Hello, I've joined the P365/367 Yacht Club to gather information to help me decide which Pearson might be the boat for me; a 365 Ketch, a 365 Sloop, or the 367 Sloop. Then, to throw something else in the mix, there's the Pearson 36. Looking at the motion comfort and capsize ratios of the Pearson 36-2 and the Pearson 37, and other readings that I've done, have made me scratch those two boats from my short list. Does anyone out there have any comments and suggestions and information along these lines?
The difficult thing here is I doubt that a ketch owner (the majority of the 365's built) has spent time sailing a sloop or cutter or a sloop cutter owner has spent time sailing a ketch to really give a good well thought out comparison regarding performance.
The good news is that the the rigs are all based on the same hull platform with one exception, the cutter has a draft of 5'-6", one foot deeper than the standard 4'-6". I would think without question no matter what the rig on a deeper fin it will go to weather better than a shallower draft, so to say that a cutter will go to windward better may just be the dimensions of the keel. Keep in mind, that one foot deeper might mean however that your sailing could be restricted. The water on this planet is not as deep as one would think especially in the nicer destinations.
I guess it really boils down to the rig configuration and what you can or want to do with it. I chose the ketch for several reasons. As a kid I loved twin sticks. I drew them, drooled over them and dreamed about owning and sailing one. To me a sailboat with twin sticks being a ketch, yawl or schooner was a cruising machine, designed and ment to go somewhere, anywhere it wanted to go. As time passed I owned several sloops, all very nice boats with very good pedigrees, but show me a boat with more than one mast and my eyes wandered, and yes, I lusted.
I learned over the years that a huge mainsail on a big boat was a pain to carry, hoist and winch in. Same for a huge headsail. Yes I know a furling headsail helps but I do not or will not sail with a head sail partly furled. In my opinion, they are shapeless and if you want to shorten the life of a perfectly good headsail, roll it up half way and sail it in a good breeze. It will never be the same.
A better way to solve the huge headsail problem is split the foretriangle with the cutter rig. This does several things. You have now cut that 150% rag in half. Both physically lighter and both easier to trim. You now also have options when the wind changes strength. If the wind pipes up, douse one of the jibs and you are good to go. If you have your inner built of high ounce cloth it becomes your storm jib. The 365's cutter inner is self tailing. Spin the wheel and the main and inner staysail tacks with out a single click of a winch. Can't beat it.
Now that I am over 50, I can appreciate that the logic behind the ketch rig. By splitting up the main rig into two separate rigs everything is smaller and easier to lift, hoist, handle and trim. When the wind builds, I have lots of options. Reef the main, mizzen, or dump each or both, furl the headsail and because I have the cutter rig as well I can fly or douse the staysail. I should add, I love to pull strings and you can't own a P365 with more strings than a cutter ketch. We also have an asymmetrical spinnaker as well as a triradial traditional kite. We also occasionally fly a spinnaker staysail and a mizzen staysail.
I have intentionally left out performance. A Pearson 365 no matter what rig it sports is NOT a race boat. She does well enough on her own but if you want to go faster than someone else buy something else. This leaves us with the ever eternal argument, ketch, sloop, cutter. The sloop and cutter should go to weather better than the ketch. The ketch should smoke the two if the wind is off of your beam. All of this depends on where you sail, where you are sailing to and how well you know sail trim and the art of balancing the rig around the hull.
When all else fails... start the engine.
Good Sailing... Dale