Ericson sailboats for sale

Buying a used Ericson: matching hull year to builder, not just to model name

A used Ericson purchase is really two questions in one: which design era, and which company actually built the hull. Ericson Yachts closed in 1990, but Pacific Seacraft bought the molds for several of its most popular models the following year and kept building them, under Ericson names, through 1998. That means two boats sharing a model number can come from different companies at different points in the design's structural history — a distinction that matters more on a decades-old fiberglass hull than trim level or interior finish ever will.

Which era to target

The clearest structural line falls in 1985, when Bruce King's redesigned Ericson 32 introduced the Tri-Axial Force Grid, a molded fiberglass liner bonded into the hull before the deck went on, running the external ballast keel's bolts through it and taking on much of the boat's structural load-bearing. Boats built before that redesign — including the earlier, encapsulated-ballast Ericson 32 that King drew in 1969 — rest on different structural assumptions and are worth evaluating on their own terms rather than against later, grid-stiffened hulls. A second dividing line falls around 1991: Ericson 32, 34, and 38 hulls built after that point came from Pacific Seacraft, not Ericson. The 34 is the clearest example of how confusing that transition gets in listings — Practical Sailor's own reviews call the Pacific Seacraft-built version "the new Ericson 35," while Sailing Magazine attaches a separate "34-200" hull designation and admits real uncertainty, even among reviewers, about exactly when Pacific Seacraft's production actually began. Whatever name appears in a listing, the practical question for a buyer is the same: was this specific hull built by Ericson or by Pacific Seacraft?

What to inspect across the range

Several issues recur across models and eras rather than belonging to any one boat. Moisture finding its way into the balsa-cored deck is one recurring theme: Practical Sailor traces it to leaking hatch and companionway frames on the Ericson 32 and a soft cabin sole near the mast step on the 34-2, while Cruising World finds soft core specifically around the chainplates on the 35 Mark II. Leaking portlights and windows turn up on the 34-2 and 35 Mark II in Practical Sailor's and Cruising World's reviews respectively, and an owner-reported fix on the 27 suggests the same weak point further back in the lineup. Practical Sailor also reports gelcoat flaws on the Ericson 32, and Cruising World reports hull blistering on the 35 Mark II. Aging mechanical systems recur too: Cruising World found failing welded seams on the 35 Mark II's aluminum fuel tank, and Practical Sailor flagged a failure-prone fuel-governor component on the 34-2's diesel.

Navigating the lineup

Ericson's range spans compact coastal boats up to the offshore-capable 41-footer, with the Bruce King-designed 32 and 34 lines — in both their Ericson and Pacific Seacraft-built forms — the most consistent thread across the company's history. Buyers weighing size against era are best served by comparing specific hull years side by side on the full model directory on this page, rather than by model name alone.