[Public-List] Hello from Vancouver. (Somewhat) proud new owner of Antares 1967 A30.

[Mike Lehman]

Please post links to images. They would be most helpful. The mast beam 
repair we have used on dozens of boats on the Chesapeake was designed by an 
Alberg owner who was also a professor of engineering at the US Naval 
Academy. Some of those repairs/reinforcements were done over 30 years ago 
and have never failed again. The decision about how to proceed depends on 
how badly your beam is...pictures would help. While this seems like a big 
and daunting job, it really is not and takes about 10 hours to perform.



Mike Lehman

><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jeremy Brown
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:36 AM
To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
Subject: [Public-List] Hello from Vancouver. (Somewhat) proud new owner of 
Antares 1967 A30.

I'm new to large boats, I sailed dinghy's as a kid, but this is a totally 
new world for me :-)
Both good and bad so far.
I've landed an amazing job out of it working for a great guy who has a shop 
here in Vancouver.  I'm working on boats of all sizes, and learning skills 
that directly relate to working on my boat, and contacts who are able to 
help with some areas as well.  I'm learning a lot quickly, and though in 
hindsight I never would have taken on a project like this boat, I'm thankful 
for all that I'm learning.
I'll get the bad out of the way first, since there is a fair bit of it, feel 
free to skip over it if it's too long.

*****start of bad*****

I bought her based on an advertisement that sadly didn't match what she 
actually was, from the supposedly brand new engine, sails, head and wiring, 
to the aluminium plate which I was told was glassed in flat over top of the 
beam to strengthen it.  She was supposed to have a much larger 40 gallon 
water and at least 30 gallon diesel tank.

What I've got is a boat with good bones, and the signs that somewhere in her 
past someone cared for her well before the more recent, and unknown number 
of butchers got their hands on her.
It seems that the owner I purchased her from was sold the same story I was, 
and passed it along, whether with full knowledge of what he was actually 
selling by the end or not I still don't know.  He says he was misled, and I 
am inclined to believe him, he seems like a decent guy.  He reimbursed me 
part of the sale, but that money has already gone, I sorted out most of the 
electrical system with it.
My engine is 16 years older than I was led to believe, sail appears to be in 
good order, but I believe it to be about a decade older than I was told now. 
Electrical was a total write off, speaker wire all over the place, two hots 
in one cable split and common grounds later, melted insulation and household 
twist connectors all over.

My surveyor noted the engine as being new on paper, but later stated that it 
wasn't his job to tell me these things, and that he knew it was older at the 
time, but since the seller and I were happy with the age we stated it was, 
it wasn't his position to tell us we were wrong.
He didn't mention the broken tabbing in various places, or the delaminated 
mast beam that was "repaired" with household grade Robertson screws driven 
in from the bottom to hold the lamination together.
He also listed the water tank as 30 gallons, but it turns out to be about 
15, as soon as I figured out on my own later how to open it, I knew it was 
nowhere near that.

I'm starting to make the needed changes to make her safe, comfortable and 
generally back to what she should be, then hopefully doing some upgrading 
and cosmetic work when I have time, I have taken a slip for a year since she 
isn't safe to anchor out in in my opinion, hoses with glued on ends single 
clamped over the threaded end of a sea-cock and a bit of electrical tape as 
sealant didn't leave me confident enough until I go through her top to 
bottom and end to end.

I unfortunately can't see the numbers in my picture of the number-plate, but 
I'll get the hull number soon from that to update the list in case she isn't 
on there.

I've determined that the mast she has is likely not original, it has a 
sticker for a North Vancouver shop on it near the base, there are rumors 
that she may have made some long trips, but beyond that I have little 
history.

One of the butchers unfortunately had access to a sawzall or skil saw and 
remodeled the V-berth badly.

*********end of bad****

The electrical is resolved to the point that it's safe, though details such 
as lighting still need to be sorted. The next logical step for me I think is 
to resolve the issues with the mast beam, and interior fiberglass, basically 
redoing the tabbing, this will be done by a professional, who is fast and 
good at it, I'm paying his hourly and materials at wholesale rahter than a 
shop-rate, since he also works for the same guy I do.

As for the mast beam I am not sure quite how to approach it, it appears to 
have the classic de-lamination, but with a twist, the deck dips down in the 
center inside, but no water pooling or signs of issues on deck.  When tapped 
it sounds solid, and I'm wondering if someone did something inside like 
replacing the core.
The beam is flattened in the middle, but I'm not sure if it quite matches 
the curve of the deck inside, I have photographs but I'm not sure how to 
post them.
Once i know what is going on with the cabintop, I'll be fixing the beam I 
hope, my father wants me to excavate it, and simply bandsaw a solid piece of 
wood to replace it, or a microlam beam bandsawn to fit.  He feels that the 
aluminium plate repair doesn't do much to help, and is not an appropriate 
solution.

I am more inclined to err on the side of experience, jack up the beam, glue 
the aluminium and through bolt it but I'm not sure what to do.  If I do dig 
out the beam I'd prefer to laminate something else in its place rather than 
cutting out a solid beam or something out of micro-lam.  That would require 
figuring out how to brace the fiberglass so the beam can be rebuilt.

If there's anyone in the Vancouver, BC area who has experience with this 
kind of repair, or the mast beam in Alberg's especially I'd really like to 
talk to them :-)  I'd actually planned to pay someone who knew what they 
were doing to actually do the fix and help them if they were ok with that, 
to hopefully learn at the same time.  Any advice at this point would be 
wonderful, as I am faced with quite a few unknowns, and I am concerned about 
getting in over my head, doing something that isn't needed, or will have to 
be taken back out and done properly later.

Once the tabbing and mast support beams are done, I'm going to do a bit of 
work on the head/water systems and finally move to full time live aboard, 
then I'll work on the rest of the issues as time and money permit.

The list has been a great source of information over the past couple of 
months of learning, but none of the pictures of the mast support beam 
repairs seem to quite look like the issue I'm seeing, and the experienced 
sailors I've spoken with are a bit unsure about it too, because it appears 
to be sinking, but only inside, the deck appears good and the area sounds 
good when tapped.

Is it preferred to post a link to an image hosted elsewhere if one is 
needed?

Thanks and hello to you all!

Jeremy








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