[Public-List] Hull stiffeners and Yves Gelinas

[Stephen Gwyn]

Hi,

I've read Yves' book (in French) about his solo circumnavigation. 
He has an appendix about the upgrades he made to his Alberg 30.
  He did make watertight compartments out of the chain locker and 
the aft lazerette. He also had provisions for a further 
watertight door to be installed in an emergency at the main 
bulkhead under the mast. I think he also made the division 
between the saloon and the cookpit/lockers watertight as well. 
Easy for him, since he got rid of the engine. I didn't think he 
added hull stiffeners, but now I've just read his web site and 
talks about reinforcing the hull.

The biggest modification was replacing the mast. The new mast had 
a thicker section and double spreaders. He also replaced the 
rigging with a (slightly) larger gauge. He was, of course 
dismasted in the Southern Ocean. In the book, he attributes the 
failure to (initially) a weakening of the cross-beam under the 
mast during a capsize. The mast step dropped slightly. This led 
to the rigging being slightly loose, which increased shock loads 
on the rigging. The ultimate failure which lead to the dismasting 
was the failure of one of the chainplate bolts. He hadn't changed 
the original 1/4" bolts for the lower shrouds chainplates. 
Upgrading these bolts to 5/15" is the only structural upgrade 
I've made to my boat.


Stephen
#495 Quasar









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  Stephen Gwyn                 |  Tel: 1-250-363-3136
  Dept. of Physics & Astronomy |  Fax: 1-250-363-0045
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