Albin 25 owners?

[gregor]

Hi Group
Who also has a wonderfull old albin 25?
Anyone have a sail rigged version?
Anyone sailed ?
cheers gregor

P.S. Still hope to get some addl input on last post re oil leak.

[Riverjohn]

I have an A25, #1117, that was once a sailing model. I rescued it from abandonment and it did not have the sail rig at the time. Since I live on a river with many low bridges, ressurecting the sailing capability has not been a priority. What's your oil leak question?

[DesertAlbin736]

I own 1971 Albin 25 Hull #736 which my wife and I purchased from the former owner in Idaho and transported down to Phoenix this past March. We changed the boat name from "Nowell's Ark", which was a play on words related to the previous owner's last name, to "La Dolce Vita", aka "The Sweet Life" in Italian. She is the older style, full displacement pre-deluxe version re-powered with a 1986 Yanmar 3GM30F engine, and came with a mast, boom, like new sails, and standing rig including a Furlex headsail furler. We have not attempted to step the mast yet, but took the boat up to Bellingham, Washington and cruised for 40 days as a pocket trawler in the San Juan islands of Washington and the Gulf Islands of BC this summer. The whole point of getting this type of boat was to be able to trailer long distances and have creature comforts of a 25 footer with sailboat fuel efficiency without having to wrestle with a big heavy mast. That's what an Albin 25 is all about IMO. It's paid off in comfort and lower fuel costs, as we cruised 280 nautical miles on about $130 worth of diesel fuel. And that's at fuel dock prices, which in Canada were over $6 per gallon.

I'm a bit reticent about installing the mast, even though all my previous boats have been sailboats, including a Catalina 25. Most photos of sailing versions of Albin 25's show the mast stepped on the cabin top a couple feet or so forward of the wheelhouse windshield, and have a compression post below about even with the forward edge of the galley. My boat does not have that. Instead, the mast step is right up against the windshield with a teak plate and fillet brace on the overhead inside the cabin under the mast, but no compression post. If a compression post were installed in that location it would interfere with the door to the head and the section of bulkhead that swings open to access the engine. I'd also be afraid that one miss step while jostling the mast into place and the windshield could easily be cracked or broken if hit by the butt of the mast.

The previous owner inherited the mast, boom, and sails from other owners previous to him and never attempted to step the mast. So I question if it is safe to even use the mast or would it stress the cabin top too much without having a compression post? Apparently it was set up for sailing at one time or another, since it has what looks like original chainplate fittings, a pair of odd looking type of jam cleats in the cockpit for jib sheets, and tracks for jib cars on the side decks.

However it seems doubtful to me that that a boat like this would sail well in any case, at least not on any point of sail other than beam or broad reach what with no weighted fin keel other than the shallow keel, not to mention the drag of that big prop.

[NickScheuer]

I agree with your evaluation of the sailing characteristics, DeseertAlbin736. I am a lifelong sailor (over 60 years) and when we wanted to trade our 28 ft yawl for an Albin-25, I did NOT look for the sail version. one look at the sailplan told me the boat would be underpowered, and that the lack of lateral plane and the small rudder were not conducive to anything beyond motor sailing. sailing.

[Swells]

We have an Albin 25 motor sailer and we've had her out for a sail in the Straight of Juan de Fuca - got about 2 knots! We keep the mast mainly for the added stability and I like the extra slide-up table in the v-berth.

[DesertAlbin736]

DSCN1531.JPG

Hey there Transitions! Good to see you post a pic with mast rig installed. We're still talking about our trip to the San Juans and Gulf Islands, and the Albin rendezvous at Roche Harbor!

[DesertAlbin736]

PS, without the mast installed we were able to transit Pender Canal between Port Browning and Bedwell Harbour, which we could not have done with a mast up.

[gregor]

hello
new to group and a proud owner of a albin 25 delux berthed up the river in petaluma,ca. I am looking for a sail rig so ymight"thistle"can be a motor sailor again. she is powered by a volvo 2000series 3cyl turbo. I will owner her till I depart this planet. I also own a CHB 34 which I plan to sell within 6 months. smaller,simple albin 25 is where to be..
blessings and cheers
gregor
m/v thistle

[whwells]

Gregor: Welcome. Missed your post. We are nearly neighbor's as my home is inTrinidad, Ca. We have an excellent group of Classic 25-27'. Lots of support here.
whwells "Howard"

[jcamill55]

Gregor were are you located ,I also have a 25 in petaluma on a trailer in my yard . Hope to see you sometime soon , Jim

[Firefly25]

Hello all. We have the same Albin 25 but no sails. She is a great little trawler named Firefly. Just wondering if anyone knows of an autohelm system that is suited to this boat? Long cruses at 6 or 7 knots can get a little tedious. lol
Joe and Judith in Port Charlotte, Fl.

[tribologist]

Im with you. Its just awesome to autoroute the route and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The only current helm based system is the canadian octopus. Its sold by lowrance with the nac-1 controller.

I have an old Raytheon Sportpilot on mine but im going to use the drive unit in the Sportpilot with a NAC-1 ot NAC-2. The lowrance wheel pilot could work but look funky. Other than those you need to convert to Hydraulic steering. I just overhauled my steering, if i known better i would have gone Hydraulic.

Defender has a great deal on the Simrad ess evo3 7” right now and that controls the NAC autopilots directly. At $650 vs a autopilot control for $500 its a steal

[WillieC]

Bungee cord wrapped around hub of wheel and hooked to bottom of seat. Still requires attention, but gives the captain a break. You'll find out how tender she is. Any slight movement in the cabin changes course.

[tribologist]

Im with you. Its just awesome to autoroute the route and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

The only current cable steering helm based system im aware of is the canadian octopus. Its sold by lowrance with the nac-1 controller.

I have an old Raytheon Sportpilot on mine but im going to use the drive unit in the Sportpilot with a NAC-1 ot NAC-2. The lowrance wheel pilot could work but look funky. Other than those you need to convert to Hydraulic steering. I just overhauled my steering, if i known better i would have gone Hydraulic.

Defender has a great deal on the Simrad ess evo3 7” right now and that controls the NAC autopilots directly. At $650 vs a autopilot control for $500 its a steal

[DesertAlbin736]

We have a Raymarine Autohelm tiller pilot inherited from previous owners but is kind of funky & we don't use it. What they did was make a short detachable stub tiller that attaches to the rudder quadrant back in the aft cabin that you attach the tiller pilot to. A wired remote then runs up to the helm station. We tried it a few times & it didn't hold course well so we never use it. The stub tiller would make a good emergency tiller, but you have to pull the plywood panels in the aft cabin to hook it up. More trouble than it's worth. We've made some long runs up to 40 NM in a day & hand steering isn't much trouble since you need to watch where you're going anyway.

Fun to look at the original posts on this thread from six years ago when we first got our boat. A lot water under the keel since then.