Albin 25 tow vehicles in Europe

[DesertAlbin736]

I am going to have to ask you about trailer choice next, be warned. I am beginning to think that I am very unlikely to find an A25 with a trailer.

Amen. I'm not familiar with sources for trailers in Canada. Perhaps dkirsop is the better person to ask on that account. Main thing is a trailer should be rated to carry weight of the boat, which for an Albin 25 is somewhere around 2,000 kg give or take. So I'd say minimum 6,000 lb/2,700 kg combined gross weight rating of boat+trailer. Next choice is between aluminum or galvanized steel. I'd avoid painted steel unless you're strictly fresh water and especially if you're launching & recovering frequently in salt water. Aluminum can be a good choice, but in my case I've had to deal with issues of metal fatigue & weld failures on my now 21 years old trailer. If I had it to do over & had to pick my own trailer rather than what I inherited from previous owners I'd go with galvanized. Rollers vs bunks is a matter of personal choice, but bulk of the weight of the boat should be primarily supported by the keel, either resting on cross member rollers or a board. Tongue length should be long enough that the boat can be floated off without backing the truck too far into the water, and/or the bunks or rollers should be such that it could be launched & recovered with a crane or Travelift.

With my previous wing keel sailboat it sat so high on the trailer that we had to "strap launch" since it didn't have a tongue extension. Even with the 14 foot strap we had to roll the trailer so far in the back wheels of the truck were at water's edge. The procedure there was 1) back down to the edge of the water, 2) stop & chock the trailer wheels & unhook the trailer, 3) attach a 14 ft tow strap between truck & trailer, 4) pull the truck forward to take up the slack on the tow strap & take pressure off the wheel chocks, 5)pull the chocks & let the trailer back down (the trailer had a set of fixed dolly wheels that kept it from fish tailing) enough for the boat to float off, 6) pull the trailer back out of the water, reverse the procedure to remove the strap & re-attach the hitch, and 7)take the truck & trailer back to the parking lot.

Try strap launching this baby sometime! Not to mention stepping and un-stepping the mast. Note that the water line was nearly 4 feet above ground & the short distance from the bow of the boat to the trailer hitch. That's why we now have an Albin 25. This is the boat we harbor hopped up from San Diego to Los Angeles & out to Catalina Island. I digress a bit, but on the 2012 harbor hop run we saw dolphins swim right up to our boat, one even swam under us.

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When we bought that boat in 2008 the painted trailer looked like this (modeled by my lovely Admiral). All the while we owned this boat & sailed on our home lake we kept it stored in this space at the mast up storage lot next to the ramp, launching & recovering each and every time we went sailing. The choice was between paying $87 a month for dry storage or $360 a month for a wet slip in the marina.

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That year we put the boat in a slip in Chula Vista, CA on San Diego Bay for the summer (we had hauled the 8,300 lb boat+trailer the 360 miles to San Deigo with a 1/2 ton Chevy Tahoe SUV) & brought the trailer home to work on refurbishing it on weekends when we weren't on the boat. At the time we lived in a house where I could park it at home to work on and a shop that had a 220V large tank air compressor. I personally sand blasted every square inch of the trailer down to bare metal & primed & repainted it.

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When finished it looked like this.

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Goes without saying a trailer for an A25 should be at least tandem axle, and I'd go with load range E tires even if you could get away with D range. It wouldn't matter for a yard trailer where distance trailering isn't a factor, but for highway use my theory is that one tire should be rated to handle one half the weight of the trailer (less the tongue weight) in case one tire fails the other has to carry the weight of that side of the trailer. At least with a boat trailer, unlike an RV trailer, you can see the wheels in your rear view mirror & know right off when one goes flat or blows out. Losing both tires on one side at highway speed could be disastrous. I favour disc brakes over drums, and if you can afford it electrically operated hydraulic brakes, aka "electric over hydraulic". Surge brakes are OK for the most part, but electric/hydraulic would be better.

[Dieselram94]

I've heard that Builders' advertised hull weights are often not accurate, but 5000lbs versus 3500 is ridiculous. Not an issue here as we tow with a Dodge 250 Diesel that will tow the DuNORD ANTWHERE. It's an old 1993 12-valve Cummins and this truck is a WAY better tractor than the 2000 Silverado gasser it replaced. The Silverado 330 ci (?) v-8 couldn't pull our old Shearwater Yawl up the western mountains with the AC running without overheating. The Dodge has the torque to tow up a mountain without downshifting from third to second gear (automatic).

That’s a awesome truck, they sure don’t build them like that anymore! My 1994 12 valve has about 431,000 miles on it, and that motor is showing no signs of getting tired. Simple, cheap to work on and excellent fuel economy!

[Bob Noodat]

Ask and you shall receive!  Thanks for all that wisdom, Willie and DA.

Willie, you are right. I have more experience with classic cars than boats, but I long since learned that the cheapest classic is the well restored one, almost no matter the price. The typical ad for one always contains something like "$65,000 in receipts. Price now reduced to $20,000".  About the most expensive on the other hand is the time capsule that has not been driven in 20 years: you will end up restoring everything. However, there is always a budget, and always a wife to enforce it.... although I try to be sneaky...... so there is a cap on what I can pay.

I came close to buying an A25 last year. But the wonderful pictures turned out to be 14 years old, and it had not been in the water since. Out in heavy snow pack country all that time with wind blowing snow and rain into the cockpit.. I shall draw a veil over it. And, the price would have been fair for a running boat, as I thought it would be. It cost me $500 just to see it. Lesson maybe learned.

I hope to have as good an A25 acquisition story as yours one day, hopefully soon.

[Bob Noodat]

Thank you, DA,  that's good information.

Trailer in galvanized I agree. Aluminium is expensive, and the Magnesium Chloride on our winter roads does a surprisingly good job of pinholing through aluminium. Weight rating sounds good. Discs first choice if affordable, electric over hydraulic I'd dearly like, but are said to be very dear.

We have an O'Day 20 sailboat now on a good trailer. Bunks no rollers. But it weighs less than 1800 lbs and draft is only 14" or so. It is still floating when the bow hits the front stop, since I back well down the ramps.  Looking at the Swedish videos of A25 launching and retrieval I linked in the first post in this thread, looks to be all rollers, and he keeps his wheel hubs way out of the water.  I like the look of his unhurried technique, but he certainly gives his little electric winch a workout!

At the moment I am interested in  a US boat with no trailer, out east. I think I would try and find a trailer dealer at my destination and have a trailer ready bar the fine tuning. One question: about how far from the bow stop should the tandem axle centre be? The A25 I looked at last year was way too nose heavy;  it looked as if the axles needed to move forward a good foot.

I like your thinking on the tires (or tyres as I should write that, being Canadian). This is all horse's mouth material for sure. Fodder, in fact. I shall chew it over.

[DesertAlbin736]

One question: about how far from the bow stop should the tandem axle centre be? The A25 I looked at last year was way too nose heavy; it looked as if the axles needed to move forward a good foot.

This arrangement has worked well for us. Note that the axles are approximately under where the engine is. This trailer is probably longer than most used for A25's, but we need every bit of that tongue length when launching. Even then it has to be backed in to where the water's edge is at the back end of the driver's door to float it off. Rule of thumb is that about 10% of the trailer's weight should be on the hitch to prevent fishtailing. So on a 6,000 lb/2,700 kg rig about 500 to 600 lbs/270 kg should be resting on the hitch. I have not actually measured the weight on my hitch, but this rig tracks straight as an arrow. Down here of course salting roads is not an issue. Any reputable trailer dealer will know all this stuff.

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[DesertAlbin736]

At the moment I am interested in a US boat with no trailer, out east.

Actually about the largest concentration of Albin 25 boats seems to be in British Columbia. If you were looking for one in Canada, here's one that I believe is still for sale in Gananoque, ON, on the St. Lawrence in the Thousand Islands region a few miles NE of Kingston. At least you wouldn't have to deal with importation.

https://moreboats.com/boats/albin/25-deluxe/309735

We've met the owner and actually got a ride on his boat during a visit in 2017. He's been looking to buy a larger trawler. This boat is actually quite nice. His name is Stephen. Tell him I sent you.

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[Bob Noodat]

Thanks for all that, DA. I guess balance point must vary with several factors. Engines alone can vary by a couple of hundred pounds. Swim platforms, aft cabin gear. Etc. I presume that on most boat trailers moving the axle a foot or so either way is fairly simple. If I drive across North America for a boat, I'll be on a tight turnaround, so won't want to spend days messing with trailer set-up.

Hopefully it won't come to that, and I'll find one next door. Great if I could. So far that is where I have seen fewest for sale.

[Dieselram94]

I got lucky, when I decided to buy a 25 I placed a wanted ad on craigslist. My only response came s few days later, and I bought it the following Saturday for a hell of a good price. I hope you can find something local like I did.

[Bob Noodat]

I got lucky, when I decided to buy a 25 I placed a wanted ad on criagslist. My only response came s few days later, and I bought it the following Saturday for a hell of a good price. I hope you can find something local like I did.

Good idea. I'll do exactly that, thanks!

[dkirsop]

If you go to this link and scroll down you will see how I set up my trailer http://www.albinowners.net/aog/viewtopi ... it=trailer I prefer hot dip galvanized steel as it is compatible with my limited skills and resources. Some of the small parts that I made I sent to Vancouver for hot dip galvanizing. If you are buying a new trailer then upgrading to disc brakes and LED lighting is most affordable as you are only adding on the differential in cost from whatever is offered as standard. Good luck with your search.

[Bob Noodat]

If you go to this link and scroll down you will see how I set up my trailer http://www.albinowners.net/aog/viewtopi ... it=trailer I prefer hot dip galvanized steel as it is compatible with my limited skills and resources. Some of the small parts that I made I sent to Vancouver for hot dip galvanizing. If you are buying a new trailer then upgrading to disc brakes and LED lighting is most affordable as you are only adding on the differential in cost from whatever is offered as standard. Good luck with your search.

Well! That's where I need to go! Thanks for the link. I need to give that thread a good purr-ooze.

BTW, a quick scan of that thread shows DA saying his A25 on aluminium trailer scaled at 6,850lbs.... now, that's what I had guessed they would weigh, actually I had guessed 7000lbs on a galvanized trailer, so no doubt I was spot on!. I keep telling my wife that I'm always right, here's more proof!

[NickScheuer]

DesertAlbin736:

I replied to your post concerning your Mini Loop, but apparently it didn't take.

We might very well be interested in joining you.

One consideration is that we have a medium-large dog who is not welcome in restaurants, so we look for sidewalk cafes. She is not left alone on our boat, either. Having done the Champlain Canal several years ago, we would be most interested in the Rideau Canal and kthe E end of Lk Ontario. Our transmission gave out at Albany so we did not proceed west on the Erie Canal.

What is your anticipated departure date?

[WillieC]

"I keep telling my wife that I'm always right, here's more proof!"

(I suspect she's not dubious from lack of proof...HA! I was always a hit in social gatherings until smart phones provided real-time fact checking. That, and I got old.)

Don't forget DA has a mast and a sail with rigging he stows on the trailer. I like the 7000# number, just the same.

[DesertAlbin736]

Note, in an earlier thread I had once mentioned 6,850 lbs as boat+ trailer weight. I had mistakenly & dsylexcially recalled that from memory & later found the ticket in my files which recorded the weight as 6,058.

[Bob Noodat]

"I keep telling my wife that I'm always right, here's more proof!"

(I suspect she's not dubious from lack of proof...HA! I was always a hit in social gatherings until smart phones provided real-time fact checking. That, and I got old.)

Don't forget DA has a mast and a sail with rigging he stows on the trailer. I like the 7000# number, just the same.

It has been said, by someone I feel sure, that genius is very close to idiocy. My wife and I just disagree about where exactly to draw the line.

I have already told her I was right about this. I am sorry, but these latest contributions have come too late for publication.