rough around the edges Albin 25

[DesertAlbin736]

Found another photo of our stub mast after refinishing. Loosening the screw on the slottted part of the base bracket, which has a wing nut on the other side, allows folding the mast back flat over the roof.

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[ssrig]

Well here is my mast all complete and drying from its last coat, I made a mistake and it looks too good and now the rest of the boat looks like crap.

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This is the waterproof connection that comes from the mast light, the other end will be tucked into the mast bracket "U" So for launching, once the boat is in the water connect the two and bolt the mast on.

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Speaking of which, this thing leaked onto the dash, it was gooped up with 4 different types of sealant and on top of each other but not able to stop a little water. So it was removed, cleaned up and will get put back on in the spring with some proper nuts and bolts, there is no room under the boat tarp to work so next year.

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[ssrig]

I apologize in advance for not posting Albin specific topics but I would like to keep posting items that portray having an Albin 25 on a trailer and what had to be done from scratch to have a spot to park it while idle or working on it, along with what might be simple or basic carpentry and mechanics.
I would have loved to read some posts along those lines when I was looking around for a boat to give me an idea what life could be like with “this” boat. I think these boats have a cool feel like an old Westfalia van and having this info might be of some help to someone thinking of purchasing one.



With that said I did manage to get a load of topping for the driveway, the rains have come and I squeezed it in before things got mucky, The boat is already in place so I had to wheelbarrow the gravel around and under the boat.

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Back and forth over it with my car then my heavier truck, done! and you will all be happy to know that this is the last post about the boat parking spot!

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I have several of these 40 watt solar panels that I hook up to my vehicle batteries while I am away in the winter, keeps the batteries healthy.

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Hooked up with a little cheap charge controller to keep the batteries from overcharging which I doubt it would, less than 3-4 amp in per hour for two 12 volt batteries probably wouldn't effect them but the panel faces south and has good exposure so you never know.

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[Dieselram94]

Are you gone all winter? Do you worry about trees falling on the boat

[ssrig]

The boat is some distance from my house and power, I ran a series of extension cords about 200 feet starting with some big contractor 12 gauge down to the last one a 14 gauge which will allow me to put a light bulb in the engine compartment for the winter, it has also made it possible to run a sander and grinder and a heater. Not all at once though although I havent tried yet.

So heat, grinder, sander sounds a lot like some of the items needed to do some fibreglassing in the winter! Yes! I have started to repair the damaged bow, there are two spots that need work and one is at the winching eye. The winch was mounted too high up on the winch post and as a result pulled the boat bow off the trailer and while driving would bounce up and down while other straps were working against that so at some point in its past life things got chewed up(speculation on my part but watched what the boat did while I was trailering it) As it turned out it was mostly gelcoat damage but I built it up with epoxy and mat and started to fare it in, built a little tent from Reflexit with my heater in there to cure.

Before: Damaged areas. At the winching eye.

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Lower down at the water line, could have been anything damaging this part, dock rub, etc.

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Ground out and filled up with several layers of woven mat and epoxy.

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I was going to grind out a larger area to spread the load but seeing as the damage was mostly on the thick (very thick) gelcoat I kept it mostly cosmetic.

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A few layers of epoxy thickened with micro balloons, sand and re feather.

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As good as it will get until springtime when I can give it a proper colour match, for now the humidity and cold have put a stop the fibreglass works.

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The winch post has been removed and I am trimming it a bit and lowering the winch down the post so that it pulls the bow down instead of up, I am also moving the boat forward two inches on the trailer, I think it will sit better once that is done.

[ssrig]

Are you gone all winter? Do you worry about trees falling on the boat

Yes I am gone all winter, leave in about a week so I am busy getting things done to the boat and our camper as we drive. I am afraid of trees falling on it as this boat last winter with the previous owner had two trees fall on it damaging the starboard aft corner rub rail and deck/hull joint by a big arbutus, and the port bow rail got bent and the mounts pulled out of the deck a bit, two fairly easy fixes on the bow but finding some matching rub rail has proven difficult.

The area where the boat is has pretty small trees and most are healthy but due to the very dry summer we had I think two bigger cedars might have died, when I get back I will see if in fact they died and if so will drop them when the boat is moved out into the water.
Trees falling onto the boat is less worry to me than having the boat in the water all winter, I get that sinking feeling when I think about that!

[ssrig]

I half heartedly tried to locate some rubrail but I lost interest in that , I only needed two feet and would need to splice a piece in anyway, while I was picking up the boat when I bought it I saw the broken piece on the ground that the tree had smashed off and threw it into the cockpit, I knew in the back of my mind I was going to use that piece….I am frugal, or at least I am going to spend the money on the important stuff like engine and things that help it not sink, the good looks are just not going to happen for this poor boat, for a while at least, so….


This is what I started with. Before. starboard aft rubrail and deck to hull joint smashed up.

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I did notice when it rained that the water liked to run aft and out the broken area, some water made it inside through the broken deck/hull joint.....so

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And if I hear anyone laughing at this Ill delete it!

I started with some "Long and Strong" to form up a rough shape, used a red solo cup to get a roundish form in the Long and Strong.

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Then glued the old broken off piece of rub rail back on making sure the hull to deck joint was sealed up prior.

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Then using thickened epoxy started shaping and forming it.

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This is how it turned out.

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I will colour the rubrail in the drab blue and dirty cream to match and I am sure at some stage will need to do the deck but for now it doesnt leak and to the untrained eye will look stock!

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[ssrig]

Greetings from Mexico!

Happy new year, thought I would post a small update, before we left home we purchased a rigid tender to accompany our inflatable kayak, its a Walker Bay 10 footer, it has a little flat wheel under the transom for dragging it around and it is fairly soft material, we'll see how it goes.

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Also prior to leaving home I ordered and picked up this at the border:

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Hard to picture but its a Mantus 25 lb, thanks to Don and Kerrye for the recomendations, I researched the Mantus and watched many youtube comparisons and it certainly looks like a good choice. It came well packaged but due to limitations on space I left all the packing material and spread the components around to be able to store it. It has come down to Mexico with us so it is having a good trip!

[ssrig]

Also caught up on some threads and noticed the "Winter wrap for Sea Quill" thread and wanted to thank DKirsop for his description that I also used to store my boat, so thank you Dkirsop!

And I didnt post this on that thread because I didnt want to hijack it because I saw Kerrye post about his truck and I too have one that I built a camper on and it is my tow vehicle too.

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The top raises up for 6' 6" headroom with hard sides and it is what we travel in during the winter.

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[kerrye]

How well does it do towing the Albin? Ive towed our Sea Pearl 21 with ours but nothing heavier. How much does your truck weigh. I’m at almost 12k

[DesertAlbin736]

Hola! So you're in Mexico now? That's a very cool camper rig! Not sure I understand exactly what's going on with the two above photos, the one on the beach and the one with your Albin hitched to the truck. Did you bring the Albin with you to Mexico, or just bring the Walker Bay, or only the camper & left both boats at home?

Question #2: Where in Mexico are you (like down in Baja & if so on the Pacific side or Sea of Cortez side, Puerto Penasco?), how long are you staying there, and what route are you planning to take to return to BC & when?

Reason being, if your return route takes you through or anywhere near Phoenix you need to stop by this way & camp at Lake Pleasant for a night or two & take a ride on our boat. Or if you have your Albin with you then launch it & we'll do a little raft up.

https://pleasantharbor.com/

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And by the way, we are considering a return to Gulf Islands this coming summer. Not sure how far north we'll get but at least the Gulf Islands including Ganges. Goal #1 is be in Sidney on July 1st for Canada Day.

PS, we're with you on the inflatable kayak. In addition to our Gig Harbor Nisqually 8 dink (which is the rowing version with no provision for adding a sail rig), I bought a single seat Advanced Elements kayak for the Admiral. It stows nicely on the wheelhouse/cockpit roof. Also I notice your Walker bay has the option for installing a sail rig. I still have the mast, boom, sail, rudder & daggerboard left over from the Boatex dinghy that we lost off Nelson Island, in case you're interested in making a deal . All in pristine condition.

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[ssrig]

How well does it do towing the Albin? Ive towed our Sea Pearl 21 with ours but nothing heavier. How much does your truck weigh. I’m at almost 12k

I’m usually around that weight while travelling but in the summer down to 11000 lb or so, it tows ok but I also have a Stienbeur chip on the truck which it needs for sure, steep hills I will be in third gear, our trailer needs some beefing up before I take it anywhere by road.

[ssrig]

DA, we are in Rincón de Guayabitos for 4 months, my parents have been coming here for 15 years so I try to spend as much time with them as I can while they still come, they are in their late eighties now and I expect them to stop travelling down here at some point, we usually head down the Baja then take the ferry across from la Paz but this year we went down the Mexico mainland coast. We take 6 weeks to drive down and the same on the way back and head past Phoenix on our way to Colorado to visit friends. We usually return in April sometime but have not determined the exact date, we travell with no itinerary and go with the flow.
We only have our inflatable kayak with us, the Albin and walker bay are our summer toys, the two pictures are getting the Albin home for the first time and the second one is near Rocky Point or Peurto Penasco this year at a lunch spot to show roof up and roof down.
If all goes well with the boat works we plan to head to Desolation Sound this summer, most likely August and if you are coming up this year be sure to stop by or we will meet you somewhere, my wife has not seen much of the Gulf Islands so some day trips and a few overnighters are a must.
Our kayak is a Sea eagle tandem pontoon that can accommodate a 2hp 4stroke Honda outboard that we use for fishing or paddling with whales or dolphin!

[DesertAlbin736]

DA, we are in Rincón de Guayabitos for 4 months...

Wow, that's way down there! It's awesome that your parents are still able to travel like that. If your return trip takes you up the mainland side through Guaymas, Hermosillo, Nogales, Tucson, and pass through Phoenix via I-10 & I-17 to I-40 on the way to Colorado you'll definitely have to stop by & visit. Back in 2007 when I had a Catalina 22 sailboat we took it down to San Carlos/Guaymas once, but that's as far down into Mexico as I've been & much prefer British Columbia. I get all the desert I want right here in Arizona. It's 450 miles from Guaymas to where we live, so Phoenix area would be a good stopover.

Our schedule, assuming we do go back to the Gulf Islands this year, will be open ended & I don't know whether we'll try for Desolation Sound again or not. But mark your calendar for Canada Day in Sidney. The parades, fireworks, and especially the homemade boat races are such fun. We'll definitely be in and around the Gulf Islands & probably at least as far up as Nanaimo for most if not all of July. Besides Desolation Sound, if you have the time then a run up Jervis Inlet, Agamemnon Channel, & up Princess Louisa Inlet to Malibu Rapids & Chatterbox Falls is worth the trip. But you need to allow at least 5 days unless you're prepared to go 40 NM in one day to get there from Pender Harbour/Garden Bay. Otherwise it's two days & a night to each way, plus a day at the falls. And of course you have to time your passages through Malibu Rapids for slack tide.

Last time we made a stop at Wallace Island we added our boat name to the hundreds of others hanging on one of the old camp resort buildings.

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[kerrye]

How well does it do towing the Albin? Ive towed our Sea Pearl 21 with ours but nothing heavier. How much does your truck weigh. I’m at almost 12k

I’m usually around that weight while travelling but in the summer down to 11000 lb or so, it tows ok but I also have a Stienbeur chip on the truck which it needs for sure, steep hills I will be in third gear, our trailer needs some beefing up before I take it anywhere by road.

Ahh. Mine's not chippable. I think it would struggle with the load of the Albin although Fuso's never cease to surprise me. I've seen some big boats behind FG's in Australia (on the forums)