[alberg30] Re: Upgrading my Alberg30

[David Swanson]

From: David Swanson <zira at mindspring.com>

Lee & all -

You can get a LOT better price on tinned, stranded wire (though not Ancor brand)
from Jamestown Distributors.  I too went through 100' roll (+~15') of 14 gauge
duplex, plus 30' of #10 and some battery cable, & the price difference between
West and Jamestown was over $40.

Lee - I know you posted the details on your main halyard sheave before, but I
would love to have them again.  E-mail me directly if you wish.

Thanks.

dls

FINNUS505 at aol.com wrote:

> 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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