Newbie with 25 motorsailer, Mobile, AL

[BrookeMarie]

Thank you Orenda! I nearly bought a 27', very nice boats. If I had bigger family I may have. I would love to cruise the Great lakes one summer.

[BrookeMarie]

Not sure if I can do it again but, here are a couple pics when I first looked at her. Not much has changed. Haha

IMG_8961.JPG

IMG_8960.JPG

[WillieC]

Looks like you figured out the picture posting. I started to write you but there are plenty of gotchas, you just have to try and see what goes wrong, unless you are pretty tech savvy.

Oh, wow! I just discovered the new drag and drop feature that comes free with the format update. Thank you, John Collins! The "place inline" feature, which took me a few months to figure out, still works like a charm. Very nice!

That is a great picture of your boat on the hard. I can clearly see the difference to ours which is the Super Duper DeLuxe model with the slight curve at the stern chine.

IMG_0839.JPG

As to the trailer issues, we had a new King trailer, made locally out here in the PNW, semi-customized to fit our boat. Cost around 6k. It is hot dip galvanized with 4 disc brakes, one of which I have already had to replace. Found out there are better brakes available, live and learn. The surge back up solenoid never did work, and by the time I got it back to the local marina where we bought the trailer, it was out of warranty. Long story and they lost a future customer. Ours uses bunks, not rollers. I can take a bunch of pics for you if you like. Let me know what you are looking for. The boat is currently on the trailer, hope to launch in a few weeks, as soon as I reinstall the engine, finish up the paint and repair everything else I broke!

[DesertAlbin736]

Nice pics! You boat is very similar to ours, with the mast step right up against the windshield, so it gives me an idea of what it would look like with the mast installed. It also has the same Yanmar instrument panel and the s/s 'destroyer' type steering wheel like yours, except ours has teak spoke handles. Our mast currently sits stored on sawhorses next to our house. So far I've been afraid to attempt stepping the mast for fear of damaging the windshield if I happened to slip, and anyway the whole idea was to get away from having to deal with a mast in the first place.

If your boat is still up on blocks like that, I might suggest putting one or two more sets of blocks under the keel to support it, and maybe a couple more pairs of stands.

The gelcoat quality on these boats was excellent, and unless yours was severely neglected and allowed to oxidize beyond recovery, compounding and polishing should be able to bring back a mirror shine to the hull.

By the way, I don't know if you've seen this schematic of the sailing rig installation, and if not, here it is for your information.

A25 mast install from manual.jpg

Another thing I noticed while looking at your photos, looks like previous owners let the hand rails go natural grey without oiling or varnishing. What we've done with ours is remove the hand rails, strip the old varnish off, sand to bare wood, and do varnish over Epoxy, using West system 105 epoxy resin & 207 special clear hardener followed by several coats of varnish. Then we made Sunbrella covers to protect them. We did that two years ago & they still look like new, even though the boat is stored in 100+ degree desert heat and max UV. If you wanted to go the varnish route I would recommend varnish over epoxy and having Sunbrella covers.

[DesertAlbin736]

Going back to your U-joint & thrust bearing vibration issue in an earlier post, does the U-Joint (or more likely a CV joint) look anything like this? (click on photo to zoom in)

Aqua Drive_markup2.jpg

If so, could the problem be with the rubber mounts on the thrust bearing collar? I guess the only way to tell would be to run the engine under load with the engine box open so you could see if there's movement. If it is an Aqua Drive or similar unit to this it's unlikely to be U joint failure if the U-joint assembly is enclosed with a rubber boot like this that hasn't split open, and more likely to do with either motor mounts or the thrust bearing mounts. In this setup all the force of the prop pushing the boat is on that thrust bearing mount and not on the engine motor mounts. Or could it be a failure of the thrust bearing itself?

[jcamill55]

Desert albin what size prop do you use .I have the same engine I turn 2700 rpms ,and get 6.5 kts

[BrookeMarie]

Desert Albin,
Thank you again for all the good info. The boat has been in the water since the day I bought it. It is in need of a lot of cosmetic work. Time hasn't allowed for that work yet. The engine compartment has a bearing bolted to the rear wall or bulkhead. Let me further explain, it looks similar to your red circled thrust bearing except it is placed aft directly against the bottom wall of the engine compartment. There is no CV joint. It is a simple Universal joint as you might see on farm equipment. Has no boots or covers. I know I have photos, they must be on my old non functioning phone. I will get more soon. Thanks,
Jim

[DesertAlbin736]

jcamill55,

If I recall correctly our prop is a 16 x 12. Could be a 14 x 12, I'll have to look at it again. Either way we make 6.5 knots by GPS in calm water at 2,350 RPM. I don't try to push it anything above 2,400 RPM.

[DesertAlbin736]

You have a really nice looking boat, I like the hardtop with hatches over the helm.

Jim,

Thanks for the compliments on the hard top & hatches. That was one of the biggest projects I've done on the boat & the most fiberglass work I've ever done in making the hardtop and woodwork in fabricating the hatches. But it really makes things nice. Good ventilation with the hatches open, totally watertight with the hatches closed. FYI, the hatches are framed with Iroko, the tops made of an inner layer of birch ply & outer layer of marine grade teak veneer Okeume plywood grooved & caulked to simulate planking & finished with varnish over epoxy resin, the undersides painted in white Interlux deck paint & kept covered with Sunbrella covers. The hard top is through bolted to the roof on 8 inch centers & sealed with IBM 4200 removable adhesive sealant.