Ericson 38 sunk (dripless packing gland failure)

[Alan Gomes]

38’ Ericson 1986 - boats - by owner - marine sale

38’ Ericson 1986 FG sloop rigged, Roller furling New pedestal with wheel steering; Boat had a ruptured dripless packing gland and boat got submerged for six hours; A new nom dripless packing gland...

losangeles.craigslist.org

Just saw this on Craig's List. This boat is located not far from where I'm berthed, but I don't know anything beyond what the ad states.

 

[Loren Beach]

Odd looking engine. Factory engines were Universal or Yanmar.
Six hours marinating in sea water would ruin wiring, engine, trans, woodwork, interior fabrics totally , and a whole list of other things. Perhaps the owner bought it back from the insurance company intending to try and rebuilt and then got overwhelmed by reality.


There will be a 'back story' somehow. Those reinforced bellows do not just "rupture' sitting at a dock. (Any more than galley fridge drains routinely sink boats at the dock, but the one I helped to save a few years ago had been ignored for many seasons and week-long freeze split it.
Then time passed before anyone checked on it or noticed.)

 

[Alan Gomes]

Odd looking engine. Factory engines were Universal or Yanmar.
Six hours marinating in sea water would ruin wiring, engine, trans, woodwork, interior fabrics totally , and a whole list of other things. Perhaps the owner bought it back from the insurance company intending to try and rebuilt and then got overwhelmed by reality.


There will be a 'back story' somehow. Those reinforced bellows do not just "rupture' sitting at a dock. (Any more than galley fridge drains routinely sink boats at the dock, but the one I helped to save a few years ago had been ignored for many seasons and week-long freeze split it.
Then time passed before anyone checked on it or noticed.)

Yeah, I wondered about that engine also.

 

[Parrothead]

The engine looks pretty clearly to me to be a Perkins or Westerbeke 4-108 (they're virtually identical) and the inference from the Kohler name on the header tank suggests it was a repower from a genset.

 

[racushman]

For someone who might be wondering if $8K for this boat is a good deal, I'll share a story I heard recently from a family friend.

This person had a well maintained Catalina 34 on the hard in Abaco, Bahamas when the catastrophic hurricane went through two years ago. Boat ended up blown over with other boats in the same yard. Fall to the starboard side generated a structural hole, but not overly complex to fix. , Fair amount of cosmetic damage to topsides. Rig fine. Engine fine. Boat did not fill with water.

Insurance company totaled the boat and paid out $50K, then offered to sell it back to the owner for $10K if they wanted to do the work to fix it. Friend negotiated and ended up buying the boat back for $2500. Friend invested $10K in fixing the boat, and now essentially has the same boat for 25% of the original cost basis.

Unfortunately, I can't see how there's any possible happy story for this boat.

 

[Parrothead]

There's an old saying about the boat building business that may apply here:

If you want to make a million dollars in boats, start with two million

Looking at this E38 as a project to make financial sense will not pencil out. Boats seldom do. You'd be better off in real estate. However, with the skills and passion for such a project, this could be a very attractive start.

I had such a passion in 1984, decided to build my own boat starting with bare hull and deck shells. I bought a Westsail 32 hull, deck and ballast from P&M Worldwide Yachts, (they bought the molds in Westsail's bankruptcy). My cost out the door was $15,500.00 in 1984 dollars. That's no bulkheads, spars, rig, engine, hardware of any kind, no rudder, no nuthin'. Comparing what is reusable with this E38 at half the price in 2021 dollars you'd be light years ahead of where I started my project. Heck, the steering system alone has a replacement value of over $4 grand. Sure, it risks being a financial loser but such are boats. You know that going in.