The Triton remains a landmark design on which many good sailors learned their craft. It’s also one of the rare 28-foot boats to have circumnavigated more than once.
Design and Construction
Alberg’s Triton is typical of boats drawn to the Cruising Club of America rule. She has low freeboard and a tall cabin trunk that looks rather ungainly in profile but provides real headroom below.
The hull and deck were integrally molded as a single unit of fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin, while the deck carries a balsa core. The builder claimed that the hull laminate below the waterline was engineered to deflect no more than half an inch without structural damage if the boat lay on its side with its entire weight resting on the keel and a small patch of hull.
Practical Sailor measured the hull at about 3/8-inch thick near the rail, perhaps 3/4-inch in the keel area, and about 5/8-inch where transducers are drilled. Early boats carried external lead ballast. After roughly hull #385, cast lead was lowered into the keel cavity and glassed over, widening the keel. Voids around this ballast cavity are commonplace on boats with internal ballast.
The rudder is mahogany, fastened with bronze drift pins. It rides in a bronze shoe that should be checked for electrolysis.
Rig and Handling
The original rig was a three-quarter fractional sloop with jumper struts, which make the Triton easy to identify at a distance. A shorter masthead rig appeared later but didn’t perform as well. Pearson also built a number of yawls, shortening the main mast by two feet and the boom by one foot.
Early boats left the factory with single lower shrouds, which proved inadequate. After about hull #120, double lower shrouds became standard, and retrofit kits were sent to existing owners.
The long keel has a well-pared forefoot. It provides excellent directional stability and minimizes leeway, though by modern standards the hull has a lot of wetted surface. The Triton heels quickly to about 15 degrees and then stiffens. She tracks well and is surprisingly quick despite her short waterline, which lengthens nicely when heeled.
The large mainsail and small foretriangle produce weather helm under working sails. Reverse is also unpredictable because the long keel places the propeller in an aperture. Even so, test sailors found the Triton very forgiving, especially for beginners.
Accommodations
By using fiberglass, Alberg gained a roomy interior comparable to that of a wooden 35-footer. The main cabin has more than six feet of headroom, although the forward step in the coachroof reduces it considerably.
The layout sleeps four, with a private cabin forward and bunks in the saloon. Opposing fore-and-aft settees flank a folding table, and a private, if small, head sits forward to port. A pair of forward-facing opening portholes at the coachroof step is the interior’s best feature.
The galley is at the foot of the companionway, with the sink to starboard. An insulated icebox can be reached from either the cockpit or below. Early Tritons had no headliner. Later boats gained a gel-coated fiberglass liner in the main cabin, but the forward cabin remained bare.
The furniture is plywood covered with plastic veneer intended to resemble teak. The teak sole rests on wooden beams, which can rot if the bilge remains wet.
Known Issues
Some of the earliest Tritons had side-opening seat lockers. These are dangerous unless modified to seal tightly.
The early single lower shrouds were inadequate, and several rigging-tang failures have been reported. The spreader sockets are aluminum sand castings that can break without warning.
Another documented weakness is the limited load capacity of the beams beneath the deck-stepped mast. Numerous owners report that the deck has caved in below the mast. Repair requires unstepping the spar and installing stronger beams. More generally, the deck is known to be weak and can separate from the hull in places.
The bronze rudder shoe needs to be checked for electrolysis. Movement in the wood during haul-out can also open cracks in the mahogany rudder, prompting many owners to build replacements.
The main-cabin windows are nearly too large, and storm shutters should be considered. The plywood icebox, with its thin Styrofoam insulation and side-loading door, is poor. A persistently wet bilge can also rot the wooden beams beneath the sole.
Refits and Ownership
Repowering has most often meant installing Universal’s four-cylinder diesel in place of the standard 30-hp Atomic 4, which easily drives the boat at a little more than six knots. The engine’s front end is accessible by removing the companionway ladder.
Repairing the mast-support beams is the major structural refit. Rudder rebuilds are also common, sometimes using fiberglass or adding a squared, deeper trailing edge to reduce weather helm.
East Coast hulls have wooden coamings and trim, while West Coast rigs often departed from the original design.
For a used-boat owner, the Triton is considered the smallest and most affordable offshore boat available. Many examples have made safe trans-oceanic passages.
The Verdict
The Pearson Triton is a foundational fiberglass cruiser-racer. Its Alberg hull combines forgiving, seakindly handling with proven offshore capability, but the rig and deck deserve careful inspection. This is no lightweight modern racer. Still, its directional stability, roomy cabin for the length, and documented circumnavigations make it a sensible entry into traditional sailing.
Pros
- Landmark early fiberglass design with a strong offshore pedigree
- Roomy interior for a 28-footer, including more than six feet of headroom in the main cabin
- Forgiving handling and excellent directional stability from its CCA-derived hull
Cons
- Weak deck structure at the mast step and known hull-to-deck separation
- Early rigging deficiencies, along with failure-prone spreader sockets and tangs
- Balsa-cored deck, wooden sole beams, and plywood icebox require careful moisture control
