New member with a 30FC

[Loris]

Am based in Mystic, CT and am the proud new owner of a 2004 Albin 30 FC with a 315 Yanmar. I have learned a lot from all of you by lurking on this forum.

I have very little boating experience and would love to pick your brains about maintaining the boat and engine. If any of you in the area (SE CT or RI) do your own maintenance, I would appreciate the opportunity to help or watch, so that I can learn from the experience, and meet fellow owners in the area.

Mack Boring no longer offers the diesel engine course for owners, and I want to learn about replacing zincs, hoses, etc. Also need to figure out the plumbing and electrical systems on the boat. To repeat, I can offer up some elbow grease to fellow owners in the area who work on their boats, with the hope that it will be a learning process for me.

Thank in advance.

[kathylsails]

Congratulations! We hope you will love your 30 FC as much as we love ours! My hubby does most of the maintenance, so please post any questions you might have!

[Mark Deeser]

Welcome, I learned alot by reading Don Casey's Sailboat Maintenance Manual. A lot of good information on many aspects of boat care. Most of us learn by reading doing and asking. In time it just seems to start to come together. Enjoy the journey.

[Loris]

Thanks all for the replies. The Albin 30 FCs are not common so it is nice to hear from other owners.

One of the first things I need to do is to replace the engine zincs. Do you or anyone know of an available manual that that provides some clear instructions indicating where the zincs are located, and how to replace?

Also I have been told that boatdiesel.com is a good source. Do you think I will be able to find this information on the forums there if I join?

Finally, on the sea trial, the engine reached a maximum rpm of 3900 (the engine placard indicated max rpm of 3800). However, the boat only reached a top speed of 22.5 mph (speed over ground) with flat water and little or no current. The bottom was clean, with 4 average sized men on the boat, half a tank of fuel and no water in the tanks. The engine surveyed fine otherwise.

Some owners have reported a top speed of 25 knots. Should I be concerned about the lack of speed?

Thanks again.

[Bidgood]

Loris,

The fastest my 30 FC will go is 29 mph (2800 rpm with the Perkins 285 hp turbo)with a new bottom paint, 1/2 fuel. no water and just me on board. Based on your description of the load you are probably within the normal speed range. The rpm is another matter, a small change to the prop would get you to the placard rpm at WOT. We cruise at 19 mph. at 2200rpm.

Post a pic of the boat when you have time.

Tom

[Graeme K]

Hi Loris,
Welcome to the Group from another 30FC owner. I don't like the idea of having my brains picked - if I lose any more cells I won't be able to drive the boat!!

Graeme K
2005 30FC

[jleonard]

Where in Mystic will you be?
I am at Gwenmor..or I will be around mid May.

[Bidgood]

Graeme,

I thought 30 FC's drove themselves. Although in Australia it is on the other side.

Tom

[Loris]

Jleonard,
I will be just down the road from you at Mystic shipyard east. I need to bring the boat up from New Jersey and was hoping to do that mid-April. Would love to meet when you are there!

[whwells]

Welcome and Congra's on a great fine. Nothing quite like and Albin and your series is pretty rare.
whwells "Howard"
Former: 2006 Flybridge 35te
2006 Sabre 42 Flybridge
2004 Osprey Pilothouse 22

[joreyn]

Loris, regarding the pencil anodes, it appears there are 5. 2 on the oil cooler, 2 on the cooling water heat exchanger and one in the aftercooler.

Check out Boatzincs.com. They have the specs for the zincs. The oil cooler and the heat exchanger take the same size. Once you have the specs for the two sizes, go to Go2Marine.com and get the Navalloy pencil zincs. They have a stainless steel core, so the zinc can't break off and clog up your gear. I'd replace your in-water zincs with Navalloy as well. They are a special "Mil Spec" aluminum alloy that is 50 to 60- % better than old-fashioned zinc. And they are easier on the environment.

[carolmarie]

I would recommend you buy both the parts and service manuals for your Yanmar. Just call Mack Boring and provide the SN for your engine.

[Loris]

Sorry, I hadn't logged in for a while. Thanks for all your helpful replies.

[DesertAlbin736]

Welcome to AOG and congrats on your purchase! We own an Albin 25 based in Peoria, Arizona, so I can't be much help with a 30 FC, although our boat is powered with a 24 HP Yanmar 3GM30F. Much smaller engine, but same basic principles.

Just so happens we'll be in your area a little over a month from now with our boat "La Dolce Vita". The A25 is the smallest of the Albin pocket trawlers, but it's a Goldilocks size for our purposes. Just big enough for 2 adults or a couple with two small children to cruise comfortably (lacking only an onboard shower), but small enough to trailer anywhere in the country with a 3/4 ton pickup. Not to mention 1/2 gallon per hour fuel economy at 6.5 kts cruising speed. All you need is money for truck fuel and unlimited time off for road trips. The 30 FC is two steps up from an A25, and if we lived on either coast we'd want something like that. But we don't, and our home is 360 miles from the nearest ocean. With the 25 we can go to San Diego, Catalina Island, Monterey, or Pacific NW on the 'left coast', or the Great Lakes or anywhere on the East coast. For about the cost of a 1 week bare boat charter we can cruise for as long as we want on our own schedule anywhere in the country. We get the best of both worlds, since we can go boating on a local lake all winter where a high in the 50s is considered to be a cold day, and when it gets stinkin' hot here in summer it's off to one coast or the other. Like San Diego where it's comfortably cool all summer. We had only 2 or 3 nights last winter where it dipped below freezing to the upper 20s overnight in Phoenix. And of course no snow and little rain for that matter. Even when it gets hot here it's low humidity, often below 15% with dew points in the 40s, so while it feels hot, you don't feel sticky. Just stay out of the sun in mid day.

Last year we were in the San Juans in Washington State and the Gulf Islands of BC Canada. That was 40 days and nights afloat. This summer we're heading out for Weekapaug, Rhode Island where friends of ours own a beach house, with a short cruise on part of the Erie Canal on the way out. Mystic, CT and Block Island are on our must see list. We'll be in the area from at least June 6 to June 13, maybe longer. After that we put the boat back on the trailer and head South for Chesapeake Bay.