Survey Points

Survey points specific to the Pearson 10M
Every boat should probably be surveyed before purchase and most insurers require a report for coverage. There are a few particular places unique to the 10M that should be looked at.

Chain Plates
In the original design the 10M had the primary chain plates anchored to a knee about 6" aft of the main bulkhead. At some point in the first half of the production run Pearson made a change to the chain plate configuration. They removed the knee and replaced it with an aluminum I-beam unit to transfer the chain plate loads to the main bulkhead. The forward lowers still connect to a knee about 12" ahead of the main bulkhead. This change occurred sometime after hull 101 in 1975. For boats built before the change Pearson basically issued a recall authorizing owners to have re-enforcing added to the knee. There was apparently some deformation of the hull from the chain plate loads. The recall letter describes the deformation as cosmetic and not a structural problem. See more info on my chainplate page.

Keel Extension
The 10M has external lead ballast. The aft edge of the lead is vertical. Attached to this is a fiberglass extension fairing to complete the foil shape. It is triangular and extends about 23" aft of the lead at the bottom and 1" at the top. It is attached with bolts bedded into the lead. I have seen one 10M where this extension was torn off. It looked to me as though the boat had been run aground and while being pulled was twisted on the keel tearing off the extension.

Mast Step
The 10M has a steel mast step that is subject to corrosion problems. I have seen a few with corrosion but I have also seen some that were aluminum. They may have been refits or it may be that some came with an aluminum step. The steel step in combination with the aluminum mast sitting in often salty bilge water create a galvanic corrosion cell. The aluminum of the mast gets eaten away. On my 10M I raised the step out of the bilge on two new fiberglass floors (transverse beams). I fabricated a new step from fiberglass.
Mast Step Project