Looking for Warts

Before setting out on the boat’s major refit, I sailed Passion for nearly five years. I wanted to learn all about her personality and identify her quirks and needed improvements. Some were painfully obvious. Others only emerged after years of sailing and under certain conditions.

One immediately obvious issue was a leaky hull-to-deck joint, since the Pearson 40’s toerail and joint were built in the same way as most production boats from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Specifically, the deck had been placed on top of an inward-facing hull flange and the overlap was then sealed with a bedding compound and held together with fasteners. After that, the teak cap rail was put on as little more than a decorative covering, fastened every 20in or so. Not surprisingly, after 30 years of flexing and