Ericson 32 purchase information needed

[neilmcb2002]

Ericson 32 purchase

I am in the process of upsizing, my 23 foot is just to small and I want a larger boat. My problem is this, I can't make up my mind between a Cal 2-29 or the Ericson 32. I'm leaning towards the Ericson because of the interior layout and numbers (comfort ratio etc etc). I'm a little leary because I can't seem to find much info on the handling capabilities of the 32. I live in Victoria so will be sailing the coastal waters of BC and Washington state. Would anyone have some good feed-back for me?? I've read the inputs on SailNet BoatCheck and those writeups have all been positive. My wife and I want to be able to spend up to two years a year living on the boat and the rest of the time would be weekend trips. I retire in less than six months and want a good boat that will serve me well for the next few/long years. Your thoughts
Neil

 

[rssailor]

E 32 advice

Are you looking at a 70's boat or 80's ericson 32? They are two completly different boats. Both would do very well as costal sailors up in PNW. Good luck as there are several active 32 owners on the site. The ones around here both older and newer sail on the bay and are great boats. I know, one of my ex neighbors loved his 32 that was a 70's one. Good luck and take the ericson over the Cal any day. Ryan Ericson 25+ Moonglow

 

[gareth harris]

I am an E35 not E32 owner, but having been on my neighbour's E32, they are a very nice sailing boat. I have heard of one being seen, being sailed by a retired couple, in the Indian Ocean, so I am sure that with the right modifications the boat would fill your requirements.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[JORGE]

I have the older 32, and originally had a 21 sailboat for day- sailing. At first, I thought that the 32 had enough space, but now I see that I may have miscalculated. I guess the real test is to actually live aboard. Check out the specs and photos on this site for further research in making the right choice. The models were changed to meet the demands of buyers.Visit boats for sale within your area and try to get a feel for living space. Goodluck.

 

[Sean Engle]

Come to Port Townsend in June...

Neil -

I would suggest you come down and visit us in June at Port Townsend. I would think there will be a 32 there among us... See the Ericsons Northwest regional board for more information...

//sse

 

[james mercado]

Re:Ericson 32

I am selling mine. It is a fine sailing boat with many comforts. It has a completly private aft cabin and a spacious interior. You can see Plan B on Boats.com as well as on boatquest.com - good luck, Jim Mercado

 

[windjunkee]

I have a 1970 E-32-2 and can give you some input on the sailing characteristics, having owned it now for about a year and a half.

My partner and I primarily race the boat, but in buoy races we just don't seem sail up to its rating of 180. Its partially our relative inexperience and partially boat design.

The boat is pretty heavy for its size so its slow to gain speed after a tack. The pointing ability leaves something to desired, but we can hold 30-34 degrees apparent when close hauled. The fairlead is along the rail and the shrouds keep the sail position basically outside the lifelines.

With the narrow transom, the hull does not surf downwind, though in 25-40 knots, we did hit some 12 k speeds during a race in May.

However, that aside, the hull is virtually bulletproof and she loves a good reach. We have done quite a bit of improvements on board. We changed out all the winches, so now we have Harken 42 st's as our primaries, Harken 30's as our secondaries and two 16's as our halyard winches. We added a hydraulic backstay adjustor and modified the rudder to give us better control off the wind. We also added a better mainsheet traveller system from the hokey one that was there when we bought her, and upgraded our instruments to a B&G system. She tracks well and can sail very balanced.

We're racing the boat from Southern California to Puerto Vallarta and I have complete confidence in the boat for that distance race. Our only issue is fuel capacity and storage, but we'll work that out.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the boat. She is easy to sail and comfortable under sail or in the slip. Bunk size was a concern for one of my former partners, but he also goes 6'4" and 280, so I would assume he'd have that problem virtually everywhere.

Hope this helps.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 hull #134

 

[Galley_Slave]

We owned a 32. Neal (CaptnNero) can add more technical details to this post, but from my perspective, it was a sleek, fast, fun, pretty boat. We enjoyed some of our best sailing on it. There's plenty of interior wood, the headroom is adequate. Neal is 6'2" and he could stand up. We usually sailed past other boats in our class when out on the Bay. (Maybe it was just our great sail trim )

We upgraded to a 34 for a few reasons. For instance, as the Galley Slave, I wanted built in refrigeration and a freezer. It could have been retrofitted with that equipment, but we also wanted air conditioning and that was starting to get into more of an ordeal than we wanted. Fortunately, there was a sweet 34 with all of the necessary upgrades just waiting for us and we sold the 32. We keep in touch with the current owners and they love it as much as we did.

Good luck with your new boat... the Ericson

 

[omgirl]

We were in the same dilemma

We had this exact issue except were looking at a Cal 28 and an E 32-200. We went with the Ericson and have not looked back. In looking at several Cal 28 and 29s, I truly believe we made the right choice.

We have a 1990 E 32-200 and I don't know anything about the older ones, but we love ours. Good layout, incredibly fast and responsive (she does have the taller mast and larger sails) and in a nutshell... we just love her.

We bought her this past winter so we haven't had too much experience yet but she is a pleasure to sail and we are both delighted with our choice.

Good luck!

 

[CaptnNero]

E32-200 on the Chesapeake

In our sailing conditions on the Chesapeake, our '88 32-200 seemed to be a good fit. She had full battens, 4'4' fin draft, and at 9800 lbs displacement sometimes over 1000 lbs lighter than others of her cruising class such as the Pearson 31. I think maybe her veneer on plywood interior vs. others with solid teak may have helped a bit on the weight end.

The 32' length is just over the magic 30' length which mostly eliminates the hobby horse effect in most cruising conditions. If I was choosing between below 30' and over 30', I would choose the longer boat for reducing the pitching.

At 9800 lbs, she was still relatively easy to muscle around in the slip. Our current E34 is 13,000 lbs, and one needs to lean and wait a while more to adjust things in the slip.

We owned a 32. Neal (CaptnNero) can add more technical details to this post, but from my perspective, it was a sleek, fast, fun, pretty boat. We enjoyed some of our best sailing on it. There's plenty of interior wood, the headroom is adequate. Neal is 6'2" and he could stand up. We usually sailed past other boats in our class when out on the Bay. (Maybe it was just our great sail trim )

We upgraded to a 34 for a few reasons. For instance, as the Galley Slave, I wanted built in refrigeration and a freezer. It could have been retrofitted with that equipment, but we also wanted air conditioning and that was starting to get into more of an ordeal than we wanted. Fortunately, there was a sweet 34 with all of the necessary upgrades just waiting for us and we sold the 32. We keep in touch with the current owners and they love it as much as we did.

Good luck with your new boat... the Ericson