New Member saying, "Hello"

[stxray]

Hello and thank you to all who share their experience and wisdom so generously. It is very much appreciated. Although this is my first posting, I've been Lurking&Learning for awhile.

I am very much interested in acquiring an Albin 25 with a short-term goal/dream of becoming a snowbird and doing the ICW (NJ to FL & back). After that, we'll see.

I've always had a thing for boats and being on the water. Over my lifetime, I've owned a Sunfish, then a Hobie, then a 26' Columbia, and a 34' Tartan. The old adage about the two happiest days in a boaters life being when he buys and when he sells wasn't true for me. I was sad when I sold my Tartan and still miss her.

I've been boatless for about 15 years. And now that I'm semi-retired, I recently bought a 13' Boston Whaler which I'm restoring. My wife was cool with the Whaler as I think she thought it would satisfy my boating urges. Unfortunately (for her) it has only served to fire them up.

So, here I am. I'd like to pick up an A25 & trailer as a bit of a project. If all goes as planned, I'll be doing a lot of single-handling with occasional visits and extended stays by wife and friends. I especially like the idea of a trailerable trawler so I can work and store her in my own driveway.

I would appreciate hearing any advice, suggestions, warnings and such as I pursue my dream.

See ya on the water,
Ray

[2manyboats]

Ray; I just noticed your post and I have a lead on a 25' Albin on a trailer. A good friend of mine has it in Maine, he is in Florida for the winter. He bought it to fix up but didn't like the 6kt speed. He's very opinionated in what he likes or doesn't like. I thought pretty hard about buying it last spring but it needs a lot of work which i didn't really want to do. We run the engine on a garden hose, It has a Volvo 2030 with about 600hrs if I remember right. It seem to run good and I thought it would be ok, Alvin thought it started hard, I didn't think it was unusual considering it had not been started in 6 months. I have read that hard starting is normal for that engine if you don't do a certain procedure with throttle position. My buddy is hard headed enough that he doesn't think that makes any difference!!

I think it's a solid boat on a pretty new galvanized trailer, supposedly bought by the previous owner to get the boat home. The boat is on the trailer and I had no reason to question that story after looking at it.

Alvin offered me the boat for 6,000 and when I decided to look for one all done he put it on Craigslist for 9,500. He got a few calls but mostly low ballers. I don't know what he paid for it but probably somewhere around 6k. I figured the trailer was worth around 3k and the boat probably 4-5k. The hull exterior looks ok, the interior needs a lot of the wood work redone, new cushions, curtains, etc. He used it a few times as it is, but thats Alvin.

His phone # 207 745 4990 if your interested; mine is 813 455 4122 if you what to talk about it further.

[stxray]

I spoke with Alvin. I'll be making a "road trip" as soon as schedules and weather permit.

Thanks for the lead.

[DesertAlbin736]

Ray,

Welcome aboard & good to see another Jersey boy join the group! I've been an Arizona desert rat since I moved out West in 1977, but was born & raised just up the coast a ways from you in Barnegat. My mom and stepdad moved us up to the Schenectady area in NY when I was in high school, so I haven't lived in NJ since the 60s, but my late birth father stayed in Barnegat and worked at the Barnegat toll plaza on the Parkway until his retirement in the late '80s. One of my half brothers lives in Manahawkin, and we were just there visiting this past summer with our Albin 25 in tow, part of our East coast road trip wherein we cruised the Erie Canal, went on to Rhode Island, and down through NJ on our way to the Chesapeake. If you've ever heard of John Perrine built Barnegat sneak boxes, when she was a kid my mother and her parents lived directly across the street from the shop on Brook Street in Barnegat where he built those boats. My paternal grandfather was chief radio engineer in charge of the old Tuckerton wireless station from the 1920s to late '40s, the site of which is now the Mystic Islands housing development in Tuckerton.

Interesting how many ex-sailboaters gravitate toward Albin 25s. Absolutely I'd jump on that boat up in Maine. If it has a good engine (and diesels always start hard in cold weather if they don't have a glow plug), then anything under $10K is a good deal, even if it needs some TLC. There is no other 25 foot cabin cruiser/pocket trawler that I know of that can get 12 to 13 nautical miles per gallon fuel economy equal to motoring a sailboat. Even Ranger 25 tugs and Nordic 26 Tugs don't do much better than 4 MPG, and those boats sell for 6 figure prices. On our last day on the Chesapeake this year we went from Solomons on the Patuxent to Seaford, DE on the Nanticoke River, a distance of over 60 NM and burned exactly 6.5 gallons of fuel. And that was bucking an ebb tide current for the last 35 miles on the Nanticoke that cut our speed over ground to 4.5 to 5kts at the same RPMs that would get us 6.5 kts in calm water.

[2manyboats]

stxray; I think it's a good project boat with good bones, worth the time and effort to make it the way you want it. I just didn't have the time.

Wayne

[stxray]

2manyboats: I just sent you a PM.

[stxray]

DesertAlbin736: Very interesting. Actually, I'm a Philly transplant but I do remember hearing about Sneak Boxes. Also, one of my best friends lives on Radio Rd in Tuckerton. The antenna's concrete foundations are still in place.

The boat in Maine sounds like what I'm looking for so, I'm hoping we can so a deal. Stay tuned

[whwells]

New member stxray: The 25' Classic is a fine and usually reasonably priced boat. We have a number of happy 25' owner's out west. Welcome, and good luck
on your search.
whwells "Howard"

[Dudley]

here is my trip down the ICW from Maine to Sarasota.

http://sf260w.com/Trip2011/

If I had been willing to travel at 6 knots I would have burned 300 gallons of fuel. by going over 20 knots I burned over 800 gallons of diesel.

[amber jj]

Thank You Dudley for taking us along on your trip.Very enjoyable.Bob & Val

[stxray]

DesertAlbin736 & Dudley:
Thank you for sharing your trips and pics. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a similar post someday in the future.