info on late model Ericson 28s?

[jfischman]

I'm considering buying one of these boats, and the owner has done a wonderful job with her. I wonder if anyone can speak to differences between the early models of E28s and the later ones. This seems to be later: hull # in the 700s, 4-foot keel, 3 cyl. engine. Grateful for any insight.

 

[aquavit]

I can't offer anything regarding the earlier 28+ but I can add a few things about the later 28. Mine is #716 and I was told (but this is completely undocumented) that mine was the 2nd last built, it is a 1990 and it was commissioned in June of 1990 so there wasn't many made after it. Mine has a 2 cylinder 2GM20F engine, if the one you are considering has a 3 cylinder that would be quite a change. Mine has the deep keel, points well and moves quickly in light air. It is quite stable as well although I have had the deck almost at the water level. I have managed to get 6.8 knots out of mine but no faster yet. I have only had the boat since the start of June this year but I am constantly finding more and more indications of a high quality, well built boat that is making me happier about buying it the longer I have had it. Good luck with your search for the right boat.

Glenn or Aquavit.

 

[jfischman]

thanks, Aquavit

That's useful to know, Glenn. I imagine the 5-ft keel lends more stability than the 4-ft shoal draft. But around here, well, we have lots of shoals. And I like the high sail area of this boat, which can always be reefed. I think the displacement is right to shoulder through, under sail, the 1-foot chop we usually get. What do you think? --Josh

 

[aquavit]

The boat won't notice a 1 foot chop. I sailed mine home from Waukegan Illinois to Penetang Ontario and spent two days in rather stormy conditions. 6 to 8 foot waves are dealt with calmly by the boat, if not necessarily the crew.

Glenn

 

[bayhoss]

I have an 1986 E28 with the 4' keel and sail the southern part of the Chesapeake. The E28 is an excellent choice. With the amount of sail area, and the fractional rig she moves very well in light to moderate air. She also does well in stronger air if you make adjustments to sail. At about 15 knts. I reef. The three and four foot waves that come on the Chesapeak are taken in stride, the boat was built to take way more than that. At the three year mark of ownership and sailing in about all conditions, I'm still pleased with the performance of the boat.

Best,
Frank

 

[jfischman]

Thanks, folks. I have taken my Catalina 2 5 thru 5-footers on Lake Michigan, and there too the boat handled them much much better than the people. Naive question: why is fractional rig so good?--josh

 

[Loren Beach]

Here's a start

Thanks, folks. I have taken my Catalina 2 5 thru 5-footers on Lake Michigan, and there too the boat handled them much much better than the people. Naive question: why is fractional rig so good?--josh

Josh,
Nice way to ask it... It is not "better" but it is "good." :nerd:
Coming from two smaller fractional rig keel boats, our present boat was our first masthead rig.
I always liked having the main driving sail (and largest sail) being the one with the most controls. Unlike the genny that can flap around when you are letting it out or in, the main is always "attached" on two of its three sides. With a modern 6 or 10 to 1 main sheet system and decent ball bearing traveler it is easy to position. It has several other lines you can use for fine tuning the shape all the time. Additionally, with a fractional main, you can use the backstay to bend the mast and flatten or depower the large main in heavy air. All this from the cockpit.

Strictly IMHO, next best thing is to have a rig where the E is about equal to the J, in other words, the foot of the main is close to the base length of the foretriangle. Our Olson is this type of rig, i.e. a "balanced" rig.

No wrong answers, though. All rigs have their plusses and minuses.

Hopefully one of the experts will check in and correct or augment my remarks.

Cheers,
Loren

 

[jfischman]

Cool. Very helpful, Loren. I also found this opinion on a cruising forum, and the answer made sense to me, so I take the liberty of reprinting part of it here:

The best fractional rigs often have purposely designed flexible masts and, when combined with a backstay adjuster permits quick, on the fly, depowering of both sails.<nobr id="itxt_nobr_12_0" style="color: darkgreen; font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; font-family: verdana,geneva,lucida,'lucida grande',arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"></nobr> Mainsails are easier than jibs to reef in a manner that results in an efficiently shaped sail for heavier conditions. It means that you don’t have to take the expense, complication, maintenance and performance hit of a mainsail furler. Controlling mast bend you can often avoid reefing as the winds build. Roller furling genoas have notoriously poor shape when partially furled. The smaller jibs of a fractional rig rarely need reefing and when they do the fact that they are often smaller or eveb non-overlapping results in a better partially furled shape.

And my current genoa does have a "notoriously poor shape" when I furl it to about 100 percent.

Josh

 

[FullTilt E28]

I have an 86 28 with the deep keel in SF Bay. The 85 model was the last year with the different jock strap set up on the port side for the main stay. The 86 model was updated with built in hull hard points for the jockstraps behind the aft lower rigging and port side main stay is bulkhead bolted which the pre 86's hulls did not have.

The 28 is some what tender but the width she's a fat mama lends to a dramatic increase in stability as she heals over. The deep rudder gives you good control even at a pretty steep heal angle. They sail well in light air and can run up to a 160% genoa which would make it a light air machine tough to beat. In SF where light air is rare and flat water is even more rare - we have a 90% working jib which at times can even be too much with a reef or two added to the main. The boat however does pretty well for its length vs width short fat boat LOL. Fantastic interior for 28ft! The cockpit of the 86 and newer is a T cockpit with wheel. This works well for 4 friendly adults and works really nice for a single or double handed boat.

We added a dodger to ours just tall enough to allow me at 5ft 10 to stand on the second from top step in the companion way with head clearance on the dodger - yet wife can just see over the top at 4ft 8inches. We ripped out the small group 24 batteries - modified the battery box and installed two group 31's and updated the power meter to digital blue sea meter. We installed a 15 inch flat screen LCD TV on the starboard bulk head and often watch movies at night during overnights. We replaced the pressurized stove with non pressurized stove + big win there!

The 12hp diesel works hard to push the 28 into any kind of chop or head wind but will keep going even if your getting down into the 2knot speeds. A tad underpowered but workable. For the price - fantastic mini cruiser with a nice interior - decent build quality and reasonable sailing abilities.

We also have a cruising asymmetric kite in a sock which we use on occasion top boat speed while on a tight reach in about 23knots of breeze on flat water - with full water tank, BBQ on the back was 6.2knots with nice helm feel though very large hole in the water behind us. Your not going to win any drag races with the 28 but you'll be comfortable just about all the time which says alot.

By the way we own a Ultimate 20 which we race a bunch the E28 is our mini cruiser packed to the gills with cruiser crap ha ha.

 

[jfischman]

late model Ericson

Thanks. I imagine the deeper draft in SF is key. The boat I'm looking at has a 4 ft. draft, which is very appealing for the Chesapeake. I imagine it might be initially more tender but good sail trim should even things out quickly. Not sure I'm ready for a flat screen TV yet--more focusing on the shaft seal at the moment. But we were thinking about some kind of wireless access point. --Josh

 

[jfischman]

new owner

We're now owners of this real nice Ericson 28. The wind is supposed to be around 15 knots today so I guess we'll find out firsthand what the best sail plan is.

 

[jsjohnston]

Congratulations

Hi Josh, Congratulations on your new boat! I have a 1982 28+, and I just love it. The quality of the workmanship that went into these boats is terrific. I'm constantly comparing the construcion of my boat with others in our club. The Ericson comes out ahead most of the time (and when it doesn't, it dead even )

 

[adavid]

The 12hp diesel works hard to push the 28 into any kind of chop or head wind but will keep going even if your getting down into the 2knot speeds. A tad underpowered but workable. For the price - fantastic mini cruiser with a nice interior - decent build quality and reasonable sailing abilities.

The Universal M12 in mid-80's E-28's is actually rated at 10hp, which is why it seems underpowered. At about 85% throttle, we cruise at 5.6 knots in flat water. As Full Tilt mentions, once you add some wind and waves, it slows down quickly.

Andy

 

[Starduff]

E-28

We're now owners of this real nice Ericson 28. The wind is supposed to be around 15 knots today so I guess we'll find out firsthand what the best sail plan is.[/quote

Let me add my congratulations also, Josh!
The E-28 is a great boat, but of course I am biased. I have a 1987 E-28, Hull# 651. It is a good blend of comfortable cruiser and yet a good performer. You will like her even more as time goes by.

Richard