My primary reason for upgrading from a 1978 Pearson 31 to our 1985 Pearson 36-2 is that our family had simply outgrown the 31. With three growing boys and a desire to cruise the Great Lakes, the Pearson 36-2 was a good fit for us. However, there are certain improvements that we have made relating to access, use of space, storage and bug-proofing that have proven to be well worth the time and money. Fortunately, I had access to two of the finest marine carpenters around who were significantly underemployed at the time. While I can take credit for several of the ideas that follow (others I found by trolling the internet), I cannot take credit for any of the workmanship (which is second to none and for that I will forever be indebted to “Dege” and “Little E”).

Perhaps the most glaring access issue with the Pearson 36-2 is the lack of access to the steering gear and aft end of the boat through the aft cabin on the starboard side. Access is fairly good through the large sail locker on the port side, but there is absolutely no access on the starboard side despite a rather large bulkhead at the aft end of the aft cabin. The problem was easily remedied. An opening was drawn on the bulkhead and carefully cut out using a jigsaw, being cautious not to cut any of the wires and hoses on the back side of the bulkhead. The cutout was trimmed with teak and a turning latch was installed to hold the door in place. Cleats were strategically screwed to the cutout to keep it in place, and to the backside of the bulkhead to keep the cutout from falling through the opening. The access allows for a more thorough inspection and lubrication of the steering gear and access to the deck hardware on the starboard side, and the additional storage space is great for the emergency tiller and extra fenders that are not used very often.

Aft cabin access hatch.

Another worthwhile improvement, which was made in nearly the same way as the access door in the aft cabin was made, was the creation of three removable access panels to the sides of the bins under the port settee in the main salon. We wanted to use the bins for easy storage of duffel bags while cruising, but wanted to avoid the annoyance of having to remove cushions from the settee to get into them. The access panels are great, and work exactly the same way as (and with the same hardware as) the removable panel for side access to the engine compartment that was standard on the boat. Now the main salon occupants can easily store and access their bags, shoes, etc. We may eventually make the same modifications to other bins in the main salon. The photo below shows the cutouts. The wood cutouts were trimmed and equipped with hardware to hold them in place.

Port access panels.

Pearson certainly designed the 36-2 with lots of hanging storage. While I understand the need for at least one hanging locker, three seemed a bit overkill. Consequently, we converted the one in the aft cabin to a shelved locker for the occupants of the aft cabin to store their gear.

Aft cabin locker.

We also converted the hanging locker in the main salon to a shelved pantry. It is extremely deep, and provides storage for significant quantities of food and cookware. The very bottom of that locker is home to a starting battery, a battery combiner and battery switches, which are all covered with a lift-out board that forms the bottom shelf in the pantry.

Starting battery and pantry shelves.

We chose to leave the forward hanging locker as a hanging locker – an easy decision given the storage cabinets on the port side of that forward cabin in which that cabin’s occupants can store their gear.

We also modified the storage bins beneath the V-berth in an effort to pick up an extra layer of storage. Formica covered melamine (the same material used to make the shelves in the hanging lockers) was trimmed with teak to make drop-in shelves with teak fiddles. The space beneath these shelves is great for shoes, sleeping bags, canned goods, and small storage containers.

Port and starboard v-berth-shelves.

Our boat does not have air conditioning, so good ventilation was a priority for summer cruising and sleeping aboard. However, little is worse than being inundated with flying bugs while inside a boat trying to sleep. We replaced all of the port lights with opening Lewmar port lights equipped with screens (see http://www.boatdejour.com/pearson-36-2-sailboat-portlight-replacement/). However, we also needed a way to get ventilation through the hatches and main companionway while at the same time keeping out insects. To do that, a teak frame was built for each deck hatch. A channel was cut around each frame sized appropriately to accept a standard screen spline, and the hatches were covered with fiberglass screen. The two larger hatches were installed with two hinges on one side and a thumb hasp (and corresponding teak block and latch) on the other side. Due to the curvature of the headliner, self adhesive gasket material (weatherstripping) was installed around the screen frame to close the gaps between the frame and the head liner. Installation in the aft cabin and in the head was done differently due to the trunk between the headliner and the hatch. However, the change in design was aesthetic more than anything. As the aft hatches needed to be re-bed to fix leaks, I took the opportunity to turn them 180 degrees so the hinges are forward, as the dodger restricted how high they could open when hinged aft, and further restricted air flow. The screens have worked great for several years now and have saved us on many nights from misery. They are significantly more durable than the roller screens that are available for hatches, and they look much nicer too. However, they were rather expensive to have made. All in all, well worth the investment though.

Small hatch bug screen.

A complete set of screened teak doors and hatches were also built for the companionway. The top of the companionway is covered with a two-piece set of screens joined by barrel hinges. My boat required a two-piece top as our instruments are mounted on a stainless steel bar that crosses the companionway, making it impossible to lift a single piece screen for access in and out of the cabin when in place. By making it two pieces that are hinged together, the aft piece can be lifted vertically providing access to the cabin when the screens are installed. If it weren’t for the instrument pod, a one piece top would suffice. The doors are set into barrel hinges that are mounted to the teak hatch board guides. The reason that slip barrel hinges were used on the doors and top pieces is so that the entire companionway screen system can be easily removed, disassembled and stored in the custom 4 pocket bag that I had made (imagine a cloth accordion file with dividers). We only use these companionway screens when staying on the boat overnight (although the doors were designed to work with the hatch boards in if for some reason we wanted to leave them on). They can be installed and removed in just a minute or two.

Companionway screens.

Finally, in an effort to keep out the bugs, I removed the dorade box and covered the ventilation pipe leading into the cabin with screen secured with a zip tie.

All of these modifications have proven very effective at keeping us comfortable and bug free when inside the boat.

We have also used teak to make a few other improvements to the boat. One was to replace the black panel that housed the AC and DC panels with a teak panel.

Electronics panel.

Another was to build a teak cup holder. The design is very basic: A teak board just slightly larger than he plastic cup inserts, doubled up on the aft side to provide additional support at the attachment point; threaded female inserts installed on the back (doubled up) end of the teak cup holder; and two halves of a stainless steel shaft collar with screws to match the inserts to attach the cup holder to the pedestal guard. A simple design, but much more aesthetically pleasing than the large boxy cup holder contraptions that you can buy online.

Binnacle cup holder

Perhaps the most dramatic modification that we have made to our boat from a visual perspective is replacement of the cabin sole. The old teak and holly sole was showing its age and was dinged in several places, and because the top layer was simply a thin laminate, it could not be refinished. My talented marine carpenter friends attached 1/4” thick x 2” wide solid teak boards to 4’x8’ sheets of marine plywood with epoxy using the vacuum bagging process. The old floorboards were used as templates and replacement floorboards were cut out, sanded and varnished with multiple coats of durable marine varnish. The resulting change in appearance is stunning.

Click images to enlarge.