Accepted offer

[driftless]

Hi there everybody.
The broker called this morning and said "You bought a boat."
So, assuming an acceptable survey here in a few weeks, I'll be the proud new owner of this E38-200:

She'll live on Lake Michigan for at least a few years. Milwaukee for the remainder of this summer and then maybe on up to Green Bay for a while. Perhaps up to Lake Superior for a year or two.
I live in Madison, WI, but have a cabin near Hayward that makes Ashland/Bayfield not unreasonable as home ports.
I'm excited to see what the future brings- hopefully a clean survey first and foremost!
Wish me luck!
-Tyler

 

[tenders]

Congratulations!

That thing they say about the two happiest days in a boatowner’s life only applies to powerboats, BTW. Make sure you point that out to all the jealous wags who bring it up.

 

[Bob Robertson]

Congratulations Tyler,

We have had our boat at Port Superior, just south of Bayfield since 88. Hope to see you soon.

Enjoy!
Bob

 

[Lucky Dog]

Welcome Midwest

I’m in St. Paul during a rebuild
drive to Chicago every weekend.

ml

 

[driftless]

I’m in St. Paul during a rebuild
drive to Chicago every weekend.

ml

Ouch! That's a lot of driving, and something we want to avoid.
We are looking for a convenient yard for haul out this winter. Everything in Milwaukee seems full. I'll start a separate thread in the Great Lakes section.

The surveyor managed to bump up his timeline and got in yesterday. Hull and decks were good for the most part. No red flags.
Needs some work but structurally sound overall! Will get the full report today, but I think we're going to end up owning her!

 

[Geoff W.]

Looks nice and clean, would love to see some more pics if you have them.

 

[driftless]

Looks nice and clean, would love to see some more pics if you have them.

Not the greatest photos, but gives you an idea of the condition.

Notice the old Loran and original datalink instruments. Wind speed wasn't working, but otherwise operable. I'd call it well maintained, but not substantially upgraded.

It's a rat's nest of wires behind the panel. Was that typical for Ericsons of this era, or has that been snarled by a PO?

 

[Geoff W.]

It's a rat's nest of wires behind the panel. Was that typical for Ericsons of this era, or has that been snarled by a PO?

From what I've seen, my boat included, the DC panel inevitably becomes a nightmare of tangled wires unless some enterprising owner (like you) gets in there and does a DC re-wire. Christian Williams did an extensive job of his and detailed it on the Thelonious blog.

Boat looks good, similar to mine - well maintained but mostly stock. And mostly stock is 30 something years old now How's the foam keeping up on those cushions?

 

[Loren Beach]

All Those... Wires

View attachment 27430
View attachment 27431
Not the greatest photos, but gives you an idea of the condition.

Notice the old Loran and original datalink instruments. Wind speed wasn't working, but otherwise operable. I'd call it well maintained, but not substantially upgraded.

It's a rat's nest of wires behind the panel. Was that typical for Ericsons of this era, or has that been snarled by a PO?

Our "behind the panel" main DC and AC circuit area was almost original except for someone wiring in instruments, radar, and a cheapie stereo.
That long ago -1988- technician was even less tidy than the EY guys.

I have tidied up the wiring some, but it falls way short of the work done by Christian.
While the 'chases' are still not too appealing, I did add a long terminal strip with some jumpers to bring all the DC positives to, and then install wires to each breaker. I also added a second DC Ground buss bar.

You may find that you can improve the situationr by following the old advice about "perfection being the enemy of the good" ..... and do add wire labels and and fasten up hanging loops, etc.
i.e. do something rather than obsess about it too much.

What started my on the upgrade was noticing a number of 3-way crimp fittings in that area, and while they worked fine for over 20 years, just were not a proper (!) way to bring distant legs of a circuit together.

 

[driftless]

How's the foam keeping up on those cushions?

I didn't unzip one to see. I will do that next time I'm down there. Thanks for the tip.
But the fabric was in really good condition- not too faded and only a few loose tufting buttons. They were comfortable to sit on, so I don't think they're too broken down. I was kneeling on the berth cushions and didn't notice my knees going through to the boards, but who knows how they'd be to sleep on.

 

[Loren Beach]

Sitting and Sleeping

I didn't unzip one to see. I will do that next time I'm down there. Thanks for the tip.
But the fabric was in really good condition- not too faded and only a few loose tufting buttons. They were comfortable to sit on, so I don't think they're too broken down. I was kneeling on the berth cushions and didn't notice my knees going through to the boards, but who knows how they'd be to sleep on.

Same fabric (from looking at your pix) on our '88 boat. Our original foam was low density and was pretty flat by the mid 90's. I replaced it high density (about 24# IIRC) and it still sits and sleeps without bottoming out. Most boats over about 10 or 15 years old have flat foam -- and many owners are defensive about it due to replacement cost. "We never sleep aboard, but there's nothing wrong with the cushions... they look FINE"


BTW, that particular fabric is really good quality stuff.
We did have to replace all of the corroded-away aluminum alloy zipper pulls, however. I recall that they cost under a buck, and are rather fiddly to guide onto the zipper. halves.
Any upholstery shop can press out some new tufting buttons and should have a close color match for the cloth bits.

 

[Christian Williams]

Congrats, great boat.

Re the wiring mess, I did a somewhat limited job on this boat and it was enough. The real goal is just to get rid of old wires and obsolete stuff and make the panel capable of receiving new additions without use of a jackhammer.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?457-Ericson-38-DC-Panel-Revision

As a 38 owner you might be interested in this video playlist of renovations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7mpbcCa-u4&list=PLXJx_F6E8T8wyRWcRh4nja4H8w82d-cDT

 

[driftless]

Re the wiring mess

Thank you for the excellent resources Christian, and kudos on both the work and the excellent write-ups on your re-wiring.

The survey exposed some electrical gremlins to chase down, so this is probably going to be a project that starts sooner rather than later. Trying to get things labeled and reworking the panel to swing out will be the first steps. Did you install a latch, or just use the existing screws to hold the panel closed?

We looked at a PS-E34 on the stand next to the E38 we are buying, and the broker very proudly swung open the panel to show us how neat and tidy the electrical was factory installed in that boat. What a difference a different builder and a few years makes. In the price of the boat as well apparently!

 

[Christian Williams]

Screws, or whatever works. All factory boats of the era had inadequate panels for what was to come. Who knew?

 

[Loren Beach]

Panel fun

Threads, and links to threads....
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...9-Electrical-panel-housekeeping&referrerid=28

And, more panel envy:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...00-Electrical-Panel-Replacement&referrerid=28

 

[JSM]

We looked at a PS-E34 on the stand next to the E38 we are buying, and the broker very proudly swung open the panel to show us how neat and tidy the electrical was factory installed in that boat. What a difference a different builder and a few years makes. In the price of the boat as well apparently!​

You had to be working with John Jirsa ! He sold us our E34-2. We also looked at the PS 34 and the first thing he showed me was the electrical panel on the boat.

 

[Christian Williams]

The gear to upgrade the Ericson panel is what, $300-$500? And then you know how it works....

 

[driftless]

An update

You had to be working with John Jirsa ! He sold us our E34-2. We also looked at the PS 34 and the first thing he showed me was the electrical panel on the boat.

Ed Jirsa I think you mean. Yes, he was the listing broker on this boat. Although it was actually Phil Froman who was showing us these boats that day. Must be a common point of pride (and sales tactic) for Larsen Marine.

To update:

We close a week from today. The survey was acceptable. Work to do, of course, but nothing major.

With the electrical; some fuses need to be installed to bring it up to recommendations, and some instruments weren't working, so in the process of chasing down that wiring I'm hoping I can clean things up a bit while I'm at it. Hopefully that will make tackling the eventual full re-wire/re-org easier.

For now we just wanna get out and sail! Summer is half over! Plenty of time for projects over the winter.

Thank you all for the excellent resources and suggestions. I'm sure you'll be hearing many more questions from me as I go.
-Tyler