forum, I did want to add a few things for you to think about. We spent nearly six months looking for our boat. We live in the San Francisco bay area and we searched the entire state from San Diego north to find the right boat (we actually looked at 8 E-34s). Fact is, we even bought an E-34 in San Diego only to find during the survey that it had a dead cylinder in the engine and a three-inch tear in the mast at the second spreader (makes a hell of a case for a competent survey!). All this is offered to empahasize a few things -- look for the boat in the area you intend to sail. If we had purchased a SoCal boat, we would have to have gone with heavier sails in the San Francisco bay area; in addition, up here, a dodger is a must not a luxury (foreign concept for me as a SoCal sailor) of course, there are tons of other must-haves for the area in which you intend to sail. Luckily, we found a very sound boat right here in Alameda.

The E-34 is a wonderful boat and, if memory serves, it does share hull design/dimensions with the 35 MkIII which is a very traditional Ericson design. Having sailed both, it's really up to you preference in layout (aft cabin vs. quarter berth). Remember, these boats are pushing 15 years and you should have EVERYTHING checked especially if you want a perfect boat. Don't skimp on the survey and trust your own instincts as well. I'm sure you'll be happy with any of the three boats you are considering. Personally, I like the E-34 and compared to new boats, any Ericson more than holds its own.

Good luck!

 

[escapade]

Gene;
A couple things to be aware of when looking at boats of that vintage. One, there seems to a fairly common problem of the cabin sole rotting out around the base of the keel stepped mast on the E34's. This is due to rain water coming down the inside of the spar and running out on the top of the stringers under the cabin sole. This is mostly a cosmetic problem due to the fact that the stringers are a FRP composite and not subject to rot. All of the E34's we looked at had this problem to some degree. I don't know if it's a problem on the 35 or the Olsens, but the 32's, 34's, & 38's all seem to share it. Second, the fresh water boats have a certain amount of osmotic blistering present. I don't know if this is a problem with salt water boats also, but is something to be aware of. A survey will point this out. If you are handy with power tools, it's not an impossible job, about $500.00 for materials. If you have a yard do the work it could cost several thousand. Same with the cabin sole, if your handy with tools & enjoy projects it's not that bad of job. I believe you will find these problems in any make boat that is 15 years old to some degree, so I hope I don't scare you but hope to make you aware of what out there and what to expect. Also, we ended up trucking our E34 900 miles (Atlanta,Ga. to Bay City, Mi.) but saved enough on the purchase price to make it worthwile. Good luck on your boat hunt and think of us poor souls caught in the Great White North as you go boat hunting in sunny California!! Bud

 

[Gene Stoddard]

34 vs. 35

Thank you all for your replies.

Currently there is a 1987 E35 (MKIII ?) that appears to be a very well kept boat but also a very basic boat, no extras. It has new sails, Dutchman flaking system and a new roller furling. Above and below deck is in very good condition.
On the other hand, the other boat is a 1988 34 200 series in Ventura (Alai is the name). This is also quite the nice boat, has most everything, full insturmentation, dodger, side skirts, radar, windless, new batteries, perfictly rigged for single handing, really loaded. All seems to be orginally installed and done very well. The but is, this boat has had a lot of us, though it appears to be in excellent shape. The top side is in great shape and below in good to very good.

So it is very difficult to decide, there is $10K difference in asking price (more for the 34). Trying to realize the expenses to bring the 35 up to the equipment of the 34 and comparing the nice layout of the 35. One main reason for looking at this 34 is it being equiped the way I like. As for the 35 it is mainly the interior layout.

I guess on the bright it is what a terrible problem to have, to decide on which of two beautiful boats to make an offer on.

Any opinions or advice is very wellcome.

Thank you all again for your help and advice,
Gene

 

[Loren Beach]

Another way to look at them..

All other things being sort of equal, I would go for the Ericson with the least equipment. At 15 years, a LOT of the electronics is near the end of its design life, and prior owners often do not want to admit this.

This goes double for sails, running rigging, and standing rigging. I just went through the process of replacing the dead-and-dieing instruments in my '88 model boat last summer. I had to "shrink" all the old 4 inch holes in the cabin bulkhead to 3.5 inches...
The project came out great, but took some clever glass work, if I do say so.

We replaced everything in and on the spar except the spreaders. Most stuff still worked, after a fashion, but some of it also came off in pieces...
It is nice to put current technology on the boat, yourself.


Just my .01 worth, YMMV.

Best,

Loren in Portland, OR