This is a work in progress:
Return of a Plastic Classic Heavy Cruising Sailboat
We want to go cruising! Our nomadic ways have always served us well. We had identified the goal as circling the Caribbean. After searching for project boat that would meet our needs, we had finally settled on a Pearson 35. We arranged payment and went to get it ready to travel across the state. Upon further inspection, we found it not to be a Pearson 35, but a 1966 Pearson Invicta II. Our biggest clue was the title! Pearson built 21 of the original Invictas and 12 Invicta II’s. The difference between the two is the replacement of the flush cabin top with a coach roof that provides full headroom through out the boat. She was intended as a racing ketch, but turned into a comfortable cruising sloop. They currently sell between $40,000 and $65,000. This makes these 40 year old boats worth restoring.
She certainly has been in rough seas before. She had been sunk and left there long enough for barnacles to grow inside and out. There was a thick three inches of mud layered throughout. She was filled with water in the yard we found her in. We had to pump out the water for transport. We found that the bulkheads were perfect, and much of the interior was also in great shape. The bulkheads were glassed to the hull, and the deck is glassed to the hull thicker than
Before you can actually start working on your boat, it’s all pretty much pre-inspection. Our first order of business was to remove all the mud. It’s tricky trying to get into all the nooks and crannies to wash away several hundred pounds of mud.
The wiring and plumbing still need a good inspection. All of the electronics will need to be replaced. A new engine is in the works. I engine in these boats were set deep inside the keel.
