Another new owner

[Eddy]

My wife and I have just reached an agreement on the purchase of a 1979 323. We are new to sailing and looking forward to our first season coming up. We still have to have the survey completed and a sea trial. We will have lots of questions I am sure, I am glad to have found this site. Looking forward to contributing to the community and getting advice and guidance from the wealth of experience and knowledge that is available. This will be our first purchase of a boat this size any advice on the survey and seal trial is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Libations Too]

Congratulations! The 323 can be a great value and a great boat for many.

I'd recommend getting an engine survey after hull survey and sea trial. If the hull survey and sea trial confirm that you want the boat, the engine survey can give an added level of confidence that the agreed upon price reflects engine condition and/or required deferred maintenance.

Good luck!

[Eddy]

Thank you!. I'm the guy that emailed you a while back asking about inspecting the 323. I think it is in very good condition. I spoke with the surveyor this morning and the plan is to survey the hull and sea trial. Once that is done and based on the results the engine survey would be next that way money is not wasted on the engine survey if we find something that would break the deal. From what I can ascertain the standing rigging is original, what are your thoughts about that? Surveyor said if it is original we should consider replacing even if the rigging survey says it is serviceable. My wife and I have been up and down the mid-Atlantic looking for a good cruising boat and I believe we finally found one.

[Libations Too]

I agree with your surveyor....especially if the rigging is original.

[selene]

Good luck with the survey.  I wonder - pending feedback from other folks - if you are replacing the rigging (which I also agree is needed, if is is original), should you also pull and inspect the chainplates? I am woefully ignorant about the need to do this, not having done so myself, and hesitate about suggesting anything which adds more cost, but have read a few horror stories about other boats.

Edit: This article http://pearson323.com/projects/chainplates.pdf is what inspired the question.

[rbrtfeld]

Good Luck.  I also have a 1979 323 #192.  Bought it last year and it also was my first boat. We have had a blast sailing her.  Make sure you have the hulll surveyed for blisters and look closely at the mast step. Other than those issues, these boats are pretty solid.

[Eddy]

the mast step was one of the things I knew how to look at. The mast step looks like new on this boat and the bilge is spotless. I'll take some pics of it when I go down for the survey and sea trial. The boat looks to have been well cared for from what I can tell. One of the questions I do have is in regard to the diesel engine that is in it. From what I can find if the diesel was optioned when new it should have been the volvo MD11C but this one has a Universal M-30 in it. Was this also an option when new or would this mean it was retrofitted sometime later? The boat has been winterized and when I looked in the engine compartment there was some of the antifreeze below the engine...is it normal when the boat is winterized to have some of this spill out?

[Dolce_Vita]

My understanding (but I could be wrong) was that the original configuration had an Atomic-4 as standard, with an M-30 as an option.
Later, the A4 was dropped, and the MD11C was standard.

[Eddy]

We had marine survey on Monday as well as the sea trial. I used Frank Lanier for the survey and I must say he did a fantastic job, he was very thorough and did not let the broker hurry him at all. It took him all day for the survey and sea trial. Only a couple of things were found that need attention asap the rest is stuff that I can do as we go along which will also help us get familiar with the boat. We should close here in a week or two at most. Very excited.

[Dolce_Vita]

Excellent news!   I know you will enjoy her.

Where are you located?  If on the Chesapeake, check out the Pearson Sailing Assoc of the Chesapeake Bay:
http://www.cbpsa.org/

We are the largest remaining organized group of Pearson owners in the world.

[Eddy]

Hey, we are on the Chesapeake. The boat is currently at Yacht Haven in Gloucester Point. I will definitely check out the Pearson owners information thanks for that.

[Chelsea]

Welcome to Pearson World... I'm new with it too.  I like the dialog that this promotes.
I have a question about the ice chest on board. 
Would anyone have the dimensions of it?  My boat is 200 miles away and I am attempting to spec out a cooling unit for the ice chest as it holds ice a long time so should be quite easy to add a cooling system.  I have identified the Frigoboat unit as a good one while at the Strictly Sail Chicago boat show this past weekend.  I talked with many owners who have the unit and it performs very well and user friendly.  Now the question is the amount of space to cool.
Eddy, if you have a chance and are at your boat would you mind taking measurements for me?  I will post the unit specs as I develop them for all to use.
Thanks,
Lauri

[Eddy]

Hey the boat is about a hour and a half away but I do have to go down sometime this week. I'll get the dimensions while I'm there. I've been reading through all the literature that came with the boat. I have a bunch of the original documentation that came with the boat along with oodles of other documentation.

[AnaMeg]

Eddie, the chain plates are easy to remove and inspect. There's a few screws holding the molding on that covers the aft 2 plates and they are easy to get at when the molding is removed. The foremost plate might require more work. I took mine out when the boat was gutted. Not sure if you can get at it by just removing the trim plate at the back of the top shelves in the head or not. If not you'll have to remove the cabinet face. That's not difficult unless th ere's a spaghetti bowl of hoses in there. The port side is easy to reach through the wet locker doors. When I took mine off they were pristine. The boat has spent about 2/3 of its life on fresh water.

I have a lot of pictures of the inside when gutted. I had everything out I could get out without destroying it. If you have a need for knowing what's behind something removable I may be able to help.

Lauri, I can give you partial measurements of the ice box. The fore and aft dimension is 23", The athwart ships (is that the right word for perpendicular to fore and aft?) is 25 1/2" at  the fore end and 17 3/4" at the aft end. This was taken about 10" above the floor. Because of the sloped side it will be larger further up. Unfortunately I don't have the depth. I can estimate 30+". I can not reach the bottom without standing on a riser. I'm 5'9" tall. If you know the height of the counter top that is close.

Geoff

[Eddy]

sorry I didn't get back sooner I wasn't able to get down to the boat until yesterday. The measurements I have is the opening is 18"x14". The inside dimension right below the opening is 30"x24". The maximum depth is 31". There are two shelves on the port side that run fore/aft, the top one is 13" wide and the bottom one is 11". It is pretty cold here today, we had snow and some ice last night temps in the 20's. HTH.