28 TE Tips?

[chiefrcd]

Anyone have any tips or " fixes" that you've come across regarding the Albin 28 TE. I've found a few that I've not seen anywhere else that I'll share, would be great for you guys that have owned them for a while to share any cost savings or work saving tips you discovered.

Cockpit hatch seals. My cockpit hatches leak like there is no tomorrow. Washing the boat or taking on heavy seas, I can fill up my bilges. I went to the local hardware store and got some 5/8"x3/8" outdoor rubber window seals. It must have taken me 20 mins. tops to do all my hatches....and what a difference it makes. Cost..$21.00.

Standing water in bilge: My forward most bilge pump was directly under the cabin bilge access. I could see a lot of water standing in front of that pump that was not being pumped out. I took a hand pump and 5 gal. bucket and pumped out about 7 gals. of water that stayed in the boat all the time. I placed a small bilge pump as far forward as I could and hooked it to the wiring for the shower sump. I can now pump my bilges dry by cutting on the shower sump pump on the 12volt. panel.
Cost about $40.00

Not a cost saving but safety tip: I'm a big guy and have always been uncomfortable with the knee high railings around the front of most boats. On my Ablin I had a 22" high railing installed around the edge of my cabin top. From the windshield post on the port side, around and over the cabin hatch to the windshield post on the starbord side. What a difference it makes when you have to go forward. I can go directly from the roof top grab rails to the cabin top rails and around the boat without having to use the outside railing......Cost about $300.00

Lastly, my marina buddy who has a Albin 28 TE Yanmar just paid $800.00 for an alternator. For you folks with the Yanmars, you probably know by now the parts are out of site as far as prices. I did a little web search and found the exact same alternator for $349.00 plus shipping - new. Oil filter cross references with a toyota truck filter...and I'm sure there are other parts we can find via aftermarket vendors. I do know for a fact that you can take the hoses to a hose manufacturing company and save big bucks by having your hoses made or cross referenced to a similar hose with the same specifications.

[jcollins]

Chief,
Thanks for the tips. My boat is still new to me and I have had some problems to deal with lately. (you may have seen my other posts)
Anyway, I'll look into the forward bilge water problem you mention. I never noticed much in there.
As far as the hatches that's good advice. I'll put that on the todo list.
As far as tips? Don't forget to check your fuel filters. Oh that's right, you guys had to remind ME. <smile>

[Elizabeth Ann]

So chief, you have 4 bilge pumps now?

Speaking of bilge pumps, I currently have my mid-ship bilge pump disconnected at the circuit board b/c I need to replace the float switch. It's stuck on. Any good idea how to access that, it's under the motor if my memory serves correctly.

[chiefrcd]

Counting the hand pump yes....and not counting the shower sump pump. I have one all the way forward against the bulkhead under the berth, one about mid ship but still in the cabin, one under the engine and the hand pump, which I figured just gives you something to do as you're boat sinks around you....

[Dave39]

Re your two tips of June 19. I also notice a lot of water in my bilges after washing the deck, but I'm unsure what your fix is.Does the seal sit on top of the inside edge and in effect raise it so the water more readily goes out the scupper? Secondly, your bilge pump/shower sump tip. Did you route the discharge hose to the shower sump box?

[chiefrcd]

Dave, my hatches leaked when I washed the boat too, that's where I noticed it first. On the 99's there is a lip that rises up to meet the hatch cover, I put the foam on this lip. The hatch then lays on the foam itself.

If you haven't noticed it, the drainage system for the cockpit is really a poor design. I'm no Navel Architect but when more water runs in the boat than out....thats a problem.... ( I think the newer boats have a different hatch design that is better sealed). Anyway, I get less water in the boat, so it works to some degree. Also more water actually comes out of the hatch cracks and runs out the rear scuppers, when I'm hosing her down. I also occassionally stick one thumb into the forward hatch drains next to my engine box and the hose nozzle into the rear hatch drain hole, this flushes out the drain lines...which stop up very easily. The thumb is necessary as they are tied together on my boat and if you just stick the nozzle in one hole, water just runs out of the other, and into the boat again.

Regarding the bilge pump, I disconnected my shower sump as it was cracked and used the hose for the forward most pump. When I haul the boat this winter, I'll replace the shower sump and run a new discharge hose. I do not use the shower in the boat as I have a stern shower with hot and cold water and its so much less of a mess.

[JackK]

On my 2003 28TE, each deck washing is a bilge cleaning. It has become a bit of a pet peave.

What kind of rubber seal and where did you install it. On the bottom of the lid or the top of deck flange? Do you have any photos?

On my flush deck, the dealer completed a factory retrofit for the drain on the center box. The original was plumbed up hill to a thru hull on the starboard side. The new is a 4" pvc pipe which acts as a receiver for the nipples from the deck drains and is plumbed directly starboard to a new thruhull. This works but the seam where the whole assembly comes down to the deck leaks like crazy.

Thanks,
Jack
"Dogonit"

[digitrade]

Do your cockpit hatches lead to a one inch hose on each side with a check valve at the stern just before it exits?

[JackK]

All of the deck hatch drains are plumbed together and exit at the stern. I don't remember seeing any check valve on them. I'll look when I get down to the boat.

I have made a set of plugs so that I can flush the drain lines without it just popping up somewhere else. I used the thumb in hole method for awhile but the plugs are a little more elegant. The clogs are not the source of my water in the bilge problem.

The drains do plug easily but to be honest my dog is the major problem. She's a 9 yr old Lab who sheds non-stop. I find dog hair in very strange places on the boat. If I could get a good seal on the deck hatches I think I could prevent most if not all of it from washing into the bilge.

Jack

[chiefrcd]

I'll try to remember to bring my camera down and get some pic, but heres' what I did. It has not stopped all the water, but it was a great help in reducing it dramatically.

I went to my local hardware store and bought exterior foam rubber window/door seal. The exterior part is important. What I bought was 5/8" wide x 3/8" thick with adheasive on one side.... On my 99 Albin I have 6 exterior floor hatches in the cockpit. The three across the back seem to leak the worse as the vessel sits in the water with a slight bow up configuration. Anyway, there is a lip that the hatch sits on. This lip is where I put the gasket material. When you close the hatch the bottom side rest directly on top of the gasket material. After I put it on, it raised my hatches slightly, I fixed this by placing a large cooler on the hatch for a couple of days, which compressed the gasket material so the hatch fit flush. I did all the ramaining hatches. I have two hatches, one on each side of the engine box. These don't seal quite as well as they have a removeable compartment which also rest on the same lip. I put the gasket material on the top lip of the removable compartment, but I'm sure that some water gets into the bilge from the crack between the compartment lip and the lip that it rest on. I'm thinking of getting some really thin material and placing it on the back of the compartment lip which may well solve that issue as well. It would have to be really thin to keep the hatch from being raised up too high. I would also highly recommend installing the forward bilge pump. As I stated in an eariler post. Without it I carry 7 gals of dirty bilge water. I can now pump my bilge almost dry.

[JackK]

Thanks Chief,

That is what I was looking for. I was considering trying to remove the rubber gasket attached to the underside of the hatch cover and then replace it with a taller seal. That material is really stuck and I was afraid of butchering it.

I have the same inserts on the left and right of my center box. I was thinking of using your idea on the top of the insert and then putting a thinner rubber strip under the insert to create a sandwich.

I'm going to pick up a small pump for the bildge this week. I read on another forum of using a small piece of pvc pipe to lay in the 'V' of the bildge. You drill a line of 1/8" - 1/4" holes in only one side of the pipe and cover with a piece of screen. Place this pipe with the holes face down for a filtered input to the pump.

I've been using a wet vac to clean it after each weekend but it's a pain in the #ss.

thanks again,
Jack

[digitrade]

I agree that the lines running from the cockpit hatches are a problem. I found that before the lines exit the stern they run through a check valve which easily plugged. I removed the check valves, which I thought risky at the time.

Since then I have run the boat about 2,500 hours in all types of sea conditions. There has never been a problem with water washing back in even when backing down into a following sea.

I have had little problem with water overwhelming the drains except when we use a bucket to wash down the deck or we run a fast hose directly on the cover.

[jcollins]

All of the deck hatch drains are plumbed together and exit at the stern. I don't remember seeing any check valve on them. I'll look when I get down to the boat.

I have made a set of plugs so that I can flush the drain lines without it just popping up somewhere else. I used the thumb in hole method for awhile but the plugs are a little more elegant. The clogs are not the source of my water in the bilge problem.

The drains do plug easily but to be honest my dog is the major problem. She's a 9 yr old Lab who sheds non-stop. I find dog hair in very strange places on the boat. If I could get a good seal on the deck hatches I think I could prevent most if not all of it from washing into the bilge.

Jack

Jack,
I know what you mean. I have two Goldens and there is hair everywhere. You can try to seal it out but good luck.
I just spend a couple of hours every other weekend cleaning out the hair. The previous owner of my boat used a clear slicone caulk on the hatches. Works fine, no water. (yet) I mentioned earlier in this post that I don't have much water at all in the forward bilge. We have had quite a bit of rain here and not much at all.

[jcollins]

bump