Newbie Intro and questions E39

[captainjay]

A short intro then some questions about an E39. My name is Jay, my wife and I have been living in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands for the last year and a half. I am a life long boater, although I have to admit to having grown up a power boater. I learned to sail about ten years on charters down here. I used to be a general contractor in the "the real world", I currently work for a bare boat charter company in St Thomas. My wife is in IT and works at The University of the Virgin Islands. I won't spend a whole lot of time going into the why and how of us living in the Caribbean, anyone that is interested in that story can take a look at our blog. http://livedelifeusvi.blogspot.com/

Now for the real reason that I am here. We went into contract yesterday on an E39 flush deck with a cutter rig. It is a bit of a project but not a total mess. The boat originally came from CT, it went through a pretty serious refit in 2001-2002 by a previous owner, including a new 37 hp Phasor/Kabota engine. He then sailed it down here and spent a couple of years cruising in the Caribbean. After that it was sold to a guy on St John who has used it for a floating condo for the last four years. The lack of maitenance and attention to detail shows. After four years on a mooring it is dirty. The teak needs cleaned and re-oiled inside, the floors need refinished. All of the sunbrella, bimini sail covers, need restiched and the zippers replace but seem serviceable if not new. The sail are also serviceable. It has a 120 jib, the stay sail is a little tired. The main is also serviceable it is a heavy cruising sail, probably put on during the refit 2001-2002. There is also a storm sail, and a nearly new looking North Spinaker. The current owner has all of the receipts from the refit but I haven't had time to go through them. I am having a survey done on Monday in the water with a sea trial. Then later next week assuming we don't find any "deal killers" I will have it hauled and the bottom cleaned and checked. It hasn't been out of the water for at least four years so you can imagine what the bottom looks like. I did dive it myself prior to making the offer and didn't see anything scary but it is impossible to check for blisters given the current reef like state. The other item of concern for me is that the mast step is made of steal and has some corrosion.
So fire away, anyone with any must look out for items let me know. I also will take any real world advice on bringing it back to life or just general comments are welcome as well.
Thanks,
Jay

 

[captainjay]

Ok so no comments so far.
Here is a link to photos of the boat taken this week.
Jay

 

[Sven]

Hi Jay,

I didn't see any real questions other than "fire away" which probably explains the lack of answers.

We have the cruising model (39B) and love her. She was/is in good shape but still needs some serious work to equip her for off-shore cruising.

The standing rigging should be looked at. Deck delamination due to water intrusion is another issue. Backing up (in a direction that you chose) is another issue.

Welcome to the 39 club !


-Sven

 

[stillwater]

39 is a great boat

Hi,
I own hull #36 which I think is a 1971 boat. I work in the small yacht industry and work and sail on many different boats. A few are better built, most are not. The 39 is a simple, straight forward, easy boat to work on. It is very good looking and an absolute pleasure to sail. Mine has been raced hard and has a lot of ocean miles but does not show signs of fiberglass stress fatigue. Very well behaved with a very neutral helm up wind. Good light air sailer but comes into its own about 15-20 knots with a reefed main and 100%+ jib. A boat that satisfies like few others!!

Things I would look for other than typical fiberglass boat issues: Check the steel beam in the bilge by the galley bulkheads. Check the condition of the metal and to see if it well attached to the keel. The other beam is up at the forward bulkhead. If your boat has the standard rig the bulkheads take the lower spreader load and the beam is glassed to the keel here. Check for rust in the head door under the head sink and in front of the mast. My boat has a custom single spreader rig that does not use this bulk head and has an stainless steel mast step so I don't know what the standard scoop here is. Get Guy Stevens on board for more info. The rudder support area can be a little weak. Check for stress in this area. Water tanks are under the cabin sole. Not the easiest to replace if they are bad. (Cut the sole). If the boat has a cored hull check for water intrusion. Your boat must be one of the last. I've not seen one with a teak interior.

If the hull/deck is decent and the gear good the 39 is a wonderful boat in the 25K to 40K price range.

Best Regards,
Dal
E39 Stillwater

 

[Guy Stevens]

Things I noticed from your photos.

These are some (not exhaustive) things that I noticed from your photos and your commentary.

The interior has had some modifications to the standard layout as designed by Bruce King. The upper berths in the main salon are likely to be unused space 90% or more of the time. Bruce's design using the flip up berths which double as seat backs is quite a bit more efficient.

The club footed staysail should be removed, it's only purpose on an E-39 would be to maim and or kill people on the foredeck. This will also allow you to get rid of the track for the staysail which is just another place for the deck to leak.

The cockpit table is another item that should be reworked. Having it there all the time tells me that this boat has not been sailed. It is going to be completely in the way during even a small daysail. Get rid of it. If you want a table put one at the aft end of the cockpit over what must be the propane box.

Things to look for.
There are two Mild Steel bulkhead joiners one just in front of the galley. On the galley bulk head which connects the two sides of the boat together and one on the forward bulkhead set that does the same. These are very important. They tie the two sides of the boat together and prevent both torsion and mid boat racking. If they are rusted out you will need to replace them. I recommend doing this with 1/2 inch thick G-10. Gary Jones on Traveler has some photos of his repair on this area that I highly recommend looking at.

The mast step from the factory is mild steel. If it is severely corroded then it can be replaced with an aluminum extrusion I beam. I have done this in a few of the 39's and had it last more than 15 years and still be going strong.

The rig looks old, and the cost of completely replacing it should be factored into the purchase price of the boat. This would include the standing and running rigging. That means the wires that hold up the mast, and the lines that adjust the sails!

Areas where the original build will need some beefing up after all these years or areas that may be problematic by now are:
The water tanks. These are stainless steel or Monel on the boats, and are silver soldered seams. The seams do fail if there have been problems with the water tank vents. (This is a good place to note that water tank vents should ALWAYS be into the sink on a sail boat, never directly overboard).

The original rudder was designed to meet a IOR rudder area rule, and can be made bigger. The boat will function WELL without the rudder being enlarged, but will function even better if you modify it per Bruce Kings plans to do so.

The engine is a bit small, but will be fine once you learn how to sail the boat, she goes like gangbusters in about any wind conditions. Sail when there is wind, motor when there is not and you should be fine.

The old Nicro Fico traveler is long past it's lifetime. Replace it with either a Harken or Garhauer unit. While you are doing that you should remove the headliner where it covers the inadequate backing plates for the traveler, and fabricate a set of Aluminum or G-10 backing plates that are large enough for the loads encountered on the traveler. Keep the large Stainless Steel U channel that supports the traveler and the risers on each end. There is no need to replace them.

The E-39 is in my opinion is one of the best cruising boats available. It is underrated, in public opinion due in part to Ericson's marketing arm which was not as good as some of the other manufactures marketing arms. Also Ericson defined their market as racers instead of cruisers. Marketing aside the boat is stable, good in a blow, moves easily under sail has WAY too much storage, is easy to sail if the running rigging and winches are correctly designed, and will sail better, faster, and easier than a lot of mid 40 foot boats out there in the cruising fleet.

Ask specific questions if you want to get more information.

Guy Stevens
Real World Cruising
www.realworldcruising.com

 

[captainjay]

Thanks for the comments. Guy my wife had already made the comment about the table and the stay sail. The are gone as part of the plans for the boat. There is some corrosion on both of the steel beams and the mast step. I don't know if it is severe enough to warrant replacement but should be able to find out during the survey. I am having it hauled next week as part of the survey and assuming I don't find any deal killers it will be bottom painted at that time. I had already budgeted for new running and standing rigging as part of the deal. It does appear to have the original water tanks under the floor and I won't know what kind of shape they are in until I can get it to a dock and fill them. So are the pictures of the repairs to the steel here on the web page?
Jay