[Public-list] crossing the atlantic

[David Fisher]

Certainly the Alberg has her limitations and, as with any boat, it is well 
worth being aware of them before you trust your life to it.  By reputation 
the Alberg is a fairly strong sea boat.  You are right that one 
circumnavigation doesn't necessarily qualify the boat, but it does give an 
indication of it's potential.

Aside from a superb hull design, the Alberg has in her favour that she's 
always been very solidly built.  Not the strongest around by any means; no 
match for a steel tank, but up against the comparable production boats of 
her time and those newer, she rates well.  Many on the list will be able to 
tell you just how thick the layup in the hull is, I just know that it is 
damned thick.

Compared particularly to newer boats, the layout of the Alberg is excellent 
for offshore work.  I was just about sold on the cockpit lockers alone.  I 
do consider the cockpit to be a little too large, capable of carrying too 
much weight when pooped.  This has only happened to me once, however, and 
the drains got rid of the water quickly enough.

I'm living aboard my Alberg, no. 440.  She's built in 1970, has a liner, and 
was made before the oil crisis you guys had in that part of the world a 
couple of years later.  Her former owners sailed her from Canada out to 
Australia in 2001, where I bought her and now am based.  It can be a milk 
run of a trip, and many people who have never taken it will tell you that it 
is, but it is half a trip around the world, and that can't be sneezed at.  
I've since been about 5000 miles at sea, having never lost her once.

I am currently refitting, with particular emphasis on boosting her safety 
qualities.  I have never liked the idea of a vessel being a cockleshell, so 
everywhere that I can make watertight, I am.  This is: Anchor locker, 
forepeak (with an easily removed hatch), lockers in the saloon, bilge, 
engine room(...), cockpit lockers and lazarette.  A bit of work involved, 
but she'll stay afloat for sure once I'm done.  Quite the silliest thing 
I've ever seen on a boat is deck drains, and mine has them.  Why anyone 
would even consider shedding water from the deck via a hose, with all its 
inherent problems, through the INSIDE of a boat is completely beyond me.  So 
they're to go.  Various other jobs will toughen her up and make her more 
livable, then I'll have what I consider to be a fairly strong, very pretty, 
go most places cruiser.

Quite the harangue, but my point is this:  The Alberg is a fine offshore 
boat.

David
Kalitsah440
Sydney.


>From: George Dinwiddie <gdinwiddie at alberg30.org>
>Reply-To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at alberg30.org>
>To: Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all <public-list at alberg30.org>
>Subject: Re: [Public-list] crossing the atlantic
>Date: Tue, 02 May 2006 22:56:56 -0400
>
>The Coopers took Cookin' across the Atlantic a few years back.  As I
>recall, they had no problems on the Atlantic, but got a bit
>uncomfortable crossing from the Azores to Gibraltar.
>
>   - George
>
>frank jolly wrote:
> > I have been looking for a boat suitable for passage making. possibly
> > crossing the atlantic. Three boats within my budget are contessa 26,
> > triton 28.5, alberg 30.  I can find one account of an alberg 30 
>crosssing
> > or circumnavigating.  Jean-Du-Sud is the vessel name. I also could find
> > one instance of a pearson triton leaving home. Atom. Surely there are
> > more crossings.  Contessa has a long track record of atlantic crossings,
> > but no instances of anyone ever standing up inside the cabin.  Nice boat
> > for elves. And so I can get a triton for half as much as an alberg. 
>which
> > translates into more cruising dough, and a lot less space . Does anybody
> > have any ideas . I really like them both so much I am afraid to decide. 
>I
> > have found several A-30's I could afford,.  I just need some feedback. 
>Is
> > this a boat to go almost anywhere. Just because one person went around
> > cape horn doesn't qualify the boat. It surely qualifies the sailor
> > though. Somebody crosses the ocean in a dinghy . Now suddenly it is
> > billed as a blue water cruiser. enough folks do it and I believe. I
> > really don't know what I am digging at., I just can't get this A-30 out
> > of my mind. Is that what happens when you go aboard one. Am I in love?
> >
>
>
>--
>   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>    When I remember bygone days                         George Dinwiddie
>    I think how evening follows morn;            gdinwiddie at alberg30.org
>    So many I loved were not yet dead,           http://www.Alberg30.org
>    So many I love were not yet born.
>                 'The Middle' by Ogden Nash
>   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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