Update July 5, 2026: SOLD
After 45 years owning Atom and two circumnavigations together, I realize that I have crossed my last ocean. Atom is still eager to carry on, and with the recent upgrades, is in the finest shape of her life. I’m in no rush to part with her, but if the right person comes along who appreciates her legacy and wants to keep using this boat for what she was designed to do, I am ready to pass the torch.
For questions, visit our Contact page for our email address: yachtatom [at] hotmail [dot] com.
Price: $35,000. Trailer (2021) available for $5,000.
Location: Brunswick, GA
Registration: US Coast Guard Documented vessel.

Atom under sail, 2016.

Stock Triton Layout

Atom has gone through several refits over the many years I’ve owned her with the aim to keep improving the safety, comfort, and functionality of the boat for extended live aboard use and offshore voyaging. You can find many of these improvements covered in articles and videos on this site. Atom is now everything I want and need her to be.

The east coast built Pearson Triton originally came with a tall fractional rig. I replaced Atom’s mast in 1995 in South Africa with a new mast two feet shorter than original and rigged as masthead staysail sloop. It’s a stronger, simpler rig and the increased jib area with reduced main eliminates the sometimes excessive weather helm the Triton is known for. She has a moveable inner forestay to hoist a storm jib and for emergency use in case the furling jib becomes disabled as well as to add strength to her rig when it’s deployed. The inner forestay is supported by intermediate aft shrouds.

Main salon looking aft.

The galley size is minimal in order to allow two full length bunks. The cooker is a gimbaled single burner kerosene stove that I’ve used for many years. The awkward companionway ladder was replaced with a counter step. By eliminating the ladder and extending the ex-engine locker forward a few inches I gained storage space and allowed the counter to double as top step with the battery box as bottom step. The original icebox was replaced by a nav table with slide-out counter, locker below, and radio locker outboard.
Reconfigured this way it effectively makes the galley larger when needed.

Main salon, looking forward.

Atom underwent an extensive refit in 2014-2015 while on her trailer in our backyard boat shed. After six years on the water, in 2021 she went back on her trailer at home for some maintenance. More upgrades followed in 2025 including a custom built dry-toilet and all new exterior paint. The boat and trailer have been in covered storage for the past 5 years.

1. Mainsail – a battenless main with three reef points and low friction Tides Marine luff track makes for easier downwind reefing. Since the stock Triton is known for a bit of excess weather helm, a battenless main balanced by a correctly sized jib eliminates that issue.
2. 140% furling genoa with foam luff.
3. 30 sq ft hank-on storm jib for inner stay. 14’4” luff, 11’5” leech, 5’2” foot.
4. 53 sq ft hank-on heavy inner jib for inner stay. 17’5” Luff, 13’6” leech, 7’11” foot.
5. Storm trysail for rare times when the third reef is too much sail.
6. Code 0 (furling gennaker-type sail) on Facnor furler on removable sprit pole.
7. Standing and running rigging and Harken roller furling were replaced in 2015.

1. 33 lb. Spade primary anchor on 150 feet of 5/16 HT G4 chain with 75 feet of 5/8-inch nylon rode attached.
2. Fortress FX-23 (15 lb) aluminum Danforth-type kept assembled and ready to deploy as second anchor.
3. Extra anchor is stowed in bag with 25 feet of chain and 125 feet of 9/16 or nylon attached.
5. Lofrans Royal aluminum manual anchor windlass.

1. Replaced entire electrical system including several 12v outlets, and all LED lighting.
2. Two 50-watt solar panels on adjustable mounts and MPPT charge controller. 2025
3. Victron volts/amps/amp hours battery monitor.
4. Handheld VHF radio and GX2200 VHF/AIS base radio.
5. One new 12v 100AH LiFePo4 lithium type house battery was installed in 2026. Two more used 100AH Lifepo4 batteries are included, if wanted.
6. 30A lithium battery charger. 2026
7. 1100-watt inverter.
8. 120V 30 amp AC shore power wiring with three outlets. 2026
9. Hawkeye depthsounder.
10. Second Garmin compatible depth transducer ready to connect to a future chart plotter with swing-out mount inside companionway.
11. Portable Tecsun PL880 SSB AM/FM receiver radio.
12. Lunasea LED masthead tricolor with auto night sensor anchor light.
13. LED deck running lights and bow/deck light on mast.
14. Three 12v cabin fans above bunks and head plus portable clip-on fan

1. 2020 Tohatsu Sailpro 6-hp (used approx. 15 hours) in custom tilt-up outboard well with spare parts. This motor pushes the boat at about 5.5 knots in calm waters.
2. Henderson MK 5 manual bilge pump. One could easily be added but to reduce clutter, there is no electric bilge pump since she has no prop shaft to leak, rudder shaft is contained in a watertight locker, there are numerous other watertight lockers and the boat doesn’t leak.
3. Plastimo Contest 101 bulkhead mount cockpit compass with see-thru back for viewing inside cabin.
4. Emergency rudder.
5. Nylon webbing mast ladder.
6. Your portable electric fridge/freezer can be set in v-berth and I can assist you to fit one in the locker, if desired.
7. Choice of 6-foot plywood/fiberglass mini pram dinghy or 10-foot inflatable kayak.
8. Norvane windvane self-steering with spares kit.
9. Mast raising system using removable base hinge.
10. Rope swim ladder.
11. Custom made Jordan series drogue.
12. Companionway canvas dodger on 1-inch folding stainless tube frame. The Toast Sunbrella is faded and has some stains but windows are new and it remains functional.
13. Bimini cockpit awning that connects to dodger and with side enclosures.
14. Forespar Line Control whisker pole (LC 8-14) with mast storage chocks.
15. Gimbaled single burner kerosene galley stove with complete spare.
16. Lagun moveable cabin table.
17. Nylon hatch wind catcher.
18. Tool kit and numerous spare parts.
19. Mooring lines and fenders.
20. Retractable boat hook.
21. Hatch screens.
22. Winch handles.
23. Optional: trailer (2021) comes with spare tire and hold-down straps.

1. Installed a water can locker with removable boards in tracks at forward end of cockpit footwell.
2. Replaced all exterior wood with teak, including adding grab rails on forward coach roof.
3. Installed a bronze non-opening portlight in forward end of the coach roof for improved visibility forward.
4. Replaced rotted wood plank rudder with plywood covered in fiberglass and epoxy. Raised bottom of rudder 2″ above keel to protect rudder during groundings and closed rudder/hull gap at bottom to prevent snags.
5. Installed Norvane self-steering windvane with emergency rudder.
6. Installed Lofrans Royal manual anchor windlass, double bow and single stern anchor rollers.
7. Replaced bow and stern mooring cleats with four 10-inch stainless cleats and backing plates.
8. Removed inboard gas engine and installed a tilt-up outboard well in lazarette.
9. Installed fixed bimini frame over cockpit.
10. Replaced rotted balsa deck core with core-cell structural foam sheet core.
11. Fabricated custom pushpit incorporating two adjustable solar panel mounts.
12. Added 1-inch x 7-foot jib sheet tracks after relocating stanchion bases.
13. Added two stanchions and full-length single lifelines with gates.
14. Filled in inboard motor’s prop aperture in hull and rudder.
15. Replaced wood-framed forward hatch with larger Lewmar Ocean 60 hatch.
16. Rebuilt companionway hatch with stainless steel tracks and security bars.
17. Built fiberglass over wood seahood over sliding companionway hatch.
18. Installed cockpit dodger.
19. Replaced bronze-framed cabin windows (deadlights) with 3/8″ tinted Plexiglas thru-bolted from outside.
20. Fiberglassed over original cockpit access to icebox.
21. Added rubber gaskets under cockpit seat locker lids and installed locking latches.
22. Installed two 1/2″ u-bolts to transom corners to attach Jordan series drogue.

1. Replaced 35-foot masthead rigged aluminum mast and new mast step. The equivalent mast section is US Spars Z351. The boom was replaced with a larger section US Spars Z202 kit with internal reefing lines.
2. Installed removable inner forestay, two running backstays and related deck hardware.
3. Replaced all chainplates with ¼ x 1.5-inch 316L stainless steel.
4. Replaced original 3/16″ rigging wire with 7/32″ with swage fittings at tops and sta-loksat bottoms. Some of her rigging wire is older so replacement before an extended passage is recommended.
5. Added forward lower shrouds and chainplates to glassed-in knees below deck.
6. Installed Harken MKIV Unit 0 jib roller furling.
7. Added a removable hinged mast step for DIY mast raising system.
8. Installed stainless steel reinforcement plate under mast support beams. (Aluminum would be a better choice to save weight.)
9. Fabricated a removable sprit pole for furling Code 0.
10. Replaced old sheet and halyard winches and added reefing winch to boom.

1. Removed Atomic 4 inboard engine and its accessories.
2. Built a 43 gal (165 liter) integral water tank under v-berth and 22 gal (83 liter) tank to aft bilge, connected to galley foot pump.
3. Built a sealed locker under aft cockpit footwell to protect boat from flooding if rudder shaft tube was damaged.
4. Converted icebox to storage/electrics locker whose counter has a slide-out nav table and storage under. A portable electric fridge/freezer is available to set in v-berth, if needed.
5. Installed valves and plumbing to collect rain water from deck.
6. Replaced door between head and forward cabin with a curtain, filled in step-thru area of V-berth and raised bunk 2 inches to make it 5 inches above waterline for extra storage and watertight integrity.
7. Made most compartments watertight for collision protection and at least short-term positive buoyancy (locker seals are not perfectly watertight but will buy some time).
8. Installed a sliding single/double bunk on port side salon bunk.
9. Replaced low galley counter fiddles with higher 1 x 4-inch fiddles.
10. Extended ex-engine locker forward 2-inches, removed companionway ladder, and placed step on locker panel face.
11. Replaced head with custom built dry toilet.
12. Added second bookshelf above forward end of stbd salon and full-length shelves in forward cabin.
13. Covered the plywood cabin sole with iroko plank strips and black polysulfide seams as for a teak deck and secured bilge access boards with latches.
14. Installed six teak handrails throughout salon.
15. Installed Contest 101 cockpit bulkhead mount compass with clear back viewable from inside.
16. Enclosed open lockers behind salon settee backrests and added teak locker doors.
17. Installed gasket-sealed chain locker door.
18. Installed a Henderson MK 5 manual bilge pump below companionway.
19. Replaced entire 12V DC electrical system and added 120v AC system.
20. Installed lee-cloths on main salon bunks.
21. Raised sink 1-inch to stop flooding when heeled and installed seacock.
22. Added a second electrics locker outboard of old icebox location.
23. Added a Lagun adjustable cabin table.
24. Installed 1/4″ tinted plexiglas sliding doors on teak frame fronting galley shelves.
25. Replaced galley drawers with door access for enlarged storage and added shelf in locker under stove.