[Public-list] Alberg 30 Quiz

Gordon Laco mainstay at csolve.net
Tue Nov 2 16:40:19 PST 2004 

Hey Roger - 

No comment about the rig mods you mention - I am probably in enough hot
water already!

Yes we are still sailing - the woodstove is terrific.  I plan to stay in til
the freeze-up again this year.  Did ever mention what a fine ice-breaker our
boats make?  I got to try it two years ago when I pushed the season just a
little long.

Gord

> Gord,
> 
> I recall reading somewhere that Alberg originally wanted a fractional rig with
> the mast 2' aft of current location but Whitby wouldn't let him (don't recall
> why).  Thus the shorter mast and long boom.  Just for yuks, what about moving
> the mast aft and the stays inboard to cabin sides.  Probably would require
> moving the "offset" bulkhead to stbd to line up w/ port side.  Plus lots more
> load on stays.
> 
> I raised the main cabin bunks 5" this weekend to get them closer to optimum
> seat height (from 12").  Looks like in might work well.  I have room for 2
> drawers 24" wide and 2 at 20", all with an average height of about 8" and
> depth of 18".  I can also put a large battery forward & inboard under the
> stbd. bunk.  I raised only the inboard 18" of each bunk.  This leaves a 5" x
> 8" continuous trough outboard to store long stuff (awnings, oars, swords, etc)
> which I will cover w/ plywood access panels.
> 
> Are you still sailing and using that new cabin stove?
> 
> Roger
> 
> Roger L. Kingsland, AIA
> Managing Partner
> Kingsland Scott Bauer Associates (KSBA)
> N40° 27' 49"  W79° 57' 59"
> 3441 Butler Street
> Pittsburgh, PA 15201
> www.ksba.com
> 
> 1(412) 252-1500 X101 - Office & Voice Mail
> 1(412) 779-5101 - Mobile (no voice mail)
> 1(412) 252-1510 - Fax
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
> To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at alberg30.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 8:10 AM
> Subject: Re: [Public-list] Alberg 30 Quiz
> 
> 
>> HI there - 
>> 
>> The fractional rig (forestay lower on the mast  than the backstay) allows
>> the mast to be made flexible - that allows the sailor to bend it to flatten
>> the mainsail to control the energy it develops.  In heavy air it means that
>> you can carry more usable sail before having to reef.  The cost is a smaller
>> headsail though.
>> 
>> The lead ballast would have resulted in a lower centre of gravity that was
>> also slightly forward of where it is now.  Lead is expensive so the mass
>> production of the boats got iron.  The result of that would have been a
>> stiffer boat able to carry more sail in rising wind without healing so
>> much...and less squat in the stern as the wave sequence develops as speed
>> rises.
>> 
>> There is another Canadian boat called the Abbott 33 whose rig I have
>> daydreamed about fitting to my Alberg some day.  I wouldn't do it partly
>> because of the cost and partly because of the fact that Surprise would no
>> longer be an Alberg 30 if I did that; but it gives an idea of what might
>> have been.  It is taller but bendy - I'll bet the Alberg would be a rocket
>> with that in the air above it - but like I said, it would no longer be an
>> Alberg!
>> 
>> Gord
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> Gord wrote:
>>> 
>>> "But man o man I wish Whitby had left the fractional rig and lead
>>> ballast! (sorry)"
>>> 
>>> Just curious... why would they be preferred on the A30?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 07:33:34 -0500, Gordon Laco <mainstay at csolve.net> wrote:
>>>> Hi there -
>>>> 
>>>> That thing is called a 'boom claw' and the sail rolls up inside it.  There
>>>> is no worry about sliding because that type of vang is meant to pull
>>>> straight down to a pad eye or stanchion base on the deck.   It was usefull
>>>> because you could move it along the boom so it pulled down from directly
>>>> over whatever you shackled the fall of the tackle too...and it also worked
>>>> as a preventer.  On the negative side, you had to adjust it every time you
>>>> moved the mainsheet - and while gybing you had no vang at all and could
>>>> hang
>>>> the boom up on the backstay.
>>>> 
>>>> Re: Whitby Folkboats...yes they did build them - and they were distinctly
>>>> diff from the later Contessa 26.  Whitby started off importing wooden
>>>> Folkboats from Denmark (my beloved #16 Touch Wood among them) and got into
>>>> building with the glass versions of those terrific boats.  There was a
>>>> large
>>>> fleet of them on Lake Ontario whose owners went to Whitby with a
>>>> specification for a larger boat that was to have similar sea keeping
>>>> qualities - the result was the Alberg 30.  But man o man I wish Whitby had
>>>> left the fractional rig and lead ballast! (sorry)  My uncle Con Costas
>>>> built
>>>> rigs for both the Whitby Folkboat and the Albergs until he passed away in
>>>> '72.  He ran the rigging shop at Tom Taylor Co. which was then the largest
>>>> yacht outfitting operation in North America - I tried to fill his shoes
>>>> there from '80 to when they finally closed in '85.
>>>> 
>>>> Gord #426 Surprise
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> George and Mike,
>>>>> Guess that it is pretty hard to stump either of you two.  I am curious,
>>>>> were
>>>>> these devices commercially available during the time our boats were newer
>>>>> or
>>>>> did owners have to custom make something like this to attach a vang?
>>>>> First thing I noticed about my boat is no vang.  I have boom roller
>>>>> furling,
>>>>> which is nice and convenient, I suppose.  Always wondered how to attach
>>>>> vang
>>>>> and still be able to furl.
>>>>> 
>>>>> What would keep the device in place on the boom?  Friction?  Would that
>>>>> not
>>>>> mess up the furled sailcloth?  Perhaps something is missing.
>>>>> Michael
>>>>> 
>>>>> George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at alberg30.org> wrote:
>>>>> Michael & Dan,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Not only are there two Albergs in the middle of Indiana, but their
>>>>> skippers both traveled to Annapolis to race on the same A30 on
>>>>> consecutive weekends.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The list is set to strip binary attachments, to prevent distributing
>>>>> viruses, so I've posted your photo at
>>>>> http://www.alberg30.org/maintenance/disorganized/RollerReefingVangAttachme
>>>>> nt
>>>>> .j
>>>>> pg
>>>>> 
>>>>> Recall that these boats originally used roller reefing rather than slab
>>>>> reefing. That means that you can't have hardware attached to the boom.
>>>>> In order to put a vang on the boom, you slid one of these contraptions
>>>>> down the boom with the sail in the slot between the "rollers." Then you
>>>>> could wind the main up on the boom within the circle.
>>>>> 
>>>>> - George
>>>>> 
>>>>> Michael Connolly wrote:
>>>>>> Hello, Last Saturday I spent a delightful day meeting Dan Walker -
>>>>>> #145 Rascal and looking at each others boats. It is still amazing to
>>>>>> me that here are two Alberg 30's within 18 miles of each other in
>>>>>> land-locked central Indiana!! If stories counted ................we
>>>>>> must have sailed a thousand miles that day..........very pleasant.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Dan helped me measure my mast and boom. These dimensions are for the
>>>>>> aluminum extrusions only; mast 34' 9-1/4" boom 14' 3".
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Now for the Quiz. When anyone these days purchases an Alberg 30 the
>>>>>> new owner always gets a box of "mystery stuff". Sometimes the seller
>>>>>> is forthright and tells you where it is and sometimes it is a
>>>>>> surprise 'find' discovered months after you get the boat home. In
>>>>>> Dan's "mystery stuff" box were many items most of which we could
>>>>>> identify.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> One item stumped us. Attached is a pict. This is a very nicely hand
>>>>>> made 'Gadget'. The white u-shaped section is a sandwich of two
>>>>>> aluminum plates and epoxy resin, then wrapped with white vinyl tape.
>>>>>> The rollers are of the polyurethane non-marking type, spaced about
>>>>>> 3/4" apart and do not rotate. A shackle is attached at the apex of
>>>>>> the u-shape.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> All suggestions of what this might be are welcome. Please keep your
>>>>>> responses clean as our children read this list.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Michael #133 Lorrie Rose
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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