Triton Production History
Triton Hull Numbers and other facts
January 15, 2002
A Northrop and Johnson ad in the Aug '60 "Yachting" cites these Triton production notes:
Introduced - Jan l959
Sales to June 1960 173
Production schedule - 3 boats weekly
Price - $9590 for the sloop
December "Motor Boating" cites #187 as being finished
as of that month.
Other data from NETA member Dave Sykes (#561, Talisman):
#300 - spar anodized and teak trim added
#382 - (1961) keel widened, draft increased 1-1/2"
and lead encapsulated inside keel
? - 1962 - main cabin headliner added
#651 - new deck mould, added 2" headroom forward and
full headliner.
Deleted opening ports (2) in doghouse. Added mahogany toe
rail.
#708 - last hull built in 1968
From my files, the correct weight of Bristol boats is not the frequently cited 6930 figure. In the 1961 issue of the Improvement Bulletin, I put a copy of a letter from Pearsons' Bruce Colemer to me, dated 3/29/67 in which he states that the 6930 figure was "probably taken off the original lines drawing as a displacement figure; however, due to certain stages of construction, the actual displacement has increased approximately 1500 pouinds. If the older Tritons were to be weighed, they would also weight approximately 8400 pounds. ". Don't feel bad if you thought the 6930 figure was right. Ev Pearson quoted it to me one day and when I told him that his production people at the the factory had told me that the correct figure had been discovered to be some 1500 pounds more, he said: "You mean to tell me that we have been giving away an extra 1500 pounds of stuff all these years without charging for it?"
The subject of numbering of Sausalito boats has been a mystery for many of us. I have a letter from, Dr. Phyllis Van Vleet, NTA Commodore back in the late 70's. In a letter dated Oct 19, l977, she says" I think my boat is the first Sausalito built Triton, #92. We have 5 in the 400 series and I'm not quite sure whether these are Sausalito on not. Other Sausalito boats are: 93, 94, 96, 101, 103, 106, 107, 141, 143, 144, 149, 150, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 244, 245, 248, 250, 25l, 252, 254, 255, 256, 257, 257, 260, 26l, 262, 263, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 357, 358, 359, 360, 362, 363, 367, 368, 369, 372, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 388 and 393. "
[Update 8/04: John Donovan writes, "I just read your history of Tritons....and DR van Vleet is quoted as saying her hull # 92 is probably the first one built at Sausalito,Ca. The boat I just bought was trucked to the East Coat by an IBM emplyee who was transferred east. It was bought by the owner previous to me in 1990 when the then current owner was transferred to Japan. My boat is "Documented"...stating it is hull # 89 built in 1960 at Sausalito. Therefore , I may have the first Triton built by Aeromarine.]
The good doctor goes on to note that there may be "a few in there that are Eastern - but only 2 or 3. We have fiberglass coamings." In a talk to the New England Triton Club, Mr. Pearson told us that the company did not like several thiungs Sausalito did and that the feeling at the factory was that they could build a better boat in Bristol - and sell it at the same price - even if they had to truck it across the country. I recall that he was bothered by Sausalito making boats with different mast heights and boom lengths for various areas of the West Coast. I canot see why that bothered him; Bristol boats had spars of varying dimension over the years. If any of you Californians are interested, my last address for Dr. Van Vleet was 243 Asilomar Blvd., Pacific Grove, Ca 93950. I have no phone number for her.
Best wishes, Bill Bell
May 23, 2000
Neither the forward bronze vent nor the Lunenberg stove were originally supplied by Pearson. I know this from original Pearson shipping specs and price lists.
More Ancient History - from a tape I made at Ev Pearson's address to the New England Triton Assn on Mar 2, '77: "We worked 3 1/2 days straight to get the first boat ready for the New York Show, slept aboard. Loaded it at 2 AM, rode the truck to NYC, the engine still not wired!" At that time, Pearson was down to 9 employees and could not some up with the cash for the $1500 balance of the display fee for the NYC Show until a family friend came up with the cash. They came back from the Show with 18 cash deposits, all sales direct - no dealers. "We came close to never having our boats."
This talk had much on Pearson's work in developing construction standards for fiberglass: "We designed the hull laminate from the waterline down so that the boat, laid over on its side with the entire weight of the boat resting on the keel and one square inch of the hull would yield not more than 1/2 inch and produce no structural damage to the boat".
For you WC readers, Ev said "Bristol (Pearson in Rhode Island) allotted a series of numbers to Sausalito. Not all the numbers were used." "A variety of rigs were used on WC boats - we didn't approve. Sausalito insisted on bigger rigs - more SA for Southern Ca. boats and smaller rigs for the San Francisco boats."
From the last Improvement Bulletin which I edited in l996, there are some hull numbers of certain changes in East Coast boats.
#100 - last Bristol boat to have tapered masts.
#115 - first boats with 12v generators.
#144 - headliner in main cabin. There may be earlier boats w/ headliners, this is earliest verifiable hull #.
#195 and 202 report no headliners.
#300 - anodized spar and teak trim.
#350 - Appx. hull no. for switch to outside ballast. Headliner.
#354 was ordered 31 Dec 61, shipped Mar 1, 1962.
#382 - keel widened, draft increased 1".
#404 - deep bilge.
#600 Greater hull thickness - appx 1/2" (Art Hall)
#651 added 2" more headroom in fwd cabin, deleted fwd ports in doghouse. Added toe rail.
#708 shipped May 8, 1968.
#709 was built in 1969, two years after #707. Built for a Pearson foreman. Had dinette and shower but only 5'5" headroom in main cabin. (Art Hawes).
I have been unable to find out the starting date or hull number for the opening seat lockers in the cockpit. This seems like a good time for a word or two about the forward lower shroud discussions that go on and on. I believe that they all came about as a result of the short-lived use of tapered masts in the early days of the Triton. My boat - #41 had a kit for installing forward lowers that had never been used. When I asked the original owner about them, his story was that the original, tapered mast had flexed and that the factory had sent all owners the kits.
In the case of #41, the original mast had been lost at Pearson when the boat had gone back for service when it was five or six years old. Pearson gave the owner one of the new, non-tapered masts and it has been sailing well ever since. This year, "Kialoa" will be 40 years old and the stick is just fine, thank you. I do know that anyone can get "spooked" by leaning against the mast when running at night in a good breeze.
I sail alone about a third of the time and running on auto-tiller at night leaves you plenty of time to worry about containers floating awash and so on. A good masthead anemometer cures fears about wind speed at night; you think the mast is surely going to get blown over the side... and then step below and see that you are running in a perfectly normal smart breeze of wind!
I do suggest paying careful attention to tangs. I had the jib tang let go one night, sailing through Woods Hole with everything up and a tyro with me. A few brisk minutes were spent getting sorted out.
Best wishes, Bill Bell
November 30, 1999
In my notes from a talk given by Ev Pearson to the New England Triton Assn, Mar 2, 1977, Ev said that Bristol allotted a series of numbers to Sausalito. He said that not all the numbers were used. He went on to say that there were a variety of WC rigs; Sausalito wanted larger rigs for the southern boats and smaller for the Bay boats. He said there were many WC rigging failures due to inadequate inspection.
At the time the Sausalito boats were being built, Pearson had acquired the old Herreschoff plant, complete with their X-ray equipment with which they were checking all Pearson rigging parts 100%.
And a note from me as IB Editor; I have had many queries from owners who do not know the original numbers of their boats. These people claim that the numbers stamped into the main beam are obliterated, etc... so this roils the waters even more.
Best wishes - Bill Bell
November 16, 1999
Dear Charles - please tell me what this "article about Tritons" is that you mention. I am afraid that as time passes, a lot of silly nonsense is collecting about the history of our boats. I recently wrote a new owner that some of his advisors were getting their advice from the wrong end of the horse.
I have even heard that # l disappeared somehow, that #3 collapsed and so on. Another was sold in desperation by the factory because they had no money. I have had my boat, "Kialoa", #41, for some 33 years. I wrote the Improvement Bulletin since 1970 and was the founder of the New England Triton Association.
Ev Pearson attended some of our meetings and I have a good tape of one of his talks on early history. Ev says that they came back from the first NYC boat show with 18 deposits on boats. A story has been circulating on the net as to how the 1st boat went to NYC by box car. Nonsense; it went on a trailer. It is true that Ev and 2 other guys worked on it on the way down to the show. The engine never got wired up - but the overall impression was excellent. It is true that Ev had to borrow $1500 from a family friend to pay the final payment on getting into the show. At that time Pearson was running pretty slow - they were down to about 6 employees and Ev and Clint were putting in work weeks in excess of 80 hours!
Another tidbit; I have letters in my files from George Wolga of Ithaca, NY, telling me of experiences with his yawl, Triton #1.He has corresponded with the original owner, Charles Mower of Old Greenwich, Conn.
I have never, ever heard of a Triton leaving the Rhode Island plant with an outboard motor installed. Possible Sausalito sold some that way - but not Bristol.--The very first literature and price list cited two engine choices, the Atomic Four and I think it was a Kermath single cylinder job, the "Sea Pup" as I recall. (Too lazy to dig out the sheet from my files upstairs)
And another tidbit for you is that the first weight quotation of about 6500# came from Evs' guesstimate of what the fiberglass version of the original wooden design might come to. It was only years later that they actually put one of the boats on a scale and, as they told me, they discovered that they had been giving away some 1500 pounds of stuff with every sale for some years!--Good luck with your Triton.
Best wishes, Bill Bell
Bill Bell
Bill
Bell founded NETA in 1976, and spent many years as editor
of the venerable NTA Improvement Bulletin. He
purchased hull #41 Kialoa in 1967. Kialoa
is currently for sale in Maine.
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