Buying an Albin 36, 1976

[TrawlerFun]

Looking at buyong a 1976 Albin 36, what are your thoughts on blisters on the hull, should I pay for a haulout to inspect ? Asking 33 K, everything I tested worked...

[jleonard]

In my opinion you should have the boat hauled out for inspection. There are many other things to inspect under a boat, especially an old boat.

[DCatSea]

For your own peace of mind - haul out and get surveyed, preferably (in an older hull) with thermal imaging.

[DesertAlbin736]

My wife and I recently researched the idea of 'upsizing' to a 34 to 36 foot Taiwan built trawler ourselves, of which an Albin 33 or 36 would be nice but are harder to find than other similar boats. In fact the Albin 36 is very similar in design, layout, & construction to other Taiwan built tri cabin trawlers of that era, so there's no reason to limit search to Albins. Which of course makes sense because Albin 36's were built in Taiwan and most were powered with Ford Lehmans just like all the other CHB, Marine Trader, Puget Sound, Universal, DeFever, etc trawlers, and were not built in Sweden like the A25 or USA like A27. For a number of reasons we decided not to go through with that plan, mostly for financial and logistical considerations because the idea was to keep it up in the Pacific NW as a summer semi-live aboard cruise home but it turned out to be a bridge too far for our pocketbook when it came to off season care of a boat moored 1,500 miles away from home. We had gone as far as looking at a number of brokered boats while up in Washington State last summer.

Anyway, in addition to all the above mentioned advice another thing to check carefully is the condition of the fuel tanks. Most if not all Taiwan built trawlers including Albins had "black iron" mild steel welded fuel tanks, and if they get rusted out (usually from water leaks on the tops from deck leaks dripping down on top of the tank thereby necessitating replacement) it's a major overhaul job replace them which includes the need to cut the old tanks in pieces & pull the engine & tranny in order to get them out. Google "trawler fuel tank replacement" & you'll see. This is one of the better blog posts on the subject

http://savingtortuga.blogspot.com/2014/ ... ement.html


Otherwise all the caveats relating to 40+ year old boats apply. At least from what I've read Albin had on site QC inspectors at the building yards, since the Taiwan boat building industry of the 70s & early '80s was the 'Wild West'.

Good luck!!

ps, hint: if they're selling for $33K it likely has original fuel tanks, since if it they or previous owners had gone through the effort & expense of installing new tanks they would have mentioned it as a selling point & justification for a higher asking price way over $33K. If it does have new tanks & everything else looks good for $33K then you've got yourself a super deal.

[ppmeis]

That is the exact boat I have ,fresh water. I have owned it for 8 years and love it. Lehman diesel, bow thruster older electronics, some leaks and interior damage. Great bones. I paid about $25,000 in the middle of the winter under shrink wrap. No Survey, I paid cash and was not too worried. Two years ago I sanded one side of the bottom to the Gel, had the other side bead blasted,( too much work by hand) There were many tiny "pimples" not really blisters, they sanded off and became invisible under the multiple barrier coats. In my opinion and experience, don't worry about it! It's an old boat, if you want perfection spend 10 times the $33,000. Go for it, they are great boats!!

[RobS]

And spending that 10 times the amount only gets you bigger, more expensive problems and headaches, it does not get rid of them...