New Member -- Old sailor...

[Captain Cahos]

Hi. I'm 53 years old and have lived aboard the vast majority of my adult life. I have raced at various levels on many different boats. I live on the east coast. I will be living on the boat in New England in the summer and down to Florida, or abouts, in the winter.

Intended usage -- longest offshore passage will be from Morehead City, NC to Fla and back once each year. I do not sail around Cape Hatteras, too far to the east, I prefer to sail up and down the Chesapeake Bay.

So ... I am captivated by the E 38-200.

Does this make sense? I travel light and will use the v-berth area of the boat as a 'garage' -- This is why I prefer the 200, the bigger aft berth will be my only berth. It's just me on the boat, by the way.

Will this boat sit on her lines and sail well with me and my live aboard stuff? I want to buy the best sailing boat I can that will allow me to shower in it in a marina, carry my load safely and have a big enough ice box for me to be able to live with. I really like the Galley and head in this boat, Really Great!

Here is my other big question --- What should I know about the diffferent keels? I can live with the deep draft, is their a big difference in stiffness and performance between the deep keel and the wing?

Thanks to all with experience for their input in advance.

Captain Cahos
(Currently Boatless)

 

[gareth harris]

In general, I think you would like the boat for the purpose. Ericsons are not especially roomy boats in the scheme of cruisers, but from your description of yourself, I am guessing that when you say you 'travel light' you really mean it. They are, however, very nice sailing boats, and perfect for sailing the route you describe with the right modifications. I doubt you would be disappointed unless you really packed the bow full, or you collect historic naval cannon balls as a hobby.

There have been threads very recently (within the last couple of months)about single handing and living aboard an E38, so try it in the search engine and you should come up with plenty of information. There was a lot of input a month or so ago about modifications for single handing an E38 or E35.

For your question about the keel, I suggest you start a thread on the question in 'Design and Function' - people read it on a more regular basis.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[u079721]

Well, having owned a E38-200 for 12 seasons, and lived aboard and single-handed one summer, I guess I am sort of biased. But yes, it will certainly serve your expressed needs.

It is certainly not the roomiest 38 footer out there, but that probably isn't a concern if it is just you aboard. After many years of living aboard with my wife for a month at a time, and feeling a bit cramped, I was just amazed at how roomy the boat felt the summer I spent aboard alone. If you just want volume get a Catalina 380 - but it will not sail as well, or look anywhere need as good as the E38-200.

I only have experience with the shoal draft keel, not the deep. As has been mentioned elswhere the boat feels tender at start, but does stiffen up quite well at 15 degrees or so. The deep draft is stiffer, but I'm not sure the difference is that much unless you are racing. (Seth, your opinion?)

I really loaded the boat down myself, and it did settle in the water a bit. It didn't suberge the waterline, but it came to just below an inch of being submerged. No problems with trim or list when fully loaded, though if you have the forward water tank it will settle down by the bow some. Even fully loaded it was still good in light air.

As for the garage storage aspect, I suggest you sleep in the V-berth and use the aft cabin as the garage. The ventilation is much better forward, and the many storage bins under the V-berth would make it a real hassel to move lots of gear out of the way each time you want access to one of the bins. The boat will also handle extra weight better on the aft bunk. And if you do any motoring in hot weather the aft bunk stays hot for hours from the engine.

I'm sure there must be a few hundred other comments I could make, but that's all I can think of now.

 

[Captain Cahos]

Thanks for the responses. I'm excited about having the opportunity to put some more sailing, rather than motoring in my travels.

The E 38 is a sailors cruiser as far as I'm concerned. I will be hanging a dingy off the stern. I'll have about 150 feet of chain and an anchor in the bow. I will have to install a heating system, some tools, a few spares, my clothes and as many cans of weenie-beenies as I can stuff in the boat.

At this time I feel that I will want to buy a deep keel version of this boat, so I'm off to see one this weekend.

Thanks again for your input.

-Captain Cahos