1973 Pearson 30

[rockhopper]

The wife and I purchased a 73 Pearson 30 a week ago for $2500, it has been sitting on the hard since December 1, 2014. I knew the motor didn't work when I purchased it, this Saturday I decided it was time to go find out why it wouldn't even turn over. I pulled the flywheel cover off to find water lines on the inside of the cover. I pulled everything loose from the motor but I was unsure exactly how to pull it out and not drop it through the boat or over the side even with a come-a-long. Several of the screw clamps are so deteriorated they are broken, one you can see in the picture of the engine. It would appear someone sprayed it orange while it was in the boat. The side of the engine with the starter is eat up fairly good with rust and corrosion, possibly due to the leaking hoses from the bad clamps. I saw the braided wire that is holding the end of the boom up has some wire ends sticking out of the braid. Is this a weakened wire? I know over the winter I will be needing to do some fiberglass repair as I have some soft spots by the stanchions and the cockpit by the tiller. Just hoping to get it water ready sooner rather then later.

[Administrator]

Is the engine seized up? In this scenario, it's possible that only the crankshaft was exposed to rainwater, in which case you might be able to free things up without too much effort.

Paging Dr. Neptune to the ER, STAT.

All this from Don. No, I didn't suddenly get smart...

Bill

[Dave Neptune]

rockhopper, first welcome to the MMI Afourian Forum.

Good spot bill! As Bill noted the pistons and cylinders may of been spared the "deep rust".

I would try pouring some MMO or spraying a good deal of penetrating oil into the sparkplug holes and let it sit a day or two while gathering tools and letting the oil soak doing it's thing. You can try using a big screw driver or small crowbar and wedge it against the flywheel teeth and slowly apply pressure IN BOTH DIRECTIONS (very important to go both ways) while gradually increasing pressure in both directions. Be careful to wedge the "driver" of choice firmly so as not to damage the flywheel teeth. Be patient and it may break loose. Finding a crank handle MAY help.

The valves may be stuck too and that can be handled laer if the engine spins. If the engine does not spin I would pul the head for a more aggressive approach and inspection.

I have "un-seized" many engines in this manner. I did mine as I too bought a frozen engine that ran for another 35 years after getting it to spin.

Dave Neptune

[tac]

I have a 78 Pearson 30.

When I bought the boat it had been stored outside for about 1-1/2 years. The yard had wisely trimmed the boat on the stands so rain/snow collecting in the cockpit would drain out the scuppers at the aft cockpit corners. However, these clogged up with leaves, and the water level in the cockpit rose high enough to flow into the cabin, and aft into the engine compartment. It never reached the level yours apparently did.

Your soft spots at the stanchions are probably because of water intrusion into the balsa core under the deck fiberglass. This is an indication of poor sealing of the four stanchion-base bolts and a need for large backing plates inside the boat for each base to reduce deck flexing when someone leans on a stanchion. If you don't fix this soon, water will continue to leak into the core, spreading throughout the deck.

Pearson 30s and 26s have a history of poor sealing where the fiberglass rudder log/tube penetrates the cockpit sole. That molded plastic cover over the rudder stock is cosmetic only. The four #6 or #8 tapping screws holding it in place will let water seep into the balsa core, unless the holes are properly sealed. If you had standing water in the cockpit for over a year, the soaked balsa core will provide inadequate support for the upper end of the rudder stock. That's not good.

" I saw the braided wire that is holding the end of the boom up has some wire ends sticking out of the braid". This wire is the topping lift. The frayed bits are called "meat hooks". They do weaken the wire some, but the topping lift only supports the boom, about 100 lbs with the sail on. The OEM wire is 1/8" 1x19 stainless. This has a breaking strength of about 1500 lbs. One problem with wire for a topping lift is the the sail roach can tend to hit the wire, and over time this will fray the sail (especially with the meat hooks). The wire can be easily replaced with rope. I use 3/16" braided Dyneema, which has about the same strength as the wire and is much softer.

[ndutton]

What Dave is suggesting is the most important and can be done where she sits right now. Other checks that can be made:

• Is there oil in the engine? What color, blackish brown, tan, water droplets on the dipstick, rusty dipstick?
• I'd do a pressure test of the cooling system to see if it's intact.
• Once the engine rotates I'd do a compression test.
  To that end . . . .
• . . . judging by the water level on the flywheel and the backward tilt of the engine I expect the starter and electric fuel pump are dead ducks or should be considered unreliable at the least.
• I'll bet the carburetor was full of water at one time too.

There is a lifting eye on the alternator bracket but be advised its design is suspected to cause the head on an older raw water cooled engine to crack in the lifting process. Slings under the pan are a safer method with this engine, have a safety backup line hooked to the lifting eye.

[rockhopper]

Sorry, after I posted last night I figured you needed to know it was seized up but was unable to edit it till the post was approved. The engine is seized up, the oil appeared to look new, I didn't notice rust spots on the dipstick. I figured the best thing I could do is to pull the engine and rebuild it and repaint it due to the amount of rust & corrosion on it. I'm not sure if someone changed the oil and painted it trying to cover up the fact it had been under water.

The starter seemed to of still try to turn the engine as you could hear it click when you hit the start button. Hopefully it stayed out of the water. From what I was told the engine ran when they put it on the hard, so maybe this was just rain water.

Pressure testing the cooling system would of likely of been a test that failed due to rusted clamps. What is the round container that the hot water exhaust pipe connects to? It appears to have a silicone or something all around the ports.

Is pulling the engine out of the boat a doable task? I just got a quote from the yard, the crane is $200 an hour with a half hour minimum and $70 an hour for any additional labor. I'm not sure if you can get a strap under neath of the engine as it appears to be mounted to a cradle fiber-glassed into the boat.

The leaking stanchions can they be sealed enough till winter time when I can cut it open and replace the balsa core? What is this stuff leaking/growing on the bottom side of the fiberglass here by the fuel tank? It seems to be were the balsa core is rotten.

[Ken Rockwell]

I wouldn't put a dime in that engine. They absolutely pulled a fast one. Get a wrench and take off the transmission cover, I'll bet it's nothing but rust. Look at the overspray on that paint job, they didn't even try. New oil.......please! I put new oil in mine and it turned black immediately. You may want to take a look inside the tranny before you go any further.

[Ken Rockwell]

Here's a picture of the flywheel cover underneath the front engine cover to better explain the location of your water line. Notice that it's exactly to the bottom of that bigger hole. These engines have no seal in the front. Water poured in and oil poured out on top of it.

[ndutton]

Can we please do a little rudimentary testing before pronouncing this engine DOA?

Rock, the round container is a Centek waterlift 'muffler'. It's there so the exhaust can lift and expel the cooling water. The new life form under the deck above the fuel tank is some sort of moisture related residue like mildew, fungus, algae or a cocktail of all of them.

If you can get the engine disconnected and stripped, $100 for a minimum crane charge seems like a bargain to me. I hired a crane two weeks ago to stand up a parking lot light pole, 30 minutes total, minimum charge=$260.00

[rockhopper]

I sure hope it's not DOA, my wife and I will be devastated as I can't afford $5k for a rebuilt one.

[tac]

Core Saturation

To assess the extent of core saturation, in stanchions, cockpit sole, wherever, take a small metal hammer, or a medium size crescent wrench, and tap on a good section of deck. You should hear a nice sharp ring. Move slowly towards a suspected saturated area. When you hear a dull thud, you've found water saturation. Mark the extent with chalk.

As to sailing this summer with punky stanchion bases, it's your call - DON'T rely on them to keep anyone from falling overboard, you'll likely be disappointed.

I can't tell from the pictures of the underside of the cockpit sole the extent of the saturation, but the tapping test will. Fixing the cockpit sole area can be done fairly easily from underneath, retaining the cockpit sole non-skid and scuppers, by cutting out the fiberglass underside with a Dremel and a 2" cutoff disk (the fiberglass skin is about 1/8" - 3/16" thick, and the balsa is 1"). Then use a chisel to remove the soggy balsa, as in the below photo. Replace the balsa and reskin.

For a good description, get Don Casey's book, Sailboat Hull & Deck Repair , a well-thought-of classic:

https://www.amazon.com/Sailboat-Hull-Deck-Repair-Library/dp/0070133697/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1495497081&sr=8-3&keywords=Don+casey

[Ken Rockwell]

You guys really think rain water did this? Never happened, that boat was sinking and they got it out before sunk. Then they painted it to hide the rust line going down the sides. That's my guess so far.

[Ken Rockwell]

I really think you got taken advantage of. These boats should be rock solid, especially from the 70's.

[ndutton]

It will be interesting to hear what type of core material is at the stanchion area. If you dig out balsa, shame on Pearson. No way should hardware EVER be bolted through a balsa cored deck.

[tac]

Core Saturation

Neil,
The deck is balsa cored, all the way to within a couple of inches of the hull/deck flange. In the below photo the balsa ends at about where the nonskid (tannish-gray area) ends. In 1978 the stanchion bases were through-bolted with four 5/16" flathead screws. Under the deck, each base has two small inadequate-sized 3/8" thick fiberglass backing plates, one for the 2 shorter outboard screws, and one for the 2 longer inboards. The two outboard screws are outside the cored area, but the two inboard holes go right through the core. Each base sits on a silicone gasket, and that's the extent of the waterproofing. I guess drilling oversized holes, filling them with epoxy/polyester, then tapping for the screws, was too labor intensive. The chain plate penetrations are worse.