[alberg30] Re: Upgrading my Alberg30

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

Hi Shawn,
  The way we did the rewiring, the most expensive component was the wire
itself.  I led an independant wire to each light, and we used a 100 foot spool
of the the ancor duplex 14 gauge saftey wire, and then an additional 50 feet.
the spool runs about 60 bucks at West Marine.  I went for the waterproof butt
connectors, too.  The buss bars run about 10 or 15 bucks apiece, but are well
worth it in terms of organizing your wires at the electircal panel end.
Working with the old Perco panel which has only 5 switches, I opted for
Masthead, steaming, Nav (p&s&stern), cabin and instrument switches.  The
compass light is wired into nav. The electric bilge pump has its own switch on
the side of the panel box. Eventualy we plan to get a nice new electrical
panel with more options, and an amp hour meter to keep track of current usage
and battery reserve, but at 300 bucks, that will have to wait.
Neither the port or starboard lights worked, even after rewiring, so I took
them apart, and found black light bulbs, and totaly corroded and salt
encrusted sockets inside.  The gaskets for the lenses were crumbling.  I like
those old bronze perco lights though, and wanted to save them.  Perco still
makes the replacement sockets  and sells them through west, so that was easy,
but the new sockets wouldnt fit into the old fittings.  The bronze had a layer
of corrosion inside, narrowing the diameter of the opening. I had to bore out
the inside of the bronze fitting with a rasp bit on an electric drill in order
to get a fit that allowed the spring to move freely enough to push the bulb
against its contacts!  I couldnt find replacement gaskets, so I just cut them
from wet suit material, and 'tacked' them in place with some cheap, easily
removable silicone sealant.  When you're done, its really nice to sit in a
bright cabin, and have an electrical system you have faith in!
  We had to rewire the mast, too.  Again, it was spider webs of wire in there!
In addition to multiple dead wires for the lights, there were multiple small
wires for masthead instruments that were long gone before we ever saw the
boat!  to fish them all out, I had to bang a nail through the end of a long
batten, as they caught on every bolt and nut on the inside of the mast!  We
used the same type of wire for the masthead and steaming lights, and opted to
forgo spreader lights, just to keep thing simple.  Once the wires were in
place, and before they were attached to their lights, I ran 6 foot lenghts of
1" inside diameter air conditioning insulation hose over the wires that I got
at Home Depot for 99cents a length.  Working from the bottom of the mast, you
can push up the necessary # of lengths for the steaming light, before you lead
the wire through the little hole in the mast base, and for the masthead light,
you can work from the bottom, and if you take out the main halyard sheave and
its retaining plates, work from the top too, and avoid getting stuck at the
spreaders bolts.  Why do this? Because I cant sleep when the wires are banging
inside the mast at the mooring!!!
   Talking about the mainhalyard sheave, ours was in sorry state.  It had
worn, and the retaing plates rattled, and I knew that at the worst possible
moment, the halyard was going to jump that sheave and jam.  If you've ever
been there, you know you  dont want to go there again!  Inspect your sheave,
and if there is any play, replace it.  I got  a synthetic sheave, new retaing
plates, and a new SS bolt and compression sleave from tartan yachts in Ohio,
all for about 100 bucks. Its beautiful. I'll dig up the adress for you if you
want it.  I also never liked the fact that the ss main halyard on the Alberg
30 could not reach the deck.  On a rough day, when everything is bouncing
around, I knew I was going to lose grip of that short halyard, and that's no
fun either.  I had the new sheave grooved for line, and replaced the halyard
with double braid.   Now its plenty long, and can be used to lift something
out of the water in an emergency, or made fast anywhere on deck without adding
a leader to it, etc. The old ss halyard had a lot of meathooks on it anyway,
and had to be replaced.  we also painted the mast, and replaced a couple of
questionable shrouds.
   One more project we did which may be usefull to you; is your genny halyard
a ss halyard captive on a Barient Halyard winch; the kind that has a lock
mechanism, and the handle does not ratchet?   I have heard of more than one
serious accident occuring when the brake slips under tension, and that handle
start to rotate at warp speed!  the genny halyard also was one solid meathook,
and I knew I didnt want to have that type of winch on board.  What I did was,
to grind off the piece of bronze that extends alongside the drum from the base
of the winch.  then I tightened the brake maximaly, and taped its handle so
that it could not come loose.  Now, I can wrap my double braid halyard around
the drum, just like a regular winch, though the handle still, of course, does
not ratchet back.  But should someone be raising the sail, and lose grip of
the halyard for some reason, the wraps would slip off the drum, before the
handle started spinning in homicidal rotations!  The best solution, of course,
is just to replace the winch. Eventualy!
Have fun, Shawn,
Lee Trachtenberg
Stargazer #255

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