Jordan Series Drogue in action on an Alberg design

I found this video very interesting and wanted to share. Excellent video of real sea conditions and the effects of running with a Jordan Series Drogue

James Baldwin of Atomvoyages.com conducted this test on his Pearson Triton 28 during a strong Nor'easter this past fall. This boat is very similar to our Alberg 30 in almost every way.  I would assume our Sal would act very similar in the same conditions. We know how our boat acts hove-to but I have often wondered how this device would work. Now we have a very good idea.

Alberg 30 Refit: Start of Mast Support Beam Repair & The Big Surprise Revealed!

Winter has finally arrived here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country. We had a dusting of snow yesterday. The season took longer than usual to arrive but we all knew it was just a matter of time. Even with it finally here, there are still plenty of projects to do while it's cold outside.

Before we get to the winter projects, I'll show you where we are on the side deck:

It's coming along well. It will need one more layer of cloth.

Another angle of the repaired area with initial sanding work.

This is a comparison of the new reinforced/repaired area (left) and old original/half-assed repaired area (right) under the stanchion. Hopefully the difference is noticeable.

Moving onto things that can continue to be repaired when it's chilly outside. My mast support beam area has been a concern since the day I bought my boat. I knew I would fix the area someday. When I did my initial research on the Alberg 30, I learned the differences between the liner (newer) and non-liner (older) models. One of the big differences was the mast support beam. Non-liner boats had a laminated wooden beam that was known to fail. Because of this known issue, there is a plethora of information on how to repair it. As for my 1971 Alberg 30 "liner" boat, the mast support beam is not known as a weak area. It has an aluminum beam encased in the fiberglass deck somewhere. I have not been able to find any documentation on exactly how or where this aluminum beam is placed within the deck. Nor have I been able to find out just how substantial or strong the beam might be. The good news (and one of the reasons I went ahead and bought our Sal anyway) is I couldn't find any documented cases of it failing either. I did find reports that the area tends to suffer from deck compression, and indeed, Sal is no exception to that. Actually, her compression is pretty severe. This condition occurs when water gets into the balsa deck coring under the mast. What I have found on my Alberg is that not only is there a good bit of compression but the beam may be bowed also. So I will investigate further and document what I find, as well as how I plan to repair and make it stronger than new.

Here is a video I posted to show everyone what the compression and mast beam looks like on our Sal.

This is good photo showing the compression of the overhead. You will notice that the coach roof kind of flattens out, and it loses the natural curvature of the deck.  That large crack is in the liner. There could be some damage under it, which I will discover soon. There was so much compression that the liner cracked and folded on itself....for obvious reasons this is not good. 

Another pic showing how the overhead is compressed.

An aluminum plate held up against the bottom of the beam shows the bowing in this area, notice the gap on the left. I am not too sure if the bow is in the liner or the aluminum beam encased in the deck. More stuff to investigate. Additional findings to follow soon. With the colder weather here I will put a bit of heat in the boat and get to my investigative work on the beam area. Hopefully my pics and write up will help fellow Albergers that suffer the same mast beam issues.

NOW for the Surprise!

A *NEW* (TO US ANYWAY) BETA MARINE 20 DIESEL! 

I have been going back and forth about powering our Alberg 30. In a previous post, here, I discussed our options for re-powering. I kinda knew all along that I wanted a diesel but from a budget standpoint it was just not going to happen. That is of course unless you find a nearly new one, with only 170 hrs on it, for about a third of the price of a new one. So here it is in our garage, our new-to-us Beta Marine 20hp Diesel:

It is a bit dirty because it had been sitting in storage waiting to be put to use. The previous owner had to abandon a wooden boat project, and offered up his engine for sale. He bought it used back in 2010, and would start it up twice a year until 2014. 

After sitting for 14 months, she was delivered to us this weekend by the previous owner (huge thank you Sunset). We set the ole girl on the floor and haphazardly set her up to be started. One of my conditions for purchase was to see it run.

It was cold here when we started it, 30 degrees and snow flurries. I am happy to report the Beta 20 started almost right up. After 3 or 4 long cranks to get fuel to her cylinders she happily began chugging away!

Needless to say we are very pleased at our good fortune and will put her to good use.

Thank you again Sunset for holding onto the engine until after the holidays and driving it out to us.

I will work on a more permanent cart for the engine so it can be wheeled around the garage and regularly cranked to run. A video of it running will be coming soon.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Alberg 30 Refit: Re-coring Port Side deck (cont.)

The warm weather has continued here in the eastern part of the United States, which has enabled me to continue my boat work. I am really trying to get this side deck closed up before Mother Nature decides to bring winter in full force. I worked over the last few weeks preparing the exposed area of the port side deck. 

I picked up where I left off and cut the new Core-cell core. This stuff is super easy to work with. I laid all the core in place and marked it for the G10 board.

All the G10 board cut and ready, and in its final resting spot sandwiched between the inner and outer deck. I also beveled the edges of the old skin to provide a nicely prepped surface for the new fiberglass to grab onto to make a good strong joint and bond.

First mate and I had a few days off over Christmas. Outside temperatures soared close to 80! We took advantage and decided to lay in the new core. 

To prep the area for new core and G10 board we cleaned the entire area twice with acetone. Once cleaned we mixed straight West System resin with the 206 West Systems slow hardener. This mixture would give us ample working time with the warm temperatures. After we wetted out the entire area with the resin mixture we let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. During this time we starting mixing the West Systems resin with 206 and 406 Adhesive Filler. As with the lazarette area, we used this mixture to spread under the new core, bedding it into the existing deck.

Here is a piece of the new core all wet with epoxy waiting to be laid down.

After we had a all the core in and all voids filled with the thickened epoxy we applied the sandbags to weight it all down. This prevents the core from lifting and makes sure it stays conformed to the deck's contour.

The next morning, thanks to another day off, I got right to work sanding the cured epoxy and new core in preparation for new top layers of fiberglass. I did not get any pictures of the finished core but it took a good hour to prep it. After it was all prepped I began laying out and cutting the fiberglass.

I marked all the fiberglass pieces with a sharpie markers to help with the placement.

The second layer all cut and marked.

Close up of the new fiberglass laid over the previously damaged stanchion area (see previous posts for before pics of the damage).

A little trimming and tweaking was needed.

After wetting out the area completely I laid on the first two pieces of new side-deck top skin fiberglass.

All wet out with West Systems epoxy, showing the G10 and core.

Much better than what was there before and I would venture to say even better than new!

First layer with all air bubbles removed ready for next layer. You can see the G10 board I laid into the core for the jib track. This will provide strength and prevent water from leaking into the core.

The entire area with 2 layers of new 1708 biaxial fiberglass applied. I made sure to stagger the seams between layers. 

After letting the area set up for about 30 minutes, I applied a skim coat of the 407 fairing epoxy to help fill in the weave of the fiberglass. I thought this area of the deck was only going to need 2 layers to complete the new top skin. After a bit of sanding I now realize another layer of fiberglass will be needed. I am not sure I will get the additional layer on this winter but at least the area is all sealed up and can be walked on (we excitedly tested that out just this afternoon and were pleased with the results!)

Stay tuned! A surprise is in the works...

Alberg 30 Refit: More Rotten Core on Side Decks

For the last few day we have been experiencing some abnormally warm temperatures here in the mid-Atlantic.  It has been in the mid 60's to low 70's. I have been taking advantage of this weather and have moved the repair process on to the side decks. If you remember from my last post I cut open a few small sections of the port deck and found them rotten and damp.

Reminder of what I found over Thanksgiving weekend when I cut a few sample areas; more rotten balsa

Here is a short video I took the other night after removing a good portion of the side deck. It shows what core looks like. 

In this photo you can see the rotten core extending up under the lip left from the cut.

I will dig all that out and fill with thickened 406 West Systems epoxy

I decided to buy Core-Cell A500 for the side decks. My local supplier did not carry 1/4" balsa but did have the Core-Cell in 1/4". I bought an entire sheet and had them cut it into 2ft x4 ft sections.

I cut the decks back until I found good core. I ended up cutting a 6ft section that is about 12" wide

Here is the  is the entire section, it is almost ready for new core.

Still digging out core from under lip left from cuts of original top skin.

This picture may not be clear but what you are looking at is where a stanchion for lifelines bolted thru the deck. Someone tried to repair this area before, and they did NOT do a very good job. 

If you look closely you can see hairline cracks in area where the stanchion was mounted. I took the angle grinder and sanded away all the old paint and gelcoat. What I found was a solid and cracked chunk of what I think was resin.

Took out the oscillating multi-tool and began digging into this area, what a mess!

Getting better!

Now that looks like something I can work with. The only real issue will be that there is not much original top skin left near the toe rail to attach new top layers of fiberglass. Whatever I come up with will be better than what was there; on this I am certain.

This is where I left off. Started laying out and planning placement for the 1/4" G10 for stanchion base and inner jib track area.

For those following our deck re-coring, here is an illustration I made to give a better understanding of how it all comes together.

I have about 6 hrs invested in getting the side deck area prepped, which is not too bad. If winter stays like this I should have ole Sal re-cored in no time. But we all know this is a fluke and mother nature likely has other plans in store for us soon. Stay tuned as I hope to continue as long as the weather holds out.

Alberg 30 Refit: Lazarette Nearing Completion, and More Rotten Core

I hope all our family, friends and followers has a peaceful and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. We had a wonderful holiday. It was restful and happily spent with friends who have become like family to us.

 As usual, they cooked up a feast, and this year I was the honorary turkey chef. We deep fried the turkey and it was absolutely delish! Of course we also had the traditional Thanksgiving staples like baked ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce and gravy.

Enjoying a turkey leg, a cold beer and some football!

After dinner we indulged in some great homemade apple crisp and ice cream. Then everyone in the house took a well-deserved nap, crashing out on the couches and floor in the family room. 

Prior to heading over to our Thanksgiving dinner I managed to get a bit of boat work done. The weather was great, 70 degrees and sunny, couldn't ask for a nicer day.

I began sanding down the fairing epoxy (pinkish area). The fairing epoxy helps fill in the low spots, making a nice smooth surface.

This is looking at the starboard side after initial layer of fairing epoxy was sanded. You can see the varying shades and colors, which is the different layers of fiberglass and fairing expoy making a  smooth surface.

 Starboard side

Port side of lazarette is looking more level and fair (flat surface). From here on out the sanding on the lazarette will be completed by hand with a long board...not looking forward to that one bit. They call it torture boarding! On the next warm day I will add more 407 West Systems fairing epoxy to the deck and begin the torture boarding!

Yesterday I captained a short family-friendly "Santa" cruise on the whale-watching tour boat that I've been driving for occasionally. Afterwards, with yet more beautiful weather on tap, I decided to explore additional areas of Sal for rotten core. I knew there would be more to find, especially on the side decks. This was because they would always creak a bit when walked upon, and while sailing I would see some of the deck flexing when stanchions were bumped...a good indication the core was rotten in those areas.

First place I decided to cut was the jib track area on the port side deck. I knew if anywhere was going be wet and rotten it would be here. When removing the fasteners that had secured them to the deck in preparation for refit, I found that they were all hand-tightened and had almost no sealant on them. I have a strong suspicion these bolts had never been tightened or resealed throughout Sals 44 years of existence. Honestly, I'm just as guilty as everyone else who owned Sal; I never checked them. 

Here is a rotten area also on the port side deck. This is where a stanchion was and you can kind of see the outline of a stanchion base. Obviously our Alberg has had rotten decks for some time. Looks like someone long ago tried to repair the area by pouring some resin filler and sanding it smooth. 

This is not really a big thing as I will eventually replace it all and make it better than new.

As I was cleaning out the area and seeing how wet the core was, I noticed the core didn't look quite right. Yes it was wet, soft and rotten, but something else also seemed off. As I looked closer I began to realize the that core was thinner than the lazarette area. I grabbed a square of the new 3/8 core and laid it in the cut-out area. Sure enough, the old balsa is thinner than the 3/8, and my side decks are apparently different than every other Alberg 30 I have ever read about.

After some measuring I determined that Whitby built my Alberg 30's side decks with 1/4 inch balsa and not the 3/8 inch I have read about on other Albergs. The top skin also appears to be thinner as well, only about .130 (thousandths of an inch) or about 1/8 inch thick. The lazarette area used 3/8 core and top skin was about .180 or 3/16 of an inch. Another difference is the bottom deck skin: It was a lot thicker, almost .200 where the lazarette was maybe .060 or so. I guess Whitby had some 1/4 balsa core they needed to get rid of... who knows!?

This photo shows how much thicker the new core is than the old stuff I took out.

So maybe I have an odd side deck, nothing too major. I believe I can exchange out the new 3/8 balsa core for 1/4, thankfully I bought it locally. I don't believe my decks are any weaker or stronger than any other Alberg 30. I think Whitby made up for the lack of core thickness with lower deck skin. This week I will work on obtaining some 1/4 balsa core and begin the side decks.

Boat Repair: It's always something!

Stay tuned