Ericson 32, 1976. Need Advice

[RC Hobby]

Howdy Y'all from Galveston, Tx.

I just bought my first boat, Ericson 32, 1976. I need advice on a couple topics. Anyone knowledgeable with Ericson 76 hull fiberglass, and more about older Ericson sailboats, please be kind enough to contact me, preferably by cell phone (much faster and easier to communicate for me).

Thank you,
Ron Eaves. 435-770-8656. Call anytime

[Sailmonkey]

Fiberglass is fiberglass. What sort of help do you need?

[Khagan1227]

Welcome to CF!

Nice boat! Congrats.

[RC Hobby]

Had the boat for two moths now. I have gone from complete newbie to sailing, on my own, from Galveston, Tx to Freeport, Tx, and back, all in the ICW. Great boat to single-hand because jib sheets/winches, main sheet, are all within reach of the helm. I even attached the tiller so I can steer the boat with my legs while I raise and lower the main halyard, or need something from the cabin.

Now, after two moths of honeymoon bliss, my beautiful sailboat is showing me some of her faults- or rather, I am just beginning to discover her flaws: Water slowly leaking up through keel bolts, engine support rails rusted away - let us just keep the list to those two things right now.

I bought the boat for $13,000, without survey, as a favor to a friend- enough said in that, too. I do not need to hear from everyone, " "I told you so...".

I called on bottom job and was told that best bottom job, vinyl ethylene, was more than half cost of boat and to just let my baby die a slow death, or pawn the boat onto the next succor.

I have not had her hauled out yet, but i when I do, I would like to put best bottom job on her. I can afford to spend 30% more and get vinyl ethylene bottom that is suppose to last 20 years, and not ever blister every 3-4 years as normal bottom job does.

So my questions are: What do I do now? What best solution for protecting my hull?

Yes, bilge works. Water leak is few drops per minute coming up through fiberglass in bilge where keel bolt should be. Water brings rust color up with it, as seen in picture.

Any advice??

Than you, Ron.
Galveston, Tx

Attachment 48668

[RC Hobby]

Just want to add that I am a crew member in this year's annual Harvest Moon regatta race on this Thursday through Sunday. Really having a blast diving into this sailing life.

[RC Hobby]

I called a referred marine engine mechanic for the rusted support rails. Want him to tell me if I have something to worry about.

Pics of rusted rails that are mounted right into fiberglass, or sitting in top of fiberglass. Last pic of 2x4 wood engine mount that was rubbing and vibrating the seacock --so i cut out some room with a drill for engine to vibrate and not hit seacock.

[RC Hobby]

Going to a marine bottom yard to ask their advice now. Just want to hear from more than one source. Really getting educated. My preferred solution would be a company in San Diego call Haul-Tech. You can see their video on youtube. I spoke with owner- very impressed with his knowlege and honesty.

[Sailmonkey]

The engine supports don't look too bad from those pictures, but can't really tell without see it.

As for the keel......
forget about blister coating, peeling, etc.....for now (or ever really). What you really need to do is haul out, and drop the keel. That missing stud was there for a reason and needs to be addressed.

Any yard should be able to haul, pressure wash the bottom, pull the keel,repair,and replace it. After that, just slap on some decent paint (approx 150-200$) a gallon and sail it for a while.

From your photos it looks like you're either in Offats bayou or the new place in the swamp. Go to Payco marine and ask them what they would charge to pull the keel off and replace the bolts. (it won't be cheap, but I'd bet it'll be less than 13K).

[CCBullseye]

How do you know the keel bolts are leaking, and not just the stuffing box dripping (it is suppose to drip a little) and the water collecting in the lowest part of the bilge? The keel bolts leaking is something I would get a yard to look at. It could be something simple, or something more involved. Maybe putting the boat in a travel lift and unbolting and then rebedding might do it, but it something which I would fix at next haul out. As far as bottom job, how do you know you have blisters? This is something you can do yourself if you have the time. If you have blisters, then you might want to hire someone to "peel" the bottom, or you can grind them yourself, I did that once, it is a lot of nasty work, best done in the winter. Most of the time, a bottom job just means a paint job. The engine bed is a pretty simple matter if you are handy. The most you will likely have to do is pull the engine, grind out the current bed, and install a new bed, using fir and glass cloth and epoxy. Be very careful to measure exact placement of the current mounts so you can build the new bed to that height and placement. I installed a new engine and I cut down the old bed and installed aluminum 4" angle on each side of cut down bed and put mounts there. If you are a handy with tools type guy, you can do all of this. You might need help with the keel.

If you can get 5 years of sailing out of your boat, you will have done okay, even if you scrap it after 5 years if you don't put too much more money into it. The biggest worry I would have is the keel bolts, hoping that the bolts are still in good shape and it is only a bedding problem.

[zeehag]

your keel should be fiberglass encapsulated.
there are no keel bolts on my ericson 35, 1979. the 32 is similar to 35, except the keel is a different shape.
you have an inboard--you WILL have water in bilge from packing gland dripping. is supposed to do that.
mine has gore tex packing so i have a dry bilge. gore tex packing works great. mine has been in place since 2004, and is still perfect.
what other questions do you have ????

donot worry about blisters unless they are wet. wet means a hole in center and drain when ye haul out the boat.

mine has a bunch of quarter sized ones on hull--my neighbor said 130 or so of em. no biggie--they donot bring water into hull. they do not affect sailing performance.
the packing gland will bring water into hull, so will thru hull fittings. check all those and the packing gland.

btw--fiberglass isnt fiberglass--lol there is epoxy and there is polyester resin--ericson used, as all boats of the era did, polyesther resin.

[toddbrsd]

Don't forget to check out the Ericson Owner's website for issues specific to the Ericson model:

www.ericsonyachts.org/

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by zeehag

btw--fiberglass isnt fiberglass--lol there is epoxy and there is polyester resin--ericson used, as all boats of the era did, polyesther resin.

In the case of this old boat fiberglass is nothing exotic. Epoxy isn't exotic unto itself, but the stuff that the resin wets out is where things get exciting!!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
I hope someone close to you can help you out.
kind regards,

[STXCUTTER]

I have the same e32-2 although a '72.
I hope the poor guy didn't run out to have his fixed keel lopped off lol (Be leery of armchair quarterbacks)!?!?
Interesting how you have a cut out hole for ur bilge pump, mine is flat/smooth w/o the recesse. If u have water coming up through ur bilge as u suspect, I would think she took a hard grounding and the keel might be cracked. Most of the keel is hollow with the ballast sitting in the bottom of the boat covered with glass. Hope this gives u some insight into ur situation.
W/mine, I'm trying to find were water is seeping DOWN into the keel from the bilge above.

Good luck and hope to hear how things progress.

Cheers
E32stx on ericson forum