Pearson 28-1

[me262]

I am a new member and I would like some advice:

I bought a Pearson 28 last year for a song. Boat needed a little help so I had her hauled and dry docked for a year while I worked on her as time permitted. She was so cheap that I didn't bother with a survey.

Boat had a good inventory of sails, was very basic being a lake boat, and has an A-4 engine which runs fine. Some of the things I have done:

Installed electric bilge pump with float switch
Installed new exhaust hose
Cut 2" off bottom of mast due to corrosion and built riser out of stainless steel plate to compensate.
Installed VHF radio and antenna at masthead
New halyards
New bilge hose for the whalepump
Fixed elecrtical wiring as some yo yo had the ground for the buss bar hooked up to the starter solenoid, hence, no ground to the boats electical
new prop zinc
Cleaned and greased thru hull valves
re-packed prop stuffing box
Installed new depth finder.
Dug out rot around cabin top where mast comes through. Filled with epoxy and fiberglass resin
Added a stern ladder and outboard mount (for redundancy)
Painted bottom
I also have a small 2500 watt Coleman generator and a tow behind generator.

Standing rigging looks good, chainplates look good, no leaks. Ports don't leak. Boat looks to be in very decent shape. Cosmetically shes decent, but not shiny. Hell, its a 30 year old boat! As everything stands right now with haul out and boat storage, I probably have +/-$2,500 invested so I'm not upside down and she's all mine and paid for. I am tired of lake sailing so I'll have another $K in her by the time I get her hauled to the Texas coast and into a slip. Still...not too bad.

She seems to be a very well built boat, especially by Hunter and Catalina standards, and though a bit small, and somewhat light at 7800 lbs, I think she'd make a decent cruiser. My aspirations are to cruise to Mexico and Central America. I have heard there are a lot of lesser boats that have made the trip. I think my navigation and sailing skills are adequate and I'd like to sail while my health is still good.

So, fellow cruisers, what sayeth you about my choice of vessel for my voyage? This is the Bill Shaw designed boat with fin keel and partial skeg rudder not the Triton. I have heard and read all sorts of opinions about how anything less than a 40 footer is courting disaster. I just don't feel this is so. However, you guys are the experienced voices...I have no real offshore experience.

Thanks for your reply's!!!!!!

Dan
1977 Pearson 28-1
Canyon Lake, TX