thinking of buying Ericson 35 mark two

[rgscpat]

We may have an opportunity to buy an Ericson 35 mk 2 (mid 70s).

The boat is inland, in a relatively remote place far from the ocean or any marine facilities, and de-rigged, and doesn't have a trailer. So obviously there's difficulty in getting a survey and in testing some systems. We do know a fair bit of the boat's history and know the sellers, who live abroad but visit the area where the boat is about once a year. They now have a bigger boat. The boat does have a newly rebuilt Yanmar three-cylinder diesel and some other nice upgrades. Sails are so-so and boat seems to have the old gate valves that I'd replace, along with a shaky pulpit rail and undersized bow roller and a few other little nitpicks.

I have read the Horner review for the Ericson Mk II and been to the owners' group site. Typical asking prices for a mark 2 seem to run around 18.5k, from 8k to 30k. I think the owners think they want to ask for 27k but there seems to be a consensus that they'll have to settle for much less, given the boat's remote location, difficulty in surveying and testing, de-rigged condition, and the current economy.

We've owned smaller sailboats, raced small keelboats, done classes through bareboat and coastal nav, done some short coastal charters, and I volunteer some as a boating safety instructor and race officer. I still need to learn stuff like how to bleed a diesel or rebuild a head.

Questions: What might be a fair offer and are there any clever ways of setting up the boat so we can test as much of its systems as we can?