Introduction

[Kevin Spacebag]

How’s it going all —

I purchased and have been living on a Pearson 30, for several months now. While I’m new to living aboard, I’ve had close friends who are liveaboards and sailors for some years, and finally decided to join their ranks. I’ve done some sailing, though not extensively, and am using some of the free time I have this summer while things are chaotic in the world to sail as much as possible with my experienced friends, with an eye toward taking the coastal trip down to Florida (and eventually beyond) from New York. I have plenty to learn, and figured this is a great resource and community to help facilitate that. I probably won’t be participating a whole lot, given that at this stage much of what I need to know can be gleaned from reading sailing books and simple online searches, but I wanted to make an account all the same.

My boat is in fairly good condition, with no major issues immediately, but I do have some projects to tackle this summer. Luckily the experience I do have from staying and sailing on friends boats has given me a reasonable base of knowledge so I am not completely in the dark. For anyone curious, here are my projects as of right now:

- replacing battery bank (currently 2x starter batteries that came with the boat) with 2-300ah of AGM batts
- properly wiring panels/charge controller/inverter (currently just routed through cockpit) when the new batteries and a couple more panels are installed (currently 1x100 and 2x50, looking to go with 3/4x100w) and getting the panels permanently situated and mounted for cruising
- Re-bedding salon windows (currently some very light water intrusion in heavy rain
- re bedding pulpit legs
- pursuing a low-cost gps/plotter solution
- installing fresh water cooling from Moyer Marine for my A4
- inspecting and tuning standing rigging before undertaking any real passages
- repairing a small tear in my jib
- replacing some cracked blocks on deck
- fabricating new companionway doors
- eBay hunting for a deal on a replacement forward hatch
- setting up a sheet-to-wheel self steering arrangement
- fitting a small holding tank to the boat’s original direct-discharge head
- cleaning out freshwater tank and installing filtered rainwater catchment
- reading the entirety of the Moyer A4 service manual, Annapolis Book of Seamanship, Boats and Electrical systems by Nigel Calder

Glad to be a part of the forum, seems this place might be a better fit for me than some of the more racing-oriented forums. I’m young, relatively handy, and on what could charitably be described as a ‘shoestring’ budget, especially now that I am out of work for the foreseeable future due to the current health crisis, but I am stoked to learn. Eventually, after making my way south and possibly doing some cruising in the carribean, I’d like to sell the Pearson and get myself a diesel-powered bluewater cruiser, but for the time being I’m happy with my boat and figure she will be plenty hearty to take me where I want to go in all my inexperience.

Cheers

[hpeer]

Welcome aboard. We lived aboard in Delaware for some years and are now adrift. It’s a good life.

[OloteleMtn]

Hi, new here as well, welcome.

[Time2Go]

Hi Kevin,
I have a copy of the Moyer A 4 Manual
1st Edition, Dated 2013
I bought it long after I sold the boat with the
A4 just to see what was the correct way to deal with
it. Got a nice little ding on a finger from using the
manual crank. You’re gonna have some fun.
Book is yours for 10 bucks to cover postage.
Got to help out the youngsters especially if
the are gonna mess with an Atomic Bomb.
Just kidding but make sure your blower works well
and everything is spark protected.
No cutting corners with a gas engine.
Cheers
Neil
PM if you want the book

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Kevin Spacebag

How’s it going all —
- pursuing a low-cost gps/plotter solution

openplotter

- installing fresh water cooling from Moyer Marine for my A4

Have you considered removing it? Who wants their boat to smell like oil/gas?

I just repowered another boat today with a sculling oar. This is the 5th time I have installed a sculling oar and it gets better every time.

- setting up a sheet-to-wheel self steering arrangement

sheet to wheel will probably work even worse than sheet to tiller. That is ok if you have nothing else and don't mine chafing your rigging a lot more than normal while losing some miles due to reduced speed and not steering as straight. Depending on conditions this could be 30-40 miles a day less or in other situations (like beating with small waves) not much difference from an autopilot.

- fitting a small holding tank to the boat’s original direct-discharge head

You might want to consider composting head.

- reading the entirety , Annapolis Book of Seamanship,

Watch out for annapolis. They think they know the only way to do everything.

[Kevin Spacebag]

Thanks for the advice.

Regarding the A4 — I’m not particularly interested in repowering. I could theoretically come up with the money to do so, and considered as much, but I’m comfortable keeping the gas motor. I don’t plan on doing a whole lot of motoring, and I don’t mind the smell, I don’t find it overwhelming on the odd occasion I do notice it. The engine is in good condition, and (as someone mentioned above) my blower is functional and I know to take precautions.

If the motor cratered itself, I would be happy to repower as I would honestly prefer a diesel, but I just can’t justify putting 5k+ into a boat that I will be eventually looking to sell — especially because I know I wouldn’t recoup even half that on the sale. I am not opposed whatsoever to putting real money into the P30 — I’m not looking to half-ass anything, and want to be as safe and comfortable with my boat’s capabilities as possible, but I don’t think the benefit to me would be worth the time and significant financial outlay that a diesel repower would require. If I came up on a nice beta14 for a good price, maybe, but as of right now unless I have problems I’m satisfied with the A4. I am on the lower end of working class, so I’ve gotta really make those dollars count.

**Edit: I’m sorry, I missed your comment about the oar refit. That is definitely something I am willing to look into. I’m not comfortable going engineless as of right now, but it would be really cool to be able to take the passage of the ICW inside Hatteras without having to worry about engine problems. I will definitely do research into this.


Thanks for the heads up on the sheet-to-wheel as well. It may be kind of a fools errand, but I’d like to try. I have an autopilot, and the means to run it, but I am really interested in the principles behind STT and STW steering. So it’s mostly just to satisfy my curiosity, given I have an abundance of time these days.


I will look into a composting head. I had given it some consideration but will take another look.

Cheers

[OloteleMtn]

Welcome, This Old Boat is a good read for boat projects; i bought my copy in the early 90s and it has been very handy many times.

[qowisuta]

Hello and welcome