Archives Under "Pearson 28-1 Restoration" (RSS)
Ground tackle for the Pearson 28
12 May 2012 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration | No Responses
A good anchoring system on a cruising sailboat is very important. The safety of the boat and crew often rely on this ground tackle and it needs to be safe and easy to use in a variety of conditions. I’ve made a lot of changes to the anchoring system (ie ground tackle) on my Pearson 28-1 and have some large changes planned for the future.
To date the changes that I’ve made include moving to an all-chain rode, adding a larger (33lb) Bruce anchor, installing a bow roller and chain stopper, adding more cleats to the bow and improving the chain (rode) storage locker. In the future I will probably move to a Manson Supreme or similar modern anchor for use as the boats primary anchor. I also intend to add a windlass but have some decisions to make on type and placement. I’m happy with what I have in place now as a starting point and think that it will be safe if I splash before making further changes.
One of the larger changes that the Pearson 28 needed for accommodating proper ground tackle was the transformation of the locker where the primary anchor rode is stored. From the factory this storage area was setup to drain into the bilge and there was no way to seal it off from the v-berth. It’s possible to pull up a lot of nasty mud and such on an anchor rode so I’ve sealed off the rode locker and set it up to drain to the outside of the boat and not into the bilge. I’ve also added drop boards between the chain storage area and the v-berth that will allow opening the chain locker so that it can dry, or closing it if it stinks. This also will make it possible to keep the vent in place on the bow in more varied conditions without risk of too much water coming into the boat.
On deck a few more cleats were added where the bow lights had been. This required glassing in heavy backing plates and moving the bow lights up to the bow pulpit which I like since they are now a little higher and more visible. I also added a bow roller and chain stopper and used heavy quarter inch stainless backing plates for these so that they would be secure even in harsh conditions. The boat will ride on a short length of nylon line (a snubber) when anchored but in case that ever breaks the chain will also be well secured.
Beyond the changes at the bow a stern anchor has also been setup on the pushpit for easy deployment and a variety of lines and lengths of chain have been assembled. I’ll skip the full details of the system but will add that it includes plenty of 3 strand nylon as a tail for the chain rodes that will be useful for secondary anchors or alternative anchoring setups. My pictures don’t cover the full glassing in of the chain storage locker, the painting of the drop-boards or the stern anchor etc. but you can see most of the important details of the setup including how the roller fits on the narrow bow of the Pearson 28-1.
The Pearson gets a composting head
5 April 2012 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration | 5 Responses
My old Pearson 28 came with an old and non-functioning wet head:
On a boat the term “head”refers to the bathroom and in this case the toilet in the bathroom. The old head that came with this sailboat wasn’t in working order and I had the option of repairing and updating it which would have required all new plumbing, the addition of a holding tank (for legal reasons, etc.) or replacing it with a composting head. After a lot of research and considering I decided on the composting head option. I’ve not met any cruisers with composting heads that aren’t happy with them and there are a lot of benefits vs. a wet head on a boat the size of the P28-1. The largest benefits include:
- the removal of 2 through-hulls – fewer holes in the boat are always better!
- no stinky hoses and tanks – these always smell eventually
- more storage space – thanks to removal of plumbing and holding tank
- less maintenance – no pumps to break or raw sewage to leak or spray inside the boat!!
Composting heads aren’t perfect either and require their own care and management but a composting head should be a better fit for my future needs as a coastal cruiser. Ideally I’ll use shore-side facilities often and with proper care the composting head will only require infrequent attention.
The commercially available composting heads are a great option for many boats but after looking at some of these on friends boats it became obvious that they wouldn’t fit in the head my boat. I decided to come up with my own design, based on extensive research and on the constraints of my boat. The following photos show most of the design and construction details and I’m happy with how the head turned out. I’ve still got a few changes to make including increasing the diameter of the hose for the liquids and making a simple stirring stick which will be a slightly bent and highly polished stainless steel rod. I will also be adding a piece of wood that slightly compresses the liquid storage bottles when the front of the head is closed. With the bottle slightly compressed any over-filling will be pulled into the liquid bottle and out of the hose when the front of the head is opened, helping to avoid a messy bottle change. I also plan to add larger bottles when I find the right ones.
A big part of the construction was building a cabinet to hold the containers for solids and liquids securely. I also wanted a compartment for the storage of loose composting material. I’ll start out using coconut husk but folks use peat, sawdust and similar mediums. You may notice that the seat and lid are from the original head.
Another important feature of composting heads a continuous ventilation system. I plumbed a vent from the primary container out to a Nicro solar vent that is mounted on the deck. I also added a high-power fan inline with the solar fan. This high-power fan offers a degree of privacy, through both noise and high-ventilation, should anyone else be inside the boat while the head is in use.
While constructing the composting head I also rebuilt the sink cabinetry in the head to some degree and added a shelf below the sink.
A few coats of paint later and I’m pleased with how this head fits into the space on my boat.
Midwinter Spring’s weather
4 February 2012 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration | No Responses
The warm Winter weather drew me back to Bock Marine and work on the old Pearson 28-1. Instead of heading South after the holidays the 60 and 70 degree midwinter afternoons here in Beaufort NC drew me back to the boatyard and have allowed for me to get a jump on the work that I hope to get done this Spring. Before I share more about what’s going on now with the boat I need to post photos from projects that took place last year. 2011 was a good year for my old P28 and hopefully 2012 sees her back in the water again,, time will tell.
One task that I’m glad to have done is the painting of the woodwork that was created over the Summer. These were mostly small pieces but when it came time to paint I was surprised at how long it took. The bugs loved the paint I used so unfortunately there are blemishes caused by bugs that got stuck in the drying paint and probably a few mistakes from when I was swatting and painting at the same time. Lowes did a good job matching the color of my interior gelcoat though and the woodwork looks good to me now that it’s all in place in the boat. To paint these pieces I hung them from a long line so that I could paint both sides at one time.
You may notice the artist John Tayson looking over my painting, fortunately he withheld criticism. He’s got a boat here in the yard and we occasionally get to see some of his great pieces which is a treat.
A much smaller task that I knocked out last Fall was stiffening up the woodwork around the galley sink and companionway. It looked like someone took the woodwork apart to access the engine and then didn’t get it back together very well. The companionway stairs squeaked and there were alignment issues, etc.. Although Pearson assembled all but the bulkheads with bronze screws I also glassed the pieces that don’t need to be removed for engine access. It’s nice to not squeak my way in and out of the boat anymore.
The boat also went from having 7 holes below the water-line to having only 3. This required glassing in the old holes and moving or doing away with a few extra systems like the wet head, knot-meter and through-hull mounted transducer. The fewer holes the better in my opinion. I reused the original Groco seacocks as they were in great shape but replaced the through-hulls all hose and other below waterline fittings. I also cut a new access panel for the sink drain through-hull in the head. I want to have easy and quick access to the through-hulls for regular inspection, and hopefully nothing else though the tapered wooden plugs will be close by just in case!
Another fun and easy project was to repair the old polypropylene water tank from under the v-berth. It has a glassed in carrier or holder that is a perfect fit for the tank. I wasn’t able to find a replacement tank of the same size so instead of ordering a custom tank I thought this would be a good chance to try my hand at plastic welding and to save a few bucks. Long-term I may glass in an integrated tank under the v-berth but I’d like to put the boat in the water and get a feel for trim, etc. before doing that. Fortunately the repairs were easy and successful. I filled the tank up after the welding and abused it by picking it up by the fill hole etc and the welds all held without exception. Hopefully this will also be true after a long day of beating with a full tank and I look forward to doing that testing. The repair process primarily involves melting all of the plastic surrounding the cracked/damaged areas and feeding in new plastic to bond with the area you melt. You have to balance between getting things too hot where they lose shape vs. not getting them hot enough to form a good bond. I used a standard soldering iron and cut-off plastic from the tank along with some welding rods I bought online. I found a steel chisel to be helpful to keep the underside of the area that I was working in shape.
Next up will be a post and photos on the composting head that I built for the boat then if I skip a few projects I can jump ahead to the work of 2012….
Work on the Pearson 28 continues with settee area woodwork
14 December 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration | 1 Response
The memory card on my camera has filled a few times and this blog has gone out of date but the work on my Pearson 28 hasn’t stopped. Since my last posting in June I’ve turned a corner on the project and can now faintly see a launch date in the boats future. Most of the interior has been finished including plenty of small, and large, projects that have been completed. Boat work is wrapping up for the year due to the holiday’s and to the pending cold weather but I plan to catch up on my blog posts in the next few weeks.
After finishing the companionway drop-boards and re-bedding the transom mounted hardware I moved into interior woodwork. A lot of the interior projects progressed simultaneously. I found woodworking to be very challenging and made plenty of mistakes along the way. There were pieces that I had to redo multiple times, spending many hours on each version. The end results are a functional interior that I’m happy with but that I can see flaws in and continue to revise in my mind. Designing and building comfortable, functional, reliable and manageable interior systems (or any systems for that matter) is difficult and requires an expertise that I’ve learned to appreciate but haven’t yet achieved.
The interior of this P28-1 was stripped down when I got it. My suspicion is that previous owners raced it and wanted the boat to be as light as possible. In any case the interior was missing a lot of the non-structural components the largest of which were the main cabin settees and shelf faces. I’m not sure what the originals looked like but I decided to design my own seating and storage areas in the main cabin. I’m setting this boat up for cruising, not racing, so I want more storage, comfort and durability for regular use.
What I constructed includes seatbacks that fold down to make counter tops for tools/work items and access to new storage that was opened up behind the settees. The seat backs can also be removed from the settees for widening the berths. I also added faces to the shelving above the settees that have sliding acrylic access panels. The design evolved as I constructed it and was a compromise between a variety of factors. Below are pictures of these projects as the progressed.
These are photos of the seatbacks which fold down and are removable:
These photos highlight the storage spaces that I cut out and added shelves to behind the seat backs:
The port settee seat backs can be used to widen the port berth:
The faces for the shelf above the settees saw a few revisions but turned out nicely in my opinion:
Companionway drop boards and transom sealing
19 June 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration | 1 Response
A few more restoration tasks have been completed on my Pearson 28-1 including creating new companionway drop boards and sealing up the transom mounted hardware. I went from 2 drop boards to 3 and also changed the lock setup and added a latch for the lower board should I ever want to keep it in place in a seaway.
On the transom I potted all of the holes and used new hardware where needed. I also added fiberglass backing plates for the stanchions and stainless backing plates for the cleats. I replaced the vent fan and re-plumbed the ventilation hoses and switched to aluminum vent pipes that are epoxied into place for the engine venting.
During the time that I was working on the above tasks a number of tools found their way into the yards dumpster. They led me into doing my first “dumpster diving” though I fortunately didn’t have to dive or dig to pull them out. Here are some of the better finds.
Adding a seahood to my Pearson 28
13 May 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration, Sailing | 2 Responses
While working on the chainplates, cabin top handles and traveler I also constructed a seahood for the sailboat. Some folks call this thing a turtle and maybe it has other names as well? On my boat it will serve a few purposes. It will help keep water from working its way into the cabin through the companionway hatch, it provides a mounting point for a small solar panel that I wanted to find room for and perhaps most importantly it will make it possible for me to install a water tight dodger on the boat whenever time allows.
In building my seahood I closely followed the project documented by David Brown here. I only had to make a few changes to adapt the seahood to the way it mounted to my boat. One change was that I built the seahood so that it retained the aluminum strips that Pearson installed originally. These strips will keep the sliding hatch from exposing the wood in the seahood which would allow for rot in the long-run. I also embedded nuts into the seahood so that I could through-bolt it from inside the cabin. I also added too much fiberglass to the seahood but at least it won’t crack or budge if an elephant wanders onto it..
Construction started with the woodwork:
Then I added plenty of fiberglass roving, mat, biax and cloth:
When I was tired of trying to fair out my glassing mistakes I added plenty of coats of paint:
I have a small solar panel that is primarily for keeping the batteries topped up while I restore the boat. It will similarly be handy for periods when the boat is stored and should enable me to take the larger panels down to avoid theft or storm damage etc. I set the panel up so that it pivots on the sides since the boom/mast will prevent it from charging well in a horizontal position. I also raised it up a little to keep it cool and so that my will feet fit under it when I am doing things like flaking down the main.
With the seahood painted I could finally install it and get it out of the cabin so that I could work on other projects. It was also nice to have the little panel off of the stern rail so that I could pull all of the transom hardware for rebedding, though that is for another post.
Traveler Repair
12 May 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration, Sailing | No Responses
When I first acquired the Pearson sailboat that I am restoring it’s broken traveler seemed like one of the larger problems on the boat. Maybe it seemed like an important problem because it prevented the proper use of the mainsail on what I imagined to be a boat that was in decent condition. After all, the boat had just sailed down to Beaufort NC from the Chesapeake Bay, on the outside (in the Atlantic). The sense of how important the traveler problem was and how expensive it would be to fix gives me a decent indication of how little I understood the condition of this boat and what it would take to restore it. Unfortunately I was blind to the largest and most expensive problems that this boat had.
Fortunately restoring the traveler was easy, affordable and satisfying. I was able to source a new Kenyon I-Beam track from Rig-Rite. A local aluminum fabricator at Jarrett Bay was able to re-weld the broken base and the remaining cleanup, install and sealing was nothing new for me. A little epoxy in the enlarged holes, some drilling and sealing with Butyl, and of course sanding and cleaning and the traveler was back on the boat and ready for lines.
At the same time I replaced the cabin top handles which took more work and was close in cost to repairing the traveler. I also pulled and inspected the chainplates before reinstalling and resealing them thoroughly (with epoxy and butyl, my favorite sealing combination).
2011 Boatwork begins with sewing
2 March 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration, Sailing | 5 Responses
Travels, visits and cold weather kept me away from the boatyard for the last four months but I’m back to the yard and boat restoration work again. Instead of freezing here in Beaufort NC I spent February a bit further South in a hotel-turned-sewing-loft overlooking the Atlantic. During February I was able to stitch together new cushions for the main cabin of my Pearson 28 and am pleased with how they turned out. I used a Sunbrella upholstery fabric along with new foam/batting and a breathable bottom material for the cushion construction. I opted for the simplest adaptation of a box cushion that I could find. Unless there was a curved edge I only used two pieces of cloth for each cushion with no side panels (not even for the rear/zipper panel). The foam was cut a bit large so all of the cushions are nice and tight. I haven’t built the seat backs that the back cushions will mount to yet but even the currently incomplete setup has dramatically increased the comfort and appearance of the boat. I’m hopeful that some of the many other projects that I have coming up will also be easier than expected so that I may meet my lose goal of being on the water by the end of this year.
Wrapping up sailboat work for 2010
4 January 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration, Sailing | 1 Response
After months of daily sailboat work the 2010 projects wrapped up in late November. Due to the great Fall weather the last few months of work went well and I was able to accomplish the goal of getting the bilge fiberglass work finished and the bilge painted before I headed West for the holidays.
I used Interlux Bilgekote in the bilge and enjoyed the finality of painting over my summer of fiberglass work. It was also nice to pull up the masking and to organize the boat again after having everything moved around for the fiberglass work inside. Below are some photos of the painted bilge and some odds and ends from smaller projects that happened this summer. I think a few random photos of the Pearson’s deck squeezed there way in as well.
If you are curious about the chart light in the photos it is an led landscaping light from superbrightleds.com. I’m pleased with it as a chart light and am planning to add a few more as spreader and deck lights when the mast goes back up. You can find them lower down on this page:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fmalibu.htm
Mast riser base for Pearson 28-1
2 January 2011 | Pearson 28-1 Restoration, Sailing | 2 Responses
A common problem with the Pearson 28-1 is corrosion in the bottom of the mast. This corrosion occurs because the base of the mast is located in the bottom of the bilge and is exposed to the water that collects in the bilge. Many older sailboats with bilge stepped masts may also experience this issue and a variety of repairs have been created.
The general repair idea is to cut the corroded section off of the bottom of the mast and to add a riser block of some sort to replace the lost height of the mast. I decided to create a riser block using fiberglass and polyester resin. I also installed bronze studs that run down into the keel in order to bond the keel and mast electrically. The resulting repair is strong but was probably more difficult than some of the alternatives.
Here are photos of the base creation and installation:
