Messages

1

Cruising / Circumnavigation in a 323

« on: April 02, 2023, 07:02:47 PM »

Back in 2010 I received an email from young gentleman interested in the Person 323. I showed him my boat, some of the work that I had done to ready the boat for coastal and ocean sailing...and then I promptly lost track of this young man.

Fast forward to last week (March 2023) and I received an email from this same man. He was asking about a boat part and he thought that I might have the specifications that he needed. Unfortunately, I was unable to help him but I did learn that in the intervening years he had purchased a 323 and was only about 1800 nm from completing a circumnavigation.

Even though I've been without my 323 since 2016, I thought many of you on this list might appreciate knowing a little more about this man's adventures:
https://vimeo.com/user1017589

And this about getting the 323 ready for a circumnavigation: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f47/pearson-323-enchantress-circumnavigation-plan-140365.html

If you are like me, you'll appreciate Austin as an artist, filmmaker, sailor, and adventurer.

Cheers,
Richard

2

General Discussion / Re: Building my new dry storage work shed. Stimson Bow-Roof Shed

« on: November 27, 2016, 12:56:10 PM »

Hi Craig,

Just curious....  It looks like you've had the shed up for about a year. How has it held up?

Also, it looks like the frame/rafter material is 1" x 3" pine. Is that correct?

Thanks

3

Cruising / Re: ICW South to Florida, Bahamas

« on: November 11, 2016, 10:53:24 AM »

Ed,
I've not checked in very often since selling Libations, and I just found this thread. "Good on You" for casting off and heading out on a great adventure. I've just subscribed to your blog and will follow along as you adventure unfolds.
Best to you,
Richard

4

Cruising / Re: August 2015 Cruise to Monterey Bay, California

« on: September 27, 2015, 11:07:49 PM »

Thanks Alma...it was real fun for us and a good match for the 323 capabilities. The breezes were often too light but that was okay for this trip.

Selene, if you go to Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay I can certainly recommend the August time frame if you like classic cars (Monterey) or plentiful sea life. It is a fun trip and one that I hope to do again. We wanted to go to Tomales Bay this in October but will probably just drive up with the kayaks instead of sailing...maybe next year we go with the boat and spend several days.

5

Cruising / August 2015 Cruise to Monterey Bay, California

« on: September 26, 2015, 02:23:15 AM »

I've just finished my cruise log for our 12-day cruise from Berkeley to Monterey Bay and back. We saw more whales than I have seen in all of my other sailing days combined. We kayaked up Elkhorn Slough and out to Point Pinos, bought fresh Ling Cod from the from a fishing boat at Moss Landing, and generally had a great time. I hope you enjoy my photos and log.

http://rollinscs.com/boatpages/cruisinglogpage40.htm

6

New Member Introductions / Re: Introduction / New Owner

« on: September 16, 2015, 12:33:26 PM »

Welcome mj! I'm looking forward to your stories of restoration and adventures on your 323. Yes, these are fine boats...too good to abandon. Thanks for breathing new life into #330!

7

Ports & Hatches / Re: Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: September 03, 2015, 11:36:58 AM »

mj,

I appreciate the thoroughness of your approach; it is good for all of us who care for these boats.

On the subject of cabin house and liner thickness, I have only one perspective and that is my boat. And I am not experienced in layup or fiberglass construction techniques. But I believe that I have read somewhere that on this vintage of Pearson the hull (and presumably the cabin house) was a traditional hand layup, which I took to mean that the glass layers were per some spec for the weight of glass cloth and the number of layers) while the inner liner was constructed with less control (some type of chopped glass layup that was sprayed into a mold). I may be all wrong about this but if true it might explain the difference in combined cabin/liner thickness from boat to boat.

On the topic of shrinking glass gasket I don't recall how the gaskets on my boat looked when I removed them but I do recall that an earlier repair by a previous owner had trimmed away the outer part of the gasket and resealed it with silicone. BTW, I am pretty sure that on my boat the leak was at the glass gasket and not at the frame to cabin house interface. I also recall that on the Sea Dragon project summary the first attempt at a fix did not work because of too little sealant in the frame channel at the corners. You mentioned that on your boat the channel was empty behind the glass gasket; perhaps this contributed to the shrinking of the gasket (along with age).

8

Ports & Hatches / Re: Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: September 02, 2015, 10:14:52 PM »

Good observation! I had not noticed this but it sounds as though it could certainly pose a problem.

In rereading your posts and taking another look at the photos that I have from my project it seems as though the measurement on your boat of 0.375 inch for the cabin thickness (I assume this is the exterior cabin wall combined with the inner liner thickness) is less than on my boat. On my boat the liner was thinner than the cabin wall but the combined thickness was more than 3/8 inch...I am guessing at this point but I think the combined thickness was probably close to 1/2 inch.

It sounds as though you have this pretty well figured out. Good luck with the completion of the project!

9

Ports & Hatches / Re: Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: September 02, 2015, 11:13:50 AM »

mj,

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I understand your proposed solution much better now. It sounds quite workable to me...but one last question: if the screws are bottoming out before the frame assembly can be completely tightened onto the cabin/shim/liner can you simply replace the existing screws with shorter ones?

10

Ports & Hatches / Re: Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: September 02, 2015, 03:07:48 AM »

mj:

I may not have understood your proposed solution correctly but if I did, the following thoughts may be useful:

1. On Libations, the combined thickness of the inner cabin liner and the exterior cabin wall was not uniform. The thickness of the the two pieces varied a fair amount and thus, the gap between the two varied too. A trim ring (of uniform thickness) placed inside of the interior liner as I believe you have suggested would seem to do little to provide a solid (no flexing) and surface of uniform thickness for the port frame to be tightened against. In my opinion, it is the flexing of the liner and/or cabin wall that poses the greatest risk to leakage. My approach was very similar to that suggested by Alma although I used longer Doug fir shims set in epoxy followed by Marine-Tex epoxy putty.

2. The second thought that occurs to me is that the the inner bezel of the port frame assembly may not be structurally strong enough to allow the screws to be sufficiently tightened to pull the exterior cabin wall, the interior cabin liner, and the proposed trim ring together tightly enough to avoid the possibility of flexing. My guess is that the bezel will deform long before you can draw the three pieces of cabin/liner/trim together. And once the bezel starts to deform, the holding power of the frame assembly is diminished. When I did the work on Libations I used several good sized clamps to hold there cabin wall, shims, and cabin liner tightly in place while the epoxy cured. Ultimately, on Libations, it was the epoxy that held everything together, not the mechanical force of the frame assembly. The screws holding the interior bezel to the port frame only needed to exert enough force to compress the butyl tape.

11

Sails and Canvas / Re: Mainsail on the shrouds

« on: June 10, 2015, 01:23:28 AM »

I think this is a problem common to many sailboats when sailing deep downwind; not just the 323. I know that my sails have a telltale soiling pattern where they meet the shrouds.

12

Ports & Hatches / Re: Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: May 16, 2015, 05:24:44 PM »

Thanks guys...your help was critical to getting this project behind me.

I inspected the port side ports and it seems that they received the same type of "cut the channel gasket, apply silicone" fix as the starboard side. Plus, the port side ports now look really awful compared to the starboard side ports. The good thing is that a normal person can't see both sides of the boat at the same time...

13

Ports & Hatches / Re: Happy Holidays to my fellow 323 Enthusiasts! (also rebedding fixed ports)

« on: May 14, 2015, 09:24:23 PM »

I have finally finished this project. Thanks to all who have provided helpful comments.

I have posted a link to my project summary over on the "Hull and Deck Structure" page of this 323 Community Forum.

14

Ports & Hatches / Resealing and Rebedding Fixed Ports

« on: May 14, 2015, 09:20:33 PM »

After avoiding this project for a couple years I decided 2015 was the year to tackle the job of resealing and rebedding the two starboard fixed ports on Libations. I am now finished! Many thanks to Selene, Alma, Sea Haven, and Dolce Vita for their helpful comments and suggestions.

My project summary is here: http://rollinscs.com/boatpages/projects2apage.htm  I have tried to gather into one place the helpful tips, comments, and previous project summaries that I found most helpful.

15

Engine and Drive Train / Re: Retrofitting gasoline Atomic 4

« on: April 28, 2015, 05:42:46 PM »

Hello Gary, and welcome to the forum!

My two cents: Any engine replacement will be more straight forward and with less need to change other systems if the replacement engine is the same as the one being removed. You have identified some of the additional scope items that need to be addressed if changing to a different engine; the "who knows what else" is a real issue if you want to do the work efficiently and cost effectively.

The A4 offers the significant advantage that it is still available and parts are readily available. That cannot be said for the Volvo MD-11 diesel so a switch to a diesel would trigger some design as well as component challenges. I do know that some on this forum have replaced the Volvo diesel in the 323 with a Beta diesel, but I think that the switch to the Beta has also typically required removal of some of the liner structure below the sink and behind the companionway stair.

Knowing what I do about your specific boat, experience, and sailing objectives (which is admittedly very little) if I were you, I'd stick with the A4.