Modifications, repairs and improvements, 28TE

[RobS]

Granite, does she list to port now?

All looks great! But is that a metal garbage can on the aft bunk cushion!

[Nancy's Promise]

That is my beer bucket.

[Norseman]

Interesting idea adding a cushion and back rest on the chart table.
Nicely done with your upgrades.
Didn’t you pull the engine also...?

Been absent from this forum for a while, completely forgot about checking stanchion bolts for corrosion and bonding the stanchions.
Now is a good time to do it, cooler weather and I am caught up on a few other projects in my life.
Will focus on the Odin again, although I did a detail job lately using a new (to me)
Kind of polymer polish made by Starbrite.
Now the boat is so shiny a few people actually stopped their boats on the canal to ask how I did it?
(Hired a detail guy, he worked 16 hours over 3 days while I sat in the shade drinking beer and supervising, good at that..)

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Not sure if the shine shows on this picture, but it is shiny.

[Norseman]

Had the boat one year, time for service: Changed oil and filter right at 12 months and 125 hours. Got a bit high on the dip stick, 5/8” above the “Full” dots. Well within the safety margins, or should I suck up 1/2 quart to make it right @ “Full”?

Drained the coolant using Port drain only, got 14 quarts out. Unable to open Starboard drain, instead poured a gallon of distilled water in the tank and drained it, it came out bright pink.
(Edit, 3 years later: Using only this drain, while adding and draining distilled water until it comes out clean and clear will take 5-6 hours to get all the old coolant out. I don’t care since I do it myself, but a contractor may be expensive
using this method)
Are we supposed to use both Port and Starboard drains? Not sure but I am not able to use the Starboard drain cock, Port only, seems to work ok, albeit slow.
Did the 6 engine and tranny pencil zinc today, 2 of them stuck: Oil cooler end-cap-zinc and tranny-fluid cooler zinc.
Got the end plate off the oil cooler and removed the old zinc, but the tranny cooler zink is still in therer. Got the Port raw water hose off and can see/touch the old zinc, trying to move it around with a needle nose plier, but it is stubborn and stuck:(
Trying to not remove the cooler..
Any ideas? (Besides dynamite)

[Norseman]

Got the stuck zink out, used the bronze plug with a screw inserted inside the hollow plug to push the zink back in so I could remove it from the opening.

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Umbrella for the morning sun fits right in the rod holder, brilliant..

[Capt Brad]

Norseman,
I’m going to try that new stuff called polyglow. It too is some high tech polymer. Saw it on shipshape a few years ago. Just going to use up my current supplies that came with the boat first. Too cheap to throw it away. I can live with the Albin haze another season!
Brad

[Norseman]

. I can live with the Albin haze another season!

Albin Haze?
I used Collinite Fleet wax previously and got the old tub pretty shiny but it burns off in the sun after a few months.
Trying this new stuff as the manufacturer swore up and down it should last 9 months...

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[Norseman]

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New dink yesterday, Achilles 260 Hypalon air floor, 64 lbs.
Will try it flipped up on da swim platform. Will also try to tow it and try it up on the roof.
Got a small 3.5 HP kicker coming, hoping it may fit in the transom storage, but doubt it..May have to build a bracket in the Starboard aft cockpit corner to store it while underway.
Any ideas..?

[Ben423]

I use an 8'6" rib on my 28TE with a custom-built bracket and engine hoist. I documented the project on my blog: www.cruisingboatdesigns.blogspot.com

[Norseman]

I use an 8'6" rib on my 28TE with a custom-built bracket and engine hoist. I documented the project on my blog: www.cruisingboatdesigns.blogspot.com

Read your blogspot, great ideas,
Hoping to avoid the crane issue with a light motor.
Tried to the dink in the cockpit, it actually fits on the Starboard side, lying on it’s Starboard side, bow facing the Albin’s stern and it was stable.
The plan is to run out to the islands with the dink onboard, then launch it and tow behind the mothership.
Still need to find a way to stow motor while underway. Will figure it out when it gets delivered in a day or two.
Also read about your upcoming project on fitting solar panels to the cabin top, it is also on my list of things to do.
Main concern is running wires and getting good watertight entries and exits. Seems the cabin top is hollow, but cored with plywood or balsa, but there must be some voids other wires, search light, antennas, etc.

[Norseman]

I use an 8'6" rib on my 28TE with a custom-built bracket and engine hoist. I documented the project on my blog: www.cruisingboatdesigns.blogspot.com

Read your blogspot, great ideas,
Hoping to avoid the crane issue with a light motor.
Tried to store the dink in the cockpit, it actually fits on the Starboard side, lying on it’s Starboard side, bow facing the Albin’s stern and it was stable.
The plan is to run out to the islands with the dink onboard, then launch it and tow behind the mothership.
Still need to find a way to stow motor while underway. Will figure it out when it gets delivered in a day or two.
Also read about your upcoming project on fitting solar panels to the cabin top, it is also on my list of things to do.
Main concern is running wires and getting good watertight entries and exits. Seems the cabin top is hollow, but cored with plywood or balsa, but there must be some voids other wires, search light, antennas, etc.

[Ben423]

On my boat, wiring for the radar and steaming light are in the SS arch and pass down through the starboard side of the cabin. There is an access panel just aft of the helmsman's seat so wiring the system will be pretty easy.

[Nancy]

I use an 8'6" rib on my 28TE with a custom-built bracket and engine hoist. I documented the project on my blog: www.cruisingboatdesigns.blogspot.com

Hi Ben -

Read your blog. Lots of great-looking projects there. You mention that the dinghy rests on the swim platform. How do you keep it from slipping off? We tried setting our dinghy there, but it didn't seem very secure. Maybe we need a more clever lashing technique.

[Ben423]

At first I thought securing the dinghy would be the most difficult part of the project but it turned out to be the easiest. I used a 20 foot length of 1/4" rope, tying each end into the slots molded into the swim platform with the knots roughly 3 feet apart. Then I float the dinghy with its starboard gunwale against the platform with the rope looped under it, so the bight of the loop comes out of the water on the port side of the dinghy. I lift the starboard tube partway up onto the platform then use the rope to pull the dinghy the rest of the way up so the starboard side of the dinghy rests on the platform. Then I secure the rope to a padeye located as you see it in the photo. My original intent was to use this arrangement as temporary until I came up with a more clever solution. But it has worked well all summer.

[RobS]

Good choice on the dinghy. That is the exact one I purchased in 2011. 8 seasons on it and it is still as new. I do keep it covered when stowed for any amount of time. On the 28TE it lived on the roof and now on the CC it lives on the bow. Easy enough to get up & over the bow rail with two people and lay it on the pilothouse roof. Even with the high bow and rail on the CC no issues getting her over the rail.

Here's some shots of it.