Went and looked at a 1976 Pearson P30 today. Both my wife and I liked this boat right off. Second owner. Very clean and well-maintained, it appeared. Updated (Raymarine) depth and knot meters. Working VHF radio with a transom-mounted high-performance fiberglass antenna. New compass. Two complete sets of sails, in great condition (original, older set, and a new set), plus #1 and #2 genoas and a spin. (And a storm jib, IIRC.) Engine (30 HP gas - A4) started right up and sounded good to
my ears. No (known) leaks! (In fact he advised us the deck hardware would require occasional re-bedding.) The bilge was as dry as toast and showed no evidence of having been presistently wet. Engine compartment was nearly clean as a whistle. Galley nearly spotless (the alcohol stove almost looks as if it'd never been used), as was the head. Decks were clean and free of chalking. Hull (above the water line) looked well-maintained.
He's been having fun, over the years, "re-engineering bits." Moved the mainsheet traveller (also upgraded to a Harken "quick-release?") to just behind the cabin, and some other stuff. So it's got some not-too-unsightly filled-in holes here and there. No big deal to us.
All the running rigging is run back to the cockpit, so she can be easily single-handed. Speaking of the rigging: I'm far from any expert, but it all appeared to be in good condition. Some of the running rigging is older, but appears still perfectly serviceable. He's upgraded the two jib winches to Harken #40 two-speed winches. The two smaller winches on top the cabin are also two-speed winches. I believe the forestay is new. He's added a back-stay tensioner.
It comes with a bunch of extras (lines, PFDs, USCG safety package, etc.), the details with with I'll forgo boring you.
Warts. (Of course there are warts. It's a 30 year old boat.) There's a crack, about 1/8" wide at its widest, in the sole of the cabin liner, right next to the mast compression post, as (crudely) illustrated here:
(The vertical line I drew indicates where the crack is and its length.) He says it's been there since he's owned the boat. Has had a friend who's a boat builder look at it, and he said it was no big deal. Probably due to a fault in the glass layup. Also, his son badly mis-estimated on docking last fall, and about tore the bow pulpit off the boat. There are cracks around its stanchions, but they appear to be no more than gel coat stress cracks. I guess the surveyor will know on both of these items. The door that closes off the head from the main cabin does not latch. Exhibits the same mis-alignment that I observed on a Sabre 28 I'd looked it. Upon discovering this (they never used the head, so this was the first time anybody tried closing, much less latching, that door) he told us to hold off on giving him a deposit until he could discuss the problem with his boat builder friend, and perhaps another friend he has who is a surveyor. A previous prospective buyer had had the boat surveyed in the water, and claimed his surveyor said the boat had been "twisted" at some point. But there's no other evidence of damage, either in the bilge area or on the hull. But he wants to make sure we don't unnecessarily spend money on a haul-out and survey, just to find out there really
is a problem. Damn nice of him, we thought! (Btw: He's been sailing his entire life, on a variety of boats, and is pretty sure he'd have noticed anything amiss with the handling of the boat, if it was twisted out of shape.)
The head didn't pump water. Probably just needs a re-build kit?
So we'll see. Wish us luck.
Jim
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Good On Ya
.
.) Yeah, the wife's happy. In fact, as we were all three sitting in the cockpit talking about the boat, other boats, sailing adventures and mis-adventures, I turned to my wife and asked "You want this boat?" "I love this boat," she replied. "So do I," I said. And, turning to the owner, "We'll take it!" 
