Pearson sailboat review

When Bill Shaw in drew the lines for the Pearson 26, Pearson Yachts had been in business for 14 years, but had undergone several management changes.

So we finally broke from the shackles, slash blessings, of Bob Perry designed yachts and purchased a Pearson sailboat from the design table of William Shaw. Last summer a boat at our marina came up for sale that was simply too irresistible to decline. If anyone knows anything about me and my taste in yachts, you know that I have been extolling the virtues of Robert Perry for a very long time. So it is with no small measure that I we have stepped outside our pre-defined norms and considered another yacht design for our new boat de jour. Hereto follows my considered opinion and initial impressions of the Pearson sloop rigged sailing craft manufactured between and by Pearson Yachts.

Pearson sailboat review

The Pearson 32 was launched in , 20 years after the first Carl Alberg-designed Pearson Triton captured market interest at the New York Boat Show and promoted sailing as a middle-income activity. By the end of the first decade of production, the company had evolved into the dominant East Coast production-sailboat builder, and was bought out by aerospace giant Grumman. During these formative years, a new genre of sailboat was spawned, and each of the founders of the fledgling Pearson Co. Before each went his own way, the original Pearson crew successfully turned a garage-based boatbuilding dream into a reality that spawned a dynasty. Phase 2 of the Pearson plan came with a new owner, new designer, and new line of boats. Grumman, well capitalized from its military aircraft successes, leaped into the fray with a thick checkbook and considerable manufacturing know-how. He ended the Alberg era of full-keel, long-overhang sloops in favor of the fin keel, skeg, or spade rudder, and split underbody that he felt improved performance. With a clear understanding of coastal weather conditions, inshore estuaries, and the cruiser-club racer mindset of potential buyers, Shaw began a campaign of designing boats of plus feet that met the needs of local sailors. They belonged to yacht clubs with Wednesday night race series, and they wanted sailboats that could be raced and cruised without much fuss. The Pearson 32 embraced all of these goals, and delivered on the challenge.

The galley is adequate with a self-contained alcohol stove. They should have chopped it out immediatly so no one would ever try lifting the entire boat and in today's more responsable world most certainly would have, pearson sailboat review.

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For the first few years it produced dinghies and runabouts in fiberglass, a boatbuilding material pioneered in the early days of post-war America by Ray Greene, Taylor Winner and a handful of other erstwhile inventors. Then in Pearson exhibited its prototype Carl Alberg-Designed Triton at the New York Boat Show, wrote enough orders to pay its hotel bill, and sold public stock to raise the necessary capital to expand facilities. The Triton, while not the first auxiliary sailboat built of fiberglass, was the first boat to enjoy a long production run over , and keep its builders in the black. The Vanguard, designed by Philip Rhodes, followed in and remained in production until , totalling hulls. This line of fiberglass cruisers and sometime racers gave Pearson a strong position in the market. The pedigree of the designers was odorless, and construction quality was good for that particular moment in the timetable of plastic boatbuilding technology. The early Pearsons were club raced with moderate success under the now-defunct CCA Rule, and in some offshore events. It was the first time a fiberglass boat had won the event and prompted a lot of advertising ballyhoo from the company. While the Vanguard never acquired as memorable a victory as the Invicta, it performed decently.

Pearson sailboat review

Between and , Pearson Yachts, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, built the center-cockpit Pearson and the aft-cockpit Pearson using the same hull design. The standard rig was a sloop, but Pearson offered a cutter rig as an option. When we came across the Pearson in , my wife, Sue, and I were looking for a boat measuring less than 40 feet with relatively shallow draft, a well-laid-out galley, easy sailhandling, good ventilation, and somewhere to sleep other than the V-berth, all in a coastal cruiser that we could take from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean. We also wanted a vessel that offered some privacy for guests. The Pearson had it all, but the one we found, which happened to be hull number one, needed an extensive overhaul. In the first five years of owning Patience, we replaced the electrical system, the running and standing rigging, the anchor windlass, and the cushions. We rebedded deck gear and stripped the old varnish from the whole interior.

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If the 36 is NOT the then some things to look for based on my overhauls of my boat: 1. I really like how the chainplates are integrated into the hull, how all deck hardware is easily accessible inside but covered there are access panels , the quality of the interior furniture and construction, and generally how the boat is rigged. Tom Wynne on December 18, at am. Harald Braun on September 21, at pm. Alternating with those are 14 wood screws that go through the hull deck joint again and into the toe rail. Stainless steel chainplates were secured with four stainless steel bolts to fiberglass sections molded into the interior of the hull. My first impression upon viewing the Pearson , was one of awe. But there is another concern with this mainsheet arrangement that does need to be addressed: the danger of an unintentional jibe. I have looked down the access cover for the rudder under the helm seat. Stephen Gancarz on October 21, at pm.

The Pearson , introduced in , is a fairly typical example of the kind of work Pearson was doing in the mids, continuing until its sale in to Aqua Buoy, which has yet to resume production.

Tom Wynne on April 27, at am. The pole that you are talking about I believe provides deck support for downward forces from above. I have a 26 OD, Hull No. Jack Bardsley on July 18, at pm. Tuning is a PITA because they are all different from the factory, in the dozen or so I measured out, chainplates were all in different places by a couple of inches. Dan on May 22, at am. A company called Ensign Spars stocks all sorts of old otherwise totally unavailable parts for Ensigns, and the local fleets and national association are great tools when you need to slve an Ensign related problem. Any concerns about this? The cockpit is large and very comfortable for a minimum of six persons. Our review boat , the Pearson 36, came along five years later. Contact us. If I can find pics of the quadrant area I will let you know. The P 26 is also relatively dry when pounding to weather in the short, 2- to 4-foot chop encountered on the bay, and handles ocean swells without hobbyhorsing. Thread starter boatboy Start date Jan 11, This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.