Atom Voyages | About the Sailboat Atom

About the Sailboat Atom

This Atom... infinitesimal Atom
has within, a colossal power
For it marries a particle of earth
to the fecund sea

(From To Challenge a Distant Sea, the biography of Jean Gau owner of the original Atom, a 29-foot Tahiti ketch, in which he twice solo circumnavigated and whose writings of adventure inspired me to challenge my own distant sea. Click here for an excerpt of Gau from The Circumnavigators by Don Holm)

Click photos to enlarge


1963 28-foot Pearson Triton #384 Atom	Atom's Main Cabin Looking Forward

Pearson Triton sail plan with original fractional rig. Atom was re-rigged in 1995 in South Africa with a new mast two feet shorter than original and rigged as masthead sloop. She has a moveable inner forestay for emergency use in case the furling jib becomes disabled and to add strength to her rig. The inner forestay is supported by intermediate aft shrouds.	Atom's Specifications: LOA: 28'6" LWL: 21' Beam: 8'3" Draft: 4'3" Displ: 8,000 lbs. (approx.) empty. Ballast: 3,019 lbs Sail Area: 371 sq. ft. Rig: Masthead sloop Keel: full with cutaway forefoot and internal lead ballast. Integral water tanks - Forward: 43 gal. Aft: 30 gal Engine: currently a 3.5 hp Tohatsu outboard on adjustable bracket, though I often sail without an engine.
Main cabin looking aft. The galley is minimal size so as to allow two full length bunks in the main cabin. The cooker is a gimbaled single burner pressure kerosene stove that I've used for about 20 years. In this view it is out of its gimbals and bolted to countertop. See Atom Stove MKII for a look at our new stove.	Port side main cabin looking aft. I added a radio locker above the original ice box which is now used as a storage locker. I found the companionway ladder awkward and replaced it with a small center step. By extending the ex-engine locker forward I gained storage space and allowed the counter to serve as top step and the battery box as bottom step. We carry four 6-volt Trojan batteries supplying 400+ AH.

Triton Lines Drawing

Check the Links page and Larry Suter's Triton Website for more info on Pearson Tritons.

Atom Overview
Below is a list of Atom's current inventory for those interested in what equipment we find useful. That's not to say she's the perfect boat, perfectly equipped - far from it. Her current skipper believes in strong-and-simple over theoretical yacht-style correctness and has no interest in racing or "restoring" her to original condition. For our purposes she needs to be better than original.

More details on Atom's cruising modification projects are found in the Q&A, Atom Projects and Articles pages.

Atom's Sail Inventory:
Mainsail - partial battened with three reef points
145% furling genoa
125% hank-on genoa for use on inner forestay
#2 working jib for inner forestay
#3 working jib for inner forestay
Storm jib for inner forestay
Storm trysail
Spinnaker with pole

Anchoring Gear:
33 lb. Bruce - Primary anchor on 150 feet of 5/16 chain with 75 feet of 3/4-inch nylon line attached.
Fortress FX-23 (15 lb) aluminum Danforth-type
Fortress FX-37 (21 lb) storm anchor
18 lb stainless steel Danforth-type
Extra anchors are in bags with 25 feet of 5/16-inch chain and 125 feet of 5/8-inch nylon line attached. Several extra rodes available.
Lofrans Royal aluminum manual anchor windlass
Collapsible grapnel-type dinghy anchor

Electrics and Electronics:
Replaced entire electrical system including two switch panels.
Installed two 43-watt solar panels and charge controller.
Added Volts, Amps In and Amps Out meters.
Replaced all incandescent cabin lights with halogen and Xenon.
Four 6-volt Trojan deep-cycle batteries wired for 400+ AH at 12-volts.
1000 watt 110-volt inverter for tools, blender and various appliances.
Reversible 220 to 110-volt 1000 watt transformer (to power 220v appliances in foreign countries)
One each Magellan and Garmin handheld GPS
Kenwood TS-450 SSB transceiver, MFJ tuner, remote speaker and dipole antennas. (SSB transceiver removed in 2005. May add a more compact modern unit such as an Icom 706MKIIG or Icom M802)
Handheld VHF radio with masthead antenna and power booster.
Toshiba notebook PC with back-up electronic charts.
NASA digital depthsounder
Tillermaster autopilot
Sony ICF-SW7600GR all band radio receiver
Autohelm digital hand-bearing compass
12 volt handheld halogen spotlight
Three 12 volt cabin fans above bunks and head plus one portable fan.

Other Equipment:
Henderson MK 5 manual bilge pump
Rule Saturn Aqua Meter bulkhead mount 3 3/4-inch cockpit compass
Suunto bulkhead mount tell-tale compass above main cabin bunk
Astra IIIb sextant and H.O. 249 Sight Reduction Tables
Legs for standing the boat upright between tides
The yuloh, a 16-foot Chinese sampan sculling oar
Nylon webbing mast ladder
6 ½-foot plywood/fiberglass pram dinghy with anchor
3.5 HP Tohatsu outboard (used sometimes as Atom's auxiliary engine or on dinghy)
16-foot fiberglass sit-on-top type Ocean Kayak
Rope swim ladder
White vinyl sun awning
Cockpit dodger
Bimini cockpit awning
Kerosene and halogen anchor lights
Bulkhead mount barometer and clock
Gimbaled single burner kerosene galley stove

Below is a list of some improvements and modifications I've done to Atom over the past twenty-five years. You may find some ideas here that could be useful on your own boat.

Deck and Hull:
1. Installed a water can locker at forward end of cockpit footwell.
2. Replaced all exterior wood with teak, including adding grab rails on forward cabin top.
3. Installed a bronze portlight in forward end of the cabin trunk for better visibility forward.
4. Replaced rotted mahogany and oak rudder with plywood covered in fiberglass and epoxy.
5. Installed Monitor windvane with custom mounts.
6. Installed Lofrans Royal manual anchor windlass and bow and stern anchor rollers.
7. Replaced bow cleat with 10 1/2-inch bronze cleat and backing plate.
8. Installed custom adjustable outboard motor bracket.
9. Installed rigid bimini frame over cockpit.
10. Replaced balsa deck core with polyurethane foam sheet.
11. Installed custom stern rail incorporating two solar panel mounts.
12. Added 1 1/4-inch wide SS jib sheet tracks extending from aft shrouds to scuppers.
13. Added two stanchion bases and full-length lifelines.
14. Removed propeller and filled in prop aperture in hull.
15. Built new forward hatch and companionway hatch with stainless steel security bars.
16. Built wood plank hatch cover, or seahood, for sliding hatch.
17. Installed cockpit dodger over companionway hatch.
18. Replaced cabin windows with 8mm (3/8") Lexan and thru-bolted frames.
19. Fabricated a 5/10/15-watt halogen, glass lens masthead anchor light.
20. Attached keel extension plate to prevent lines from snagging between keel and rudder.
21. Affixed rubber gaskets under cockpit seat lockers and installed locking latches.
22. Sealed vertical aft cockpit locker hatch and installed new plywood hatch in afterdeck.
23. Attached sculling oar pin bracket to afterdeck toerail.
24. Installed stern anchor roller on starboard corner of afterdeck.
25. Installed homemade bow roller.

Rigging:
1. Replaced fractional rig with 34-foot masthead rigged aluminum spar and new mast step. (I'm still looking for a good deal on a new boom)
2. Installed removable inner forestay, two running backstays and related deck hardware.
3. Replaced all chainplates with ¼-inch thick stainless steel.
4. Added forward lower shrouds and chainplates to glassed-in knees below deck.
5. Installed Harken roller furling jib.
6. Converted roller-reefing mainsail to slab reefing with three reef points.
7. Installed stainless steel reinforcement plate under mast support beams.

Interior:
1. Removed Atomic 4 inboard engine and its accessories.
2. Built a 43 gal (165 liter) integral water tank under v-berth connected to galley foot pump.
3. Built a 30 gal (115 liter) integral water tank between cockpit floor and hull.
4. Converted icebox to storage/electrics locker.
5. Installed valves and plumbing to divert deck drains to hoses below for collecting rain water.
6. Removed door between head and forward cabin and replaced it with a curtain, filled in V-berth and raised bunk 5-inches above waterline for extra storage and watertight integrity.
7. Made most compartments watertight for collision protection and positive buoyancy.
8. Installed a sliding single/double bunk on port side of main cabin.
9. Replaced all counter fiddles with 1 x 4-inch teak.
10. Extended ex-engine locker forward and removed companionway ladder.
11. Replaced head with Lavac toilet placed behind a watertight bulkhead.
12. Added second bookshelf in main cabin and full length shelves in forward cabin.
13. Covered the plywood cabin sole with African iroko plank strips.
14. Installed six teak handrails throughout main cabin.
15. Installed telltale compass on bulkhead next to port main cabin bunk.
16. Enclosed open lockers behind main cabin settee backrests with teak locker doors.
17. Installed a shelf divider in chain locker behind watertight hatches.
18. Installed a Henderson MK 5 manual bilge pump in port cockpit locker accessible on seat top.
19. Replaced entire electrical system.
20. Installed lee-cloths on main cabin bunks.
21. Installed shut-off valve in sink drain.
22. Built a radio locker above ex-icebox on aft port side of main cabin.
23. Built a fold-down table attached to forward main cabin bulkhead.
24. Installed sliding doors fronting galley shelves.
25. Replaced galley drawers with door access and added shelf in locker under stove.
26. Installed two gimbaled kerosene cabin lights.
27. Built a removable galley/cockpit table.