[alberg30] Re: Upgrading my Alberg30

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

Hi Shawn,
  Oh, are you in for some fun!!  many of theprojects you mention are just what
we have done to our own#255, Stargazer, over the past year or so. But at least
you won't have to replace the through hull, gas tank, and head as we did!
  First question involves the genny tracks.  Ours are stainless steel plates,
laid on a narrower batten of wood.  On Stargazer, the wood was completely
rotted on the working jib tracks, and in bad shape on the genny tracks, and
was gone on the gooseneck track as well, which is constructed the same way.
Is this your problem?  Rather than replace the tracks, we removed them and cut
new teak battens, setting everything in 3M 5200.  Would this work for you?
After we had completed the job, someone here suggested that delrin would be
even better than teak, and I agree. But I'm not redoing it now!!
   Second, Stargazer came to us with alot of original running rigging. I
wouldnt be surprised if some of the three strand halyards were from 1967!  We
dont race, so the double braid polyester StaySet seemed adequate.
  Third, she had the original 'v' mainsheet arrangement, no traveler, with the
original resin blocks.  We removed it all, and the winch, and replaced it with
a Harken system.  the mid-size traveler and cars, and the fiddle block, cam
cleat system.  We debated going to the trouble of cutting a piece of teak to
match the crown of the deck, so the track would be straight in a horizontal
direction.  the advantage of that is when you drop the traveler to leeward in
a puff, you are not tightening the sheet by the height of the crown. Too much
work though.  We just bolted the traveler directly to the deck, bedding in
5200, with 1/4" SS bolts.  Make sure you buy bolts that are long enough; the
deck is thicker than you might think!
  As for blocks for the genny sheets and the forsail halyards, the standard
Schaefer or Ronstan will do fine.
  What type of varnish to use is a big, big question. Ask 10 people, you'll
get twenty answers! I had to rebuild or replace all of my hatches, so once I
was down to new or newly sanded wood, I opted to put 6 coats of Z-Spar
Captains varnish on.  I've had good experience with it in the past, interms of
toughness and longevity, and the hatches glow now.   If you are starting with
wood that is not perfect, and your not looking for a total refinish job, then
adequate sanding, and 3 or 4 coats of the Cetol Sikkens, or Armada seems to be
very popular now.  I used the Sikkens on another boat and after doing all the
prep work 'right' in the spring, I found I still had to recoat midseason,
which I was very dissapointed at. Maybe there was some oil left in the wood
that prevented good adhesion.  Other people love the stuff. I find that all
the other teak oil products oxidize and blacken in no time, and have to be
redone periodicaly during the season.  The Sikkens and Armada do not turn
black, so once you are down to clean wood, it is worth the extra trouble
initialy to put them on.  Even if you have to recoat midseason, at least you
don't have to sand down to clean, bright wood, just rough up the original
surface with scotch brite pads.
  How is the electrical system? If its good, great. Ours was a tangle of two
or three generations of wiring many wires dead at both ends!  We pulled it all
out, and rewired with 14 gauge Ancor duplex saftey wire.  We kept the original
switch panel for now, but had all the common wires, such as cabin  lights, or
nav lights, or instruments, go to their own bus bars, and then a single lead
to the switch. Alot neater and easily serviced than what we had! (Thanks
again, for showing us how to do it, Bob!!!!)
  So what are you doing just sitting around Shawn?  Go get started!!!!:)
  Have fun,
  Lee Trachtenberg
  Stargazer #255

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