For the past 20 years I have sailed on fresh water lakes in Canada both racing and cruising. Last year I sold my C&C33, a very comfortable performance cruiser/racer and started looking for the ideal cruising boat that might require some TLC and upgrading which would be suitable for me and my wife to sail from central Canada to the Bahamas and Cuba in the year 2000.

After spending considerable time searching the internet for used boats, I found one in Florida that I thought was just what I was looking for. Unfortunately this was not the boat I had in mind, as I quickly learned that the owners description and seeing the actual product quickly separates fantasy from reality. This boat required a lot more work than I was prepared to do and was missing many of the key ingredients I was looking for.

Having booked four days off work and deciding on the first day that this was not the boat for me, I began to look for alternatives. Florida in general and Fort Lauderdale in particular offers many choices; all you need is time. I quickly realized that this was an impossible task in the short time I had available, so I enlisted the services of an excellent broker "Patrick Jackson" who looked at my requirements and budget and came up with a short list of possible candidates. One of his suggestions was the Pearson 365, a boat that is almost unheard of in central Canada but seemed to nicely fit my requirements.

We spent the next three days looking at boats, and finally after escaping a Miami traffic jam we made our way into a beautiful yacht club on Key Biscayne. There it sat, a blue and white hull, ketch rig with freshly painted bright work reflecting in the crystal clear water. I was sold. An offer was made, a survey conducted and before the month was out the boat was on a truck being shipped to Lake of the Woods, Kenora Ontario, a short two-hour drive from my home in Winnipeg.

The boat arrived on schedule, and was unloaded and launched immediately. The clean up and detailed inspection began starting with those items that the survey had noted. Most of the items were minor. However, one major item was the reconstruction of the base of the mast which has deteriorated through corrosion caused by saltwater and electrolysis. One of the previous owners had filled the base of the mast with spray in foam to prevent water seeping into the bilge. Eventually the water found a way out through corrosion. No other major items had been noted by the surveyor, however, there were a number of simple maintenance items.

The first item that required my attention after repairing and installing the mast was a port chain plate that separated while I was tuning the mast. A close inspection showed that water had been penetrating at the point where the chain plate exits through the deck. The combination of salt water, stainless steel chain plate and copper grounding strap bolted together and cleverly hidden behind the port side locker resulted in the metal fatiguing.

The second surprise occurred some three weeks later, as we were hit 25 knt winds as we were beating up the lake. The boat heeled and suddenly rounded up as the wheel failed to respond. Having experienced this once before in my C&C, I knew the steering cable had parted. Immediately we installed the emergency tiller and sailed to a protected cove where repairs were made. It was at this point that I began to appreciate some of the thought that had gone into the design of the boat. Of the four previous boats I’ve owned this is the first one that you could actually steer with the emergency tiller and while we only had to use it for 10 or 15 minutes, it certainly would have got us home had a similar experience happened in the open sea miles from nowhere. Secondly, access to the steering cable and quadrant was a breeze compared to some I’ve seen and allowed for a quick repair with very few curse words.

The balance of last summer was spent enjoying cruising on one of the most beautiful lakes in the world with very few problems. However, I have been developing a "to do" list getting ready for our one year sabbatical starting July 2000. The purpose of buying a boat in Florida and paying to ship it to Canada was in fact to give ourselves time to learn the boat and to upgrade it to our specifications. It is at this point that I would like to enlist your help and the help of other Pearson owners with both some specific and some general information and guidance.

First of all, the boat is a 1977 or ’78 model 365 hull no. 134, originally named "High Life" and renamed "Pau Hana" soon to be rechristened "World Spectator." It has been well-maintained and upgraded over the years, but it will require additional repairs and replacements over the next couple of years. Are there any particular things that I should be looking for that other owners have had problems with?

Having a background that combined racing and cruising, I still like to get the most out of the boat both up wind and off the wind. I understand the design tradeoffs of the short keel and skeg hung rudder with the short rig and ketch sail plan vs the design of my previous high aspect ratio sloop rigged C&C33. Nevertheless, I would still like to look at the following modifications in an effort to improve the boat’s performance in the relatively light wind and flat water conditions we sail in here without compromising her ability when the intracoastal waterway and the Bahamas.

Extend the bowsprit 4' from the stem and strengthen it with a bobstay and side bracing to allow extending the headstay to this forward point, thus increasing the "J" measurement and sail area of the fore triangle.

I have spoken to a fellow 365 owner on the east coast who did this with some success. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding the design and effectiveness of this?

Can the old headstay remain in place forming a cutter type sail plan? Or should it be removed completely or shortened and relocated closer to the mast?

The keel design: As I plan to cruise the Bahamas, the current 4'6" draft seems appropriate. However, can the shape of the foil be modified to improve upwind performance? Should I consider increasing its length by filling in the area between the aft edge and the strut for the prop? Increasing the depth doesn’t seem to be an easy option due to the encapsulated ballast. Torpedo bulbs could be added on both sides at a relatively small cost if the extra sail area causes too much heel, although I think my money could be better spent elsewhere.

I feel the rudder is too short and would like to add approximately 9" extending it past the skeg. I find that when the boat heels the self-steering does not react as quickly as I would like it to. I think this might help. Any comments?

The extension of the bowsprit will also provide me with a more functional and workable anchor platform which leads me to another project, the anchor chain locker. Should I glass in a center partition to allow for better separation of the chain and rode for each of the anchors?

Finally, I find the table arrangement less than satisfactory, and I am working on a redesign that allows for more functional and comfortable dining for 4 or 5 people. Has anyone else come up with a successful solution?

Dear Richard,
Your comment on the port chain plate is most disturbing and warrants a close inspection of all standing rigging. It takes a long time and a lot of water to eat through ¼" stainless steel, indicating the possible existence of serious water seepage or something else.