Ericson 38vsTartan 37
Ericson against Tartan · used asking prices, listed in the US
At the same age, the Tartan 37 asks 17% more than the Ericson 38; on the headline Gauge Values it asks about the same, which mixes ages: its boats are older (median build year 1980 against 1983). We can't yet say which holds its value better: the Ericson 38 has no published depreciation curve.
same age · 5 shared build years · 9 and 15 boats in them · Indicative · in today’s prices · asking, not sold
Head to head
The better figure on each line is in orange. Where either side has too few boats, we say so rather than pick a winner.
Year by year
Each build year's Gauge Estimate, for the 5 years both have boats in. Pooled across those years (9 and 15 boats), the Tartan 37 asks 17% more than the Ericson 38.
What your budget buys
At £32,000 you can reach a 1981 of either.
A year of ownership
Each at its Gauge Value, on a South Coast marina berth, 44 engine hours a year (the median of 103 UK-listed sailing boats that report hours). An estimate in pounds from published rates, not a quote.
Each line is the middle of the cited range, to the nearest fifty pounds. Depreciation is a year of age on each model's published curve, at its Gauge Value, and stays out of the totals.
The Ericson 38 has no published depreciation curve, so its depreciation is withheld.
Sources: Lake Yard price list 2026 · BerthFinder · Boatsetter · Velos Insurance; Admiral Yacht Insurance · Boating Magazine, "Calculating Boat Fuel Consumption" · Littlehampton Marina fuel prices
Specification
Questions
Which is cheaper, the Ericson 38 or the Tartan 37?
At the same age the Ericson 38 is cheaper: the Tartan 37 asks 17% more than the Ericson 38 across 5 shared build years. Their Gauge Values, the median asking prices of all the boats we observed whatever their age, are £32,000 and £32,000.
Which holds its value better?
We can't say yet. The Tartan 37 loses about 5.1% of its asking price a year of age, but the Ericson 38 has no published depreciation curve: we fit one from at least 20 boats across six build years and publish it only when the fit holds. We have 13 Ericson 38 boats across 8 build years.
Which spends less time on the market?
Boats of the Ericson 38 had been listed a median of 132 days when we last saw them, against 165 days for the Tartan 37. That is time listed so far, not time to sell, which we don't measure yet. 33% of the Ericson 38 boats we saw 14 or more days apart cut their asking price, against 36% of the Tartan 37 boats.
How do you compare them like for like?
We compare boats of the same build year. For each of the 5 years both models have boats in, we take the ratio of their median asking prices in today's prices, then pool the years, giving more weight to years with more boats on both sides. The figure is Indicative because the thinner side has 9 boats in those years. The Gauge Values compare the whole fleets instead, so they mix boats of different ages.