SPARTINA
1972 Pearson 30 Hull No. 168 - Has Been Sold
Thank you for all the inquiries - I'll keep this page up for the P30 fans!
Dave Wehr
dwehr@nichenet.com
Orignial P30 Specs, and a review of the P30
I purchased Spartina (Formerly called "Sailbad The Sinner" - Uuuuughhh!) in May of 1998. I've enjoyed two great seasons on her and have cruised extensively throughout Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound, Vineyard Sound and Nantucket Sound. She's a great boat and I hate to sell her but..... I'm a serial boat owner and can't help myself. I've bought another boat - a Waquiez Centurion 32.
BEFORE |
AFTER |
Tip #1 - use the thinnest possible material. I purchased 1/2" teak & holly plywood. (a 1/2" X 4' X 8' sheet cost $195 from Atlantic plywood in Providence, RI). I should have used 1/4" or thinner material - but I couldn't get it in time.
We began with two 4 X 8 sheets of cardboard from a local box maker. These were used to make templates. Place the cardboard sheets on the floor and score with a utility knife. Keep trimming until you get a good fit.
Use the cardboard template to cut your 4 X 8 sheet of plywood.
The 1/2" material was so inflexible that we could not get the wood into place in one piece. To solve the problem, we cut the wood down the center, along one of the "holly" lines. Later, after installation, I used a 1/4" router bit to clean out the seam. The seam was then filled with a wood putty that matched the holly color and sanded. Using that method, you can't tell that the wood was cut.
The curves in the floor also presented a problem. Because the 1/2" material was inflexible, we could not get it to curve to the contour of the floor. To solve the problem, we placed a 1/4" deep back-cut along the curve line. This allowed the wood to bend to the shape of the floor.
The plywood was glued to the floor with a construction adhesive and screwed in with 1" #6 stainless steel screws and finishing washers.
I had thought about just oiling the floor rather than using polyurethane - but a friend who had done this project two years ago advised me to use polyurethane. He had oiled the floor but after two years of wear, had worn right through the teak and needs to replace the floor. Since I never want to do this job again, I've used polyurethane to add a layer of protection.
Total Time for this project - about 16 man hours.
BEFORE |
AFTER
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The original veneer aboard Spartina looked really bad - as you can see in the "before" picture above. After considering the process of removing the bulkheads I decided that covering the bulkheads would be the better option.
I used 1 1/2" X 1/2" mahogony stips - milled to the desired dimensions and planed by a local mill. In total, I bought about 40 square ft of material at a cost of $350. (I have a lot of extra mahogony). Other materials needed for the project included a finish nail gun, counter-sink, 3 large tubes of construciton adhesive, 45 degree campher bit for router table, scrolling jig saw and a chop saw.
Installation is fairly simple. I first used the router table to cut a 45 degree angle on all the outward facing edges. This is purely cosmetic. Each piece is then cut to length and the end is cut to fit the contour of the boat. I used a compass to trace the angles onto the wood. The curves were then cut with a scrolling jig saw. I fit about 3 at a time then applied the adhesive and nailed them in place. The nail heads were then sunk below the surface of the wood with a countersink. The only tricky areas were the corners and the sides where the speakers and lights are installed. Since the angles in the boat are somewhat irregular, it is important to establish horizontal and vertical references. Otherwise, you will end up creating funky angles at the corners.
After installing all the wood, fill the nail holes with mahogony colored wood putty and oil. Before oiling, I used fine bronze wool to open the pores a bit. I used teak oil to preserve the wood. You may also choose to use tung oil (Casey recommends Lemon Oil). - again it's a matter of personal preference.
Total installation time for this project was about 30 man hours (i had one other person helping).
| AFTER |
When I first bought Spartina (May 98) I was perplexed by the color of the decks. They were light blue but appeared to have had some sort of wax or white compound swirled on top. After trying to clean out the white swirls I realized that the white was actually coming from beneath the blue. I later learned that this is a relatively common occurrence on older P-30's. The only option was to repaint the decks.
After consulting a number of other Pearson owners through the sailnet listserve, I decided to paint over the existing non-skid. The other option would have been to completely remove the old non-skid by sanding it down to a smooth surface. I've seen this done and the end result can be very nice. However, I was running short on time and decided to go the other route. In the end, I'm very happy with the results.
I used Interlux Interthane Plus - 2 part paint in Hatteras off white. The instruction book that Interlux provides is quite good. I simply followed all the steps that they give.
Total Time: 1 full day prep. 2 Days painting. 1 day remove tape and re-install all hardware.
After 40hrs of Scraping |
Nothing magic here - just a lot of work. We put about 40 hours into the bottom of the boat. Over the years about 1/4" of bottom paint had accumulated! We found the fastest way to remove the paint was to scrape it off. After scraping, it was sanded with 80 and 100 grit.
After removing the old paint, I was thrilled to see no blisters! We put on 3 coats of barrier coat. Again nothing magic here. Finally 2 coats of Trinidad were placed over the barrier coat. I used 1.5 gallons of barrier coat and 1 gallon of trinidad.
When I bought her, Spartina had the original main sheet system - A double block on the boom going to a single block on either side of the cockpit. I'd always sailed with a traveler and couldn't deal with the existing system.
I built the traveler pictured above out of mahogony. It is 2" X 2". I purchased the track and car at a used boat show for $25! Unfortunately, the track ends and cam cleats cost me about $200. The only tricky part of the project was to build the shims under the traveler to fit the angle of the deck. Once I got the to the right size, I used epoxy to glue them to the traveler. The whole thing is then bolted through the cockpit with ss bolts.
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AFTER |
My original spreaders were starting to rot at the ends, so I asked my local rigger how much it would cost to have aluminum spreaders made. I was told that each spreader would cost 2 - 3 "boat units" (a boat unit is $100) plus fittings. So - I decided to make my own.
I took the old spreaders to a local lumber yard specializing in hard woods. They said the old spreaders were made of fir - which is known for being straight and strong. I decided to go with Oak for even greater strength - even though oak is heavier than fir and therefore adds weight aloft.
I used the old spreaders as templates and also used the old aluminum fittings for each end. The oak was planed to the right thickness, then I did rough cuts on the table saw and finished the edges with a router. Final finishing was done with an orbital sander.
My old spreaders were varnished top and bottom and by the end of the season, the varnish on the top sides would be badly deteriorated. So, this time I decided to paint the top sides of the spreaders white - to reflect the sun. The bottom side is varnished (3 coats). I also installed new spreader lights and plastic spikes to ward off the cormorants.