My 1977 Albin 25 Deluxe rebuild thread

[dkirsop]

Ideally you should leave enough space between the end of the shaft and the rudder so you can change the prop without dropping the rudder. It simplified repairs when your propeller decides to munch on a foreign object.

[ssrig]

dkirsop, I couldn't get a puller onto the prop without removing the rudder, do you have a different type prop puller or do you have the nut in front of the prop like Williec?

[DesertAlbin736]

Speaking of holding tanks, what’s the best way to tell if it’s close to full? I assume get a visual and see liquid level through side of tank? I’ve never dealt with a holding tank or a pump out before.

The tanks are made of translucent plastic (polycarbonate?), so with a flashlight you can see where the liquid level is. Also both my old one & the new one that's in our boat now have inspection port/deck plates with transparent lids that can be viewed with a flashlight.

The cheapest & easiest solution would be a porta potty if you only plan to be on the boat for day trips & the occasional overnight. Pros: Simple installation, lowest cost option, no extra plumbing to install. Cons: Limited holding capacity, between 2.5 gallons to 5 gallons depending on model. You have to schlep the tank up & out of the boat to empty. Many marinas don't allow dumping porta potties in their rest room toilets, but you can take it home with you to empty in your home bathroom toilet. Some marinas do have potty dump facilities on the dock next to the pumpout stations. Some of the larger tank porta potty models also have the option of permanent install & hook up to regular marine pump out plumbing.

In our case the boat came with a Groco marine head & the 9 gallon holding tank, but we needed a larger tank for the extended cruises we've made, especially up in BC, Canada where pumpout facilities are few & far between in no-discharge waters. Also, the pumpouts up there often charge between $5 to $10 Canadian to use, often coin operated with "Loonie & Toonie" $1 & $2 Canadian coins respectively. Holding tanks are not cheap, I paid $325 for our 20 gallon one. Best place to order tanks where you can specify custom location of spin welded inlet & outlet fittings is Ronco plastics in Tustin, CA. The one I used was the B181 model, page 24 in their catalog, rectangular 30"L x 18" W x 10.5" H. My old 9 gallon tank would cost about $205 for a new one.

http://ronco-plastics.com/marinetanks.html

Does your head compartment already have a toilet installed already or no?

[dkirsop]

I have a standard puller which just fits when the rudder is turned full over to either side. However, there is no room in front of my prop for a shaft zinc. Instead I have to use a prop nut anode for protection.

[hetek]

I've seen both ways - with the zinc collar, like mine, and the nut anode. I also thought the collar was meatier but wanted the opportunity to be able to change it. I could always make the shaft shorter. My original shaft had the collar zinc also.

The washer is a 3/4" bronze thrust washer (1/8" thick). My cotter pin hole was unfortunately drilled through beyond the nut and not where the castle slots were to be. I had to fill the gap and the washer did the trick. It was either that or drill another cotter pin hole.

This nut had seen better days...

[hetek]

To answer DA's question... My head compartment is a blank slate. I even 'glassed over the old through hulls. Still deciding which way to "go". Get it? hahahahahaha!

[DesertAlbin736]

This nut had seen better days...

That's what the Admiral said when she first took one look at me!

Is it me, or is that a left hand turning prop? If so is the Vetus tranny left hand turning? I didn't know any others besides Volvos were left hand?

As far as the head, since you have a blank slate, there are several options, including composting heads, which by the way are technically dessicating heads, not true composters. The two most popular brands are Air Head & Nature's Head. Each runs about $1,000 . Besides price, the biggest downside for composters in an Albin 25 is the height difference between them & conventional marine toilets in a small head compartment like the A25. That and the fact that they need to run a low amperage vent fan 24/7.

Some discussion here:
http://www.threesheetsnw.com/blog/2011/ ... -part-two/

All depends on your budget & intended usage. As mentioned, porta potty is the easiest route if you're strictly weekender & not doing extended cruises and if you don't mine taking the tank out to dump into a toilet or other suitable receptacle.

Otherwise a compact manual head & holding tank is a good way to go.

WillieC turned me on to this book entitled "Get Rid of Boat Odors" by Peggie Hall, aka "The Head Mistress". Everything you need to know about marine sanitation systems & well worth getting.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Get-Rid-Boat ... b_title_bk

[hetek]

Good eye, DA. It is a LH prop.

The Vetus is coupled to a ZF Hurth gear which doesn't have a forward and reverse direction, per se. Hurth refers to them as direction "A" and "B". Both directions are designed for 100% power. The LH prop will use the "B" direction.

I ran the numbers through the boatdiesel.com calculators and it should be near optimal. If I find it's not, at least I'll have some good data to give my prop shop. If I need to buy a new one I won't rule out getting a RH one though.

[DesertAlbin736]

That's a big savings if you can keep the existing prop. Left hand prop means starboard prop walk when backing up in reverse. Actually from my experience prop walk with the A25 is not that bad. Generally speaking it'll back fairly straight with a slight tendency to turn with prop walk, which in your case would be to starboard where in the case of right hand prop would be to port. But it's difficult to make the stern go opposite the direction the prop walk wants it to and do much better than backing up straight. To some extent you can if you have enough room to get some steerage way on so the rudder has an effect. Otherwise once you get a little momentum going you can briefly shift to forward gear & with the rudder turned the way you want to go give it a short, sharp, burst of power to do a "rudder kick". Not enough to stop your astern momentum, but enough to push the stern over to point the way you want it to go. For example, if you're backing up & want the stern to go to port or stay straight instead of being pulled to starboard, once you get some way on put the helm hard over to port & give it a shot of forward power. Then center the rudder & go back to slow astern power.

In general if you're side tying to a dock it's better to have the dock on your port side so that when you want to back away from the dock your stern will more easily go to starboard.

Also, if you want to do a tight 180 degree turn ahead, with a left hand prop it's best to turn to port rather than starboard. Say for example you're in a relatively narrow fairway between rows of docks & you need to do a 180 turn. Start on the right hand side of the fairway. Put helm hard over to port & leave it there & start your turn. Give it a good shot of power to gain steerage. When you've turned about 90 degrees & are about halfway across the fairway (and assuming there isn't room to complete the full turn going forward), stop & shift into reverse keeping the wheel hard a-port, back up slowly (slow enough so prop walk is the dominant force rather than the rudder) & allow prop walk to pull the stern to starboard for a short distance. Then shift into forward again to continue the turn to port, with enough power to "rudder kick" the stern to starboard & the bow to port. You may have to do that several times depending on how much room you have plus effects of wind and/or current. We have to remember that with old school single screw/fixed prop & rudder we don't have the advantage of a I/O drive or outboard motor where the propeller can be "aimed".

[DesertAlbin736]

...backing up in reverse

Arggh! Just got a citation from the Department of Redundancy Department. :

[hetek]

Agreed, DA. Directional thrust is not an inboard's forte (like an I/O or outboard). Redirected thrust is more like it.

I've had two Penn Yan Tunnel drive boats which have a rather unique handling characteristic for a single screw inboard - no prop walk!

To back into a slip, you would line the boat up using forward gear and appropriate rudder input. When she was straight, just put it in reverse. No walk! Straight as an arrow. No directional control, either though. The rudder has zero effect in reverse gear. If it wasn't straight enough to your liking, repeat the above.

My 27FC had a bow thruster. Loved it, but it made me lazy. I'll have to learn to dock an Albin without one. Or else give Vetus or the Side-Power people a call!

[kerrye]

We use a porta portti and like it. A Thetford 965 if memory serves me right. We carry a spare 5 gallon bottom in the head also but can go for at least 2 weeks on one tank as we only use it for solids

[DesertAlbin736]

We use a porta portti and like it. A Thetford 965 if memory serves me right. We carry a spare 5 gallon bottom in the head also but can go for at least 2 weeks on one tank as we only use it for solids

A viable option to be sure. A few years ago we were invited by a friend to go along for a few days on a houseboat out on Lake Powell. The owner of the houseboat wasn't there but had let our friend use it as a base, so it had to stay put on its mooring off Wahweap marina. This was on a weekend in August, temps in the 90s. With five of us there the houseboat's holding tank filled up quickly & no way to get it pumped out. Another member of the party had brought a fish/ski cuddy cabin runabout along which had a porta potty, which of course it filled up as well. It was fun trying to find our way out to the right houseboat in the dark, but that's another story. At the end of the stay we arrived back at the dock via the powerboat & went to offload the full lower potty tank, and oops! the trap door handle got bumped & spilled the contents into the aft end of the runabout. Not fun!!! Lots of flush water & bleach at the ramp to clean it up. Moral of the story: handle carefully!

As far as backing up, just being a smaller boat compared to a 27 & larger helps. Also in certain cases use of spring lines also helps.

[hetek]

More potty talk -

The is another option. Let's just say, you never look inside the lone 5 gallon spackle bucket with the lid in the basement of a house under construction, for a reason.

'Nuff said.

[hetek]

No pictures yet, but the prop shaft is in! Yes!! Still adjusting motor mounts and aligning, but I'm very close.

In other news, I've been staring at my shell of an interior. Although my brother removed much of the old hull liner adhesive with a wire wheel on a grinder, there is still some residue I would like to clean up. It almost seems like a latex mastic.

Does anyone know of a solvent that will work without dissolving the fiberglass too?