Reviving A Peterson 35 (Ganbare)

[batkinmok]

Hey Cruisers,
I have a chance of buying a Peterson 35 build after his one-tonner Ganbare ((?)see below) for quite the deal, considered shes on the verge of being part of the zombie fleet.
Full suit of sails in near new condition, running ancient Faryman V2 (what evs, wouldnt be my first engine swap..), solid decks, clean bilges, couple of little leaks in the toerail, apparently good stringers. So far so good. But heres the catch(es).
1. Do these old IOR girls make good cruising boats? Id be planning on being able to singlehand her, with furler, inner stay, autopilot and maybe a windvane, and generally simplifying the rig a bit (they seemed to have the need to bolt a winch to every available square inch of deck..)

2. i know my way around wood and solid glass boats, but i dont know the first thing about foam cores. I have no clue what manufacturer it is, i.e airex or what have you. i havent seen her out of the water yet, but i will before the sale. what do i look for? i know these boats were put under a lot of stress with their hydraulic backstays and their crews pushing for the limit, is there any way to tell if shes too tired to be safe? and no, there wont be a professional survey..

3. All the stays and shrouds are solid rod, whats the lifetime on that stuff? it sure looks pretty tough but im not so sure about the swages? couldnt find any info on that. rerigging this baby would sure hurt financially..

Heres an old ad for this very boat, cabintop and cockpit are pretty different from the original Ganbare, so im not totally sure it is what i think it is, the history is kinda murky. any info on that would be much appreciated!
https://www.usedvictoria.com/classif...erson_31193041

lookin forward to the feedback!

[Pete7]

Interesting boat and what a fab price, makes me wonder what the inside is like, stripped out racer with a couple of ambulance stretchers for beds or a half decent interior with loo and cooker?

I have sailed a yacht with a foam hulled yacht and it was both quiet and dry. Great if there is no water in the foam.

At that price there is only one thing for it, take a torch, mirror and camera to view it.

Are old IORs a bit wobbly downwind? or is this just because they tend to be sailed with a large crew of gorillas flying way to much cloth?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, batkinmok.

[batkinmok]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Interesting boat and what a fab price, makes me wonder what the inside is like, stripped out racer with a couple of ambulance stretchers for beds or a half decent interior with loo and cooker?

I have sailed a yacht with a foam hulled yacht and it was both quiet and dry. Great if there is no water in the foam.

Oddly enough she has a Mahogany ply interior that puts a lot of production boats to shame. No water damage either.

Yeah ive heard they have a bit of R Value which should be great up here in the pnw where condensation is a nightmare

[Chuck Hawley]

I believe the original Ganbare was built in San Diego and sailed to the 1-Ton World Championship in the mid 70s, which put the late Doug Peterson on the naval architecture map. She was far less distorted than the IOR designs of the time, trading rating for speed.

Geraghty Marine was building a number of Doug Peterson (and Nelson/Marek) designs at the time, and may have built the boat you're considering. Kerry Geraghty was/is a great builder, and built a boat that I was a captain on, Charley, in 1982.

I think you would have a fast, lightweight, functional cruiser. Easy to clean interior. Add some canvas storage bags/lockers and upgrade the galley, and you're off. The pipe berths on race boats are very functional for voyaging, but not so great in port.

I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Chuck

[jt11791]

The old "winch farms" on those boats existed because good line clutches were not available. Since there was no way to remove a loaded line from a winch, most every line needed it's own winch. Anyway, installing clutches and getting rid of the extra winches will clean up the decks a lot.

[bootstrapper]

Hello, I have owned and lived on a Peterson 34 for 30 years mine has some detail differences from the boat in the pictures but basically the same .Mine was built in Texas by Composite Technologies in 1978, a solid hull and cored deck and is a very tough boat, 7 transatlantics so far and quite a lot of racing. It is known as a good light air boat, mine has a tall rig and needs good crew in heavy air but is still competitive. As far as cruising goes it is very easily driven so doesn't need a lot of sail to maintain good speeds, downwind it is the best boat i have ever sailed and to windward is efficient at 20 degrees of heel. It slams a bit on auto pilot but there are far worse boats than this, hand steering on a beat cures the problem.I have rerigged mine several times using stalocs and compacted wire and isn't very expensive In short it's a fast tough boat and after 30 years I can't really fault it The price of the one you are looking at seems to be a very good deal especially it is a solid hull .Hope this helps, regards Peter

[stnick]

If he Gives you boat Get a Pro Survey. He will give you a list of the good and the bad. Use the bad as projects to fix. Hes a pro this is what he does every day ! Hire good people and listen to them

[Cheechako]

It should be a good sailor. Being an IOR boat it may roll some downwind. Sailed on a few and with a spinnaker can really get into "death roll" territory. But you dont need to push it that hard as a cruiser. I'm not sure the Ganbare is as much that way as some IOR boats were.
If it's a cored hull, pay for a survey. They are deep draft and fairly light hulls so look for cracks around the keel area inside and out also.
A friend of mine bought one years ago it was red and a cored hull. I think it was the Peterson 35 anyway. He intended to go cruising but went through a relationship change etc and it never happened. The boat was named pomodoro rosso or something like that for Red Tomato.
On a budget it could be a good sailor and decent cruiser as many have cruised IOR boats. It will be a little isky to handle at times compared with a long keel boat but should be fun.
I'll take dedicated winches any day over the stopper mess. At least for most things.

[partingclouds]

Congratulations. Petersons are amazing boats, so no matter what you may have to do to get her to rights she will repay you in sheer pleasure. Doug Peterson designed a real boat. You're going to be blown away with how well she handles.
I've been bringing my own back from near death for some time and am nearly finished. She is a joy. You're going to have a great time.

Partingclouds

[roverhi]

I crewed on a Peterson 34 once and it was a demon in light air. It was only a beer can race but we were unbelievably far ahead of everyone else till the last mark when we hit a mud bar. Still managed to finish 2nd even with all the time it took to get the keel free of the mud.

The boat was built later than Ganbare though may have borrowed from Ganbare's design. Ended up just behind that Peterson sailing home to our marina in my Pearson 35 when the wind died. No matter what I did the Pearson was essentially glued in position while the Peterson sailed away.

The owner cruised the boat to Mexico with his girl friend. Don't know whether it was the boat's somewhat limited cruising amenities or the owners rather acerbic personality, he still owned the boat but the girl was long gone.

Those old Farymans enjoyed a short window of popularity in the '70s. Don't know why they fell out of favor though seem to remember they were raw water cooled. Had a friend who had one in a Kendall/Westsail that got him to NZ without problems. Imagine parts are hard to come by so you'll probably get the experience of an engine swap somewhere down the line.

If I was looking for a smallish cruiser that was a super sailor would jump on this boat. Peterson's designs were some of the most civil IOR boats without a lot of the bumps, tucks, and squirelly handling that afflicted a lot of the rule beating designs.