# Thoughts on a Pearson 10M



## DrB (Mar 29, 2007)

Looking at a Pearson 10M Tall Rig (1979) as my first real sailboat. The broker that I am working with has one that just came on the market for just over $27K. Looks to be in decent shape from the photos. I haven't seen it in person. I was almost set on a P34 (1984), but the price was a little out of my range. (mid 30's) and would require a couple of self-tailing winches to make it easier to single hand. The 10M has them already.

I checked on the Pearsoninfo.net website for more details on the 10M, and it says it has headroom in 6'1-6' 2" range. I am a a little under 6" 6" and fit into the P34 (not much clearance), but it is listed as 6' 3". 

I may be able to get the P34 for $32K ish, but it still requires the winch upgrade. 

Aside for those details, anyone have a Pearson 10M or owned a 10M and since moved on. Likes, dislikes? Should I strongly consider (if I fit) or save my pennies for the P34.

I am also going to post on the Pearson email list, but that is like asking someone who owns a Pearson, do they like there Pearson.

DrB


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## SailorMitch (Nov 18, 2005)

The best person to ask about a P-10M is Dan Pfeiffer, the father of the pearsoninfo.net website. He now owns a 10M that he is extensively overhauling. You can contact him through that site. Dan will spare no detail about the good and bad points of the 10M. In fact, his site has an extensive section of projects he has done on the boat with photos taken at every step. You can learn a lot about a boat's construction that way.

And yes, do post on the Pearson email list. 

People argue all the time that current owners of any particular boat will only tell you the good stuff about that boat. That has not been my experience in the least, and others who have followed my advice have sent me emails thanking me because they found out both the good and the bad by talking to current owners. In my book, hearing from current owners is a lot better than asking for opinions on here from someone who may have been on a particular boat once 10-20 years ago, or knew someone who had one at the same marina sometime ago -- or at best may have seen one in a boatshow. YMMV of course.

Disclaimer -- I have owned a P-27 and now own a P-33-2. I have written a history of Pearson Yachts for Good Old Boat, and was commodore of the Pearson Sailing Association of the Chesapeake for 3 years.


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

The 10M is a solid boat - essentially a larger version of the P26 and P30 of the 1970s. They are still competive club racers and make good cruising boats. My main concern would be the age - especially the engine if its original. Many came with an Atomic 4 which will probably need a complete rebuild or replacement with a diesel.


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## paulk (Jun 2, 2000)

I think Practical Sailor has a generally positive review of the 10M. (I loaned my copy of their Used Boat Buyers Guide out, and haven't gotten it back yet. Won't make that mistake again.) That would be worth reading for details. The 10M has always appealed to me because they look good, and seem to be put together OK. The 1970's P36 is similar, and would offer more headroom and stowage space - if you can find one of those in your price range. The caveat on the engine is valid, though if it ain't broke...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*Experience with a Pearson 10M*

I'm the third owner of a 10M that I purchased in 1991, and used - until recently - to cruise the Maine coast. It's very stable and offers performance similar to boats 3-7 feet longer. The original construction was probably overdesigned, with very thick hull sections and a heavy rig. There were some oversights - aluminum backing plates under the winches come to mind - but those I've found are easily corrected, with one exception. The mast step is set low in the bilge, so it's always wet. The step is iron (or steel) and the mast is aluminum, so corrosion is inevitable!

I agree with SailorMitch re Dan Pfeiffer's web site, with one caveat: I'm not sure how active Dan is today. I've contacted him because I'd like to list my boat - which I'm now selling - on his site, and received no response.

As a sailing boat, I found the 10M, which was my first sailboat, very satisfying. (I never considered upgrading to another or bigger boat.) With grandchildren and a new house on the Maine coast, I just haven't found the time to use it during the last four years.


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## btrayfors (Aug 25, 2006)

In 1975 I chartered a Pearson 10M in St. Thomas for a 2-month trip through the Lesser Antilles with my young family. We sailed her in the Virgins, across the Anegada Passage to St. Martin, then down the chain of the Leewards as far as the Saints (Isles des Saintes) south of Guadeloupe. Then, back up through the Leewards, across the Anegada Passage, and back to St. Thomas. Wonderful trip, poking along and visiting every island in the chain.

The boat was "Joker", a red-hulled Pearson 10M which belonged to Dick Avery. She was well known in the islands, as she usually cleaned up on the racing circuit. She WAS fast, and a delight to sail. Once, beating up the channel in a breeze of wind under Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda with just our genoa and a cockpit awning up, we sailed by a professionally-crewed Gulfstar 50, much to the dismay of their crew!

I'd echo the earlier comments about the Pearson 10M...good boat, strongly built, fast for her size, seaworthy, with a few flaws like all boats.

Don't know about the price these days, but if you like her and feel the price is right, go for it!

Bill


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## DrB (Mar 29, 2007)

*I pulled the trigger!!*

The offer was accepted. I am now broke, and soon to be broker, but who cares, the goal is to have fun, right?

It goes into the water tomorrow!

DrB


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## JimsCAL (May 23, 2007)

Congrats!! Good luck!!!


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Congrats.. I hope you're making the offer subject to survey and sea trial.


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## DrB (Mar 29, 2007)

*Survey and Sea Trial*

The offer is contigent on the Survey and Sea Trial. Plan on keeping her in Marbleyhead Harbor in in Massachusetts. I am tickeled about the Tall Rig. Hopefully will help in the typically light air on the Massachusetts North Shore.

Thanks to all for their help and advice.

DrB


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## SailorMitch (Nov 18, 2005)

*Dan is alive and well.*



gordonr3 said:


> I agree with SailorMitch re Dan Pfeiffer's web site, with one caveat: I'm not sure how active Dan is today. I've contacted him because I'd like to list my boat - which I'm now selling - on his site, and received no response.


FYI -- Dan is very active on the Pearson email list here on Sailnet. His wife is a doctor and very soon they are moving from NC back home to the Cleveland area. Dan's 10M has been in his driveway in Winston-Salem for about 2-3 years while he has gutted the thing and is building it all back. But for the last few months have been a crash for him because of house hunting, house selling, a kid to look after, and a boat (still undergoing projects) that he is about to have trucked to Ohio. Just thought you'd like to know.


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## myknjul (May 28, 2008)

*We love ours*

We have a 1974, hull number 47 and love it. With the tall rig it is a fast, easy to sail boat. Sea Jules has been re-powered with a 20hp Perkins diesel. The deep keel is cause for concern sometimes as we cruise the Chesapeake. We have Barient 26's and wish we had self tailing, but other projects always seem to be higher priority. We have recently:

1. Added blocks and a winch to the top of the cabin so we can raise the main from inside the cockpit.
2. Installed a single line reefing system, again, so we don't have to leave the cockpit.
3. Installed a strong track system to raise the main with ease.
4. Installed lazy jacks.
5. New bimini and dodger.
6. New class D VHF.

As you can see, we keep find new ways of parting with our disposeable income. It's a great boat!


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## Joker Joker (Sep 3, 2020)

btrayfors said:


> In 1975 I chartered a Pearson 10M in St. Thomas for a 2-month trip through the Lesser Antilles with my young family. We sailed her in the Virgins, across the Anegada Passage to St. Martin, then down the chain of the Leewards as far as the Saints (Isles des Saintes) south of Guadeloupe. Then, back up through the Leewards, across the Anegada Passage, and back to St. Thomas. Wonderful trip, poking along and visiting every island in the chain.
> 
> The boat was "Joker", a red-hulled Pearson 10M which belonged to Dick Avery. She was well known in the islands, as she usually cleaned up on the racing circuit. She WAS fast, and a delight to sail. Once, beating up the channel in a breeze of wind under Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda with just our genoa and a cockpit awning up, we sailed by a professionally-crewed Gulfstar 50, much to the dismay of their crew!
> 
> ...


The comment isn't exactly timely, but my wife and I chartered JOKER from Dick Avery in St. Thomas in the late 1970s. It was actually a Pearson 28, an ugly little bugger, but a fine boat when you were aboard looking out.


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

Ha! Dick Avery was a friend of mine. He passed away last year in Saco, Maine. I believe I had JOKER for a few years, bought it off the fish cops in St. Thomas for a song and refitted it. The "song" turned into a long, drawn out aria, but kicked ass in all the races. She was rigged with tiller only. I sold it about 10 years ago. I believe she was lost in Irmaria. Had a 3' hole in the side and we had to replace all bulkheads and repower it when I bought it.


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## Joker Joker (Sep 3, 2020)

VIEXILE said:


> Ha! Dick Avery was a friend of mine. He passed away last year in Saco, Maine. I believe I had JOKER for a few years, bought it off the fish cops in St. Thomas for a song and refitted it. The "song" turned into a long, drawn out aria, but kicked ass in all the races. She was rigged with tiller only. I sold it about 10 years ago. I believe she was lost in Irmaria. Had a 3' hole in the side and we had to replace all bulkheads and repower it when I bought it.


I am sorry to hear that Dick Avery died. I have heard him described as the inventor of bare boat chartering. I lost track of him after the 1989 Hurricane Hugo destroyed all his docks and boats, including my Pearson 40 HOTSPUR, which I bought as a repossessed charter boat in his fleet. I was lawyer -- a maritime lawyer -- at the time, and as I was considering buying the P40, I asked with lawyerly caution to see his management contract. He said he didn't have one, and if I didn't want to do business on a handshake, we wouldn't do business. We shook hands and had a great 6-year relationship.

I suspect it was Hugo that wrecked JOKER. The stories I heard were that the anemometer at the San Juan airport blew up in the wind, all the trees in St. Thomas were stripped of their leaves, and the streets there were clogged with rolled up tin roofs blown off the houses. His business was ruined, and it turned out to be uninsured because the insurance company to which he had only recently switched the coverage failed a few months after the storm without paying claims.


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

Dick, along with Rudy Thompson, were the originals. Ahhh . . . Of Mice and Men . . . John Steinbeck used to charter with Rudy (Dick's best friend) way back in the '60's. Rudy (now also passed) was dyslexic, so Steinbeck wrote him a letter - backwards. The family still has it. Rudy told me about it on a delivery to SXM years ago. I might have had the last boat of Avery's fleet out of Frenchtown there. It was a 1973. Coulda been Hugo that holed her. Coulda been Marilyn. Coulda been stupidity by a later owner, too. But was Irmaria that et her (long after I sold it). She served us well as a nice, quick Water Winnebago for weekending and racing between Fajardo, Culebra, Vieques and the US and BVI's.


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## Joker Joker (Sep 3, 2020)

If you bought a JOKER in 1973, it could not have been the JOKER we knew. We chartered that boat in 1977.

It would be a pleasure to correspond with someone who knew Dick and knows that the bow of a boat is the front end, not a device for launching arrows. But this isn't the place to do it. I have a burner email address, [email protected]. If you would like to send me your email address, I'll respond with my real address. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and so you don't need to worry about our showing up on your doorstep some dark night.


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## VIEXILE (Jan 10, 2001)

Nononono. The boat WAS a red, 1973 (based on HIN) 10M. And Dick thought it might be Joker. We painted it white awlgrip and banged the hell out of it on the starting lines. I got a port tack the start rep about 15 years ago. Didn't care if someone hit me. Always followed the rules, but I was difficult to take up.


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