General Category - Pearson Owners and Enthusiasts > New Member Introductions

Bought P323 for $1!!

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meagfrank:
Hi everyone. My name is Meaghan. I’m 29 years old. I live in southern Connecticut, but I’m born and raised Boston, Massachusetts

Last month I bought my first ever sailboat. It is a 1980 Pearson 323 with an inboard Volvo Penta MS2V. My hull number is 265. I bought her for $1 from an old marina acquaintance.

I love everything about the boat already as she’s in good working condition but is in need of some serious TLC. As I’ve been putting it, “It needs work, but everything works.”

I’d love to hear any and all advice and am excited about this forum to reach out and ask and maybe get help. I have quite a few friends in the trade who have already been welding and making me new parts or fixing my broken parts to make my P323 back to brand new. I’ll be sharing some of that info on here, too.

Valor:
Welcome to the board and great job on scoring that deal! Looking forward to your journey!

Michael

Dolce_Vita:
Meaghan,

Welcome to the forum!  You're going to find that the P323 is a very comfortable boat.  She's not fast, but she's sturdy, and will get you wherever you want to go.  It's a very good choice for cruising for one or two people.  My wife and I lived aboard ours for 9 months on a trip south and to the Bahamas, and we are planning on repeating the experience this coming Fall.

Again, congratulations on your purchase, and please keep us informed of your progress (we love pictures!).

meagfrank:
Good afternoon!

I'm about 6 weeks into owning. Already have turned out a lot of larger and some smaller (but crucial) projects:
- Had a custom stainless steel crossbar formed for my helm to hold my GPS on and be able to pivot it while driving (So I can sit at either port or starboard locker and watch my path. I plan to be doing some solo sailing for week long excursions around Long Island Sound, Rhode Island and Massachusetts - just not up and around Cape Cod yet!)
- Removed all wood from boat. (Nearly 100 pieces!) My one big savior on this was a DeWalt power drill with various size bits AND Dollar Store plastic baggies with Post-It Notes.
- Scrubbed every inch of fiberglass with bleach and water mix. Used a lighter sponge similar to a kitchen sponge with the scouring side on the reverse. You would be surprised at what 38 years of filth looks like :-X.
- I had a professional varnish job (almost) completed by a friend in the auto-body industry. He has taken 8 total (part) days to help me with stripping some old varnish off, cleaning water damaged pieces, and sanding all of the pieces down with a 330 grit to be beautiful and smooth. We applied several layers of the varnish in lighter passes with quick sanding in between and a final sanding from him - he is the professional after all and I am just taking notes here.  ::) All in all I think we have invested 60 hours into this because some pieces were badly water damaged. I looked past any imperfections so far and am keeping all the original pieces. I will look around to see if I can locate any replacement pieces. Also, for this I did try the Cetol. I liked the ease of the process... but it didn't look good and mine didn't cure, so it physical was wiping off to the touch. This is where I recruited a professional. I'm happy I did.
- I scrubbed the entire upper deck to remove the black and grey weather spots left from the boat being in a slip for 3 straight years.
- I have replaced the shower bilge pump - output hose cracked off the case. Unfortunately, this was the only fix other than re-threading a bracket on both sides of the case. I assumed this would only be a temporary fix and just jumped straight into a new pump. $160 before out marina discount at West Marine. I think I paid $100 and installed it myself. (Also Note: The previous wiring job was just electrical tape.  :o Yikes!)
- I upgraded from a 500 GPH bilge pump to a 1500 GPH. I sent my 500 over to a slip neighbor with a center console for his SUPER LOW transom. I sleep more sound at night not worrying about the turtle speeds of my old bilge pump.  ;D
- I did a full engine and bilge cleaning. This was the worst project so far. Lots of tears and gagging and more gagging.


Some remaining projects I am working on are:
- Re-doing the main cabin windows. I have leaks. I am trying to keep the old windows and just redo the gaskets or seal them differently. I have seen many different opinions on this.
- Installing new port-lights. Same reason. They are a 4 week wait for shipping since they are back ordered from BOMAR.
- New Mast boot... Same reason... Minor leaks.
- General engine maintenance: Ordered oil sampling its from Volvo-Penta, Learn how to do my own oil change, Change the fuel filter, Do a new belt, etc.
- Completely remodel the bathroom. I absolutely think the layout is inefficient and wasteful for space. I will be building a new cabinet space and using an existing face piece to create a teak counter top to place a vessel sink. I have a new JABSCO Compact electric toilet I will be installing and a new holding tank. All of the toilet parts were removed before I bought the boat.
- New cushions and linens throughout - this is a winter project.
- New gelcoat and bottom paint - after haul out.
- Remodel the galley... I don't have a plan for this yet, but my stove was replaced with a mini fridge (beneficial, but done so with sloppy craftsmanship)

Valor:
Ah, the joys of owning a 40 year old boat. After you get the critical stuff done, just sail her for a season before you do a lot of other changes. You will find that changes you were going to do were really not necessary or should of been done differently.  It will prevent you from sinking money into the same project twice.  I've owned a bunch of boats and the thought process when you get it to after you use it changes dramatically after the first season. Nice work and good luck. If you have questions ask, we're
 " all in the same boat" no pun intended.

Mike

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