Pearson 35 - Offshore??

[tipman]

Has anybody done any extensive offshore (North America to: Bermuda, Azores, Trans-Atlantic)sailing in a P35? Any pros/cons??

Thanx,
Neil

[Jeff_H]

As much as a like the Pearson 35 as a budget coastal cruiser for a venue with good breezes and shallow water, they are the antithesis of what I think of for offshore use. Just start with the huge cockpit and large fixed portlights, small tankage and lack of handholds, or the short waterline length, these are just not very ideal for offshore use. It isn''t that you can''t make short offshore hops but a Transatlantic passage is just not what these boats are designed for.

Jeff

[tipman]

Thanks Jeff!
I''m restricted to a <4.5'' draft & a <$40K budget. Only boats I''ve researched so far that were designed for blue water AND fit that criteria are the Pacific Seacraft 27 Orion and the Shannon 28c, both of which are kinda tight down below. Any other suggestions?
Thanx again,
Neil

[Jeff_H]

To properly give you a better sense of direction here, it would be helpful to understand more about your abilities and your goals for this boat. You have already mentioned doing a Transatlantic passage in whatever boat you buy. In rough terms this involves putting the equivilent of 5 to 10 years of normal sailing miles on a coastal boat without little or none of the maintenance that would normally take place in between. I don''t recall that you have mentioned how many of you will be aboard but that also affects the equation.

A $40,000 budget is a very tight budget for an offshore capable boat with more room than a Pacific Seacraft 27 Orion and the Shannon 28c. Even if you can find an offshore capable design in that size and price range, it is not likely to be in offshore capable condition by which I mean, that you will need to put a fair amount of labor, materials and equipment aboard to prepare the boat for that kind of passage.

The problem is further complicated by your draft restriction. Most boats that are truely designed for rigourous offshore useage are also designed with moderately deep keels. From a motion comfort and seaworthiness standpoint, a deeper draft is a very helpful thing. You would expect that ideally an offshore capable boats in the mid-30 foot would draw a minimum of 5 feet with 5''-6" being a more ideal minimum unless the boat has a centerboard.

There are boats that come close to what you are looking for in a wide range of sizes. For example one of my favorite budget 40 footers is the Hughes 80/20 and there is one for sale in Virginia within your price range but It is a little deeper than your maximum and I can only assume that this boat needs some work to make it offshore capable.
http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_full_detail.jsp?slim=quick&boat_id=1199679 &units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id= 1636&url=

There are a whole range of reasonable posibilities but most like the early 1980''s Hunter 37 cutter are too deep a draft and would likely require a lot of updating and corrections of deferred maintenance items to to be prepared for what you are proposing. There are somewhat dated boats like the Allied Seawinds and Allied Princess 36 that you might be able to find in your price and draft range but again they would likely require a lot of updating and corrections of deferred maintenance items at that price.

While slightly on the lightly engineered side of the equation, and with perhaps too much cockpit, there are boats like the Bristol 35, Cal 36 or Columbia 36 but again they exceed your depth requirements. There are also a whole bunch of boats that would work if it were not for your draft restrictions such as the Bristol (Corinthian) 34, Halberg-Rassey Rasmus 35 (except for draft in the standard depth model, a very good choice if you can find one with an aluminum mast and without teak decks), Heritage West Indies 36, Pearson 36 (early 1970''s), Pearson 365 (mid 1970''s), early Sabre 34, Yorktown 34.

So I am not exactly sure what to tell you except that I need to get going this morning.

Jeff

[Billpjr]

I''ll say this...Scratch the early 80s Hunter 37 from your offshore list. They''re fine for coastwise but in bad weather offshore it could be a problem. I lived in a marina that was the first Hunter dealer in Florida and saw many early Hunters commissioned and brought back for problems. The 37 was among the worst of the Hunter line...25'', 27'', 30'', 33'' & 37''. Lots of flexing, bulkheads and furniture breaking loose (while sailing in the ICW for shakedowns!). It is in NO way structurally comparable to a Seawind. Not even close.

[Jeff_H]

I believe that you may be mistakenly thinking of a later model Hunter 37 than the Cheribini designed model to which I am refering. While these are near the lower threshold of robustness for this purpose, these boats have done pretty well in the kind of service being proposed. They are certainly pretty comparable to the Seawinds which are also near the lower end in terms of robustness at least based on my sense of crawling around the innards of both.

Jeff

[tipman]

Thanks, both, for the input

[Billpjr]

Jeff,
There is no mistake. I lived aboard at Whitley''s and ran a marine canvas shop at that time so this isn''t second hand info. I am speaking of the first version Hunter 37 and don''t remember who designed it. I have also crawled through many Hunters and put my eyeballs on bulkheads and furniture being re-glassed and refastened because they broke loose. I have spent hours talking with the guys doing glasswork on them and can''t count how many bent ss rudder tubes I have seen from just slight nudges on the bottom.

Just for nostalgia...the very first 37 Hunter(which was a cutter) produced was commissioned and berthed next to me by Whitley Marine in Cocoa, Florida. Can''t remember the year but it was around 78. Whitley''s brother worked for Hunter and WM was the first dealer to get boats...first 25, 27, 30, 33, 37 & 54. WM had an A1 glass shop and did major repair on Hunters...sometimes the work was done "after hours" and before delivery to new owners. Whitley gave feedback to the factory and they were attentive to his input on structural problems.

[RickBarr]

Just a note on crossings: A 76 year old German woman just landed here in Barbados after crossing in her 24' Steel Van der Stadt single handed..managed a full 360' roll along the way.. Anything is possible.
I'm looking into purchasing a 39' Pearson 1973 full fiberglass hull (cored decks) not the landfall series. Besides the 11'4' beam the specs look good for her to be a viable blue water cruiser.. she might sit a bit too low in the water for my tastes. Cockpit is well equipped for spray though.. Any Comments ?