Quest for an A25 is over

[kerrye]

Towed it home from Amarillo yesterday. Bought it from Tom Lawnsby from Austin. It sports a Westerbeke 42B with 195 hours and sits on an Owens Marine aluminum trailer. It was advertised here a few weeks ago. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions as I get to work on it but one question immediately comes to mind. The trailer has bunks on either side of the keel and no keel rollers although it has a piece of wood under the sternmost cross member which is tight to the keel. I'm thinking keel rollers would be good, especially to replace the chunk of wood although that back crossmember is not straight but drops down in the middle so I don't know if a keel roller can be fitted to it. How many are carrying their A-25's on bunks without keel rollers? It towed very well, even thru blizzard conditions in NM.

[DesertAlbin736]

Congrats!!!! Always good to hear of a happy new owner of a A25. Your 430 mile trip hauling the boat home to Denver from Amarillo doesn't beat our 850 miles bringing our boat home from American Falls, ID to Peoria, AZ, but you went through a blizzard no less! That's hard core dedication! The dinghy on your camper shell roof looks a bit like a Trinka or Dyer Dhow? That'll come in handy for anchoring out.

Our trailer is very similar to yours, with bunks supporting the hull, but has rollers down the center line. My chief complaint is that it's hard to get the boat centered on the trailer when pulling out of the water. We also have guide posts at the back of the trailer, but the way the stern tapers in they're pretty much useless keeping the boat centered as it comes up out of the water. What we need is guides at the widest part of the hull, but that's right over the wheels. Haven't figured out the best way to construct one of those yet. What we do now is my wife drives the truck as we pull out, and I stand on the dock with a boat hook & stern line to keep the boat centered. So we always try to get the ramp lane next to the dock. It's a PITA, but the only way that works so far.

So where do you plan on using your new boat? Ever have a thought of doing the San Juans & Gulf Islands? You're 300 miles closer to Anacortes or Bellingham than we are. Bellingham has free long term truck & trailer storage up to 60 days in a patrolled lot. We plan on going back there this summer & hope to reprise our 40 day 2014 cruise, only this time try to push as far North as Desolation Sound, possibly as part of a little two or three boat flotilla with of some of our Arizona sailing friends. IMO it's by far the best coastal cruising ground on the West Coast.

This photo was us on the way home after picking our boat up in Idaho, passing through the Salt Lake City area in March, 2014

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Here's the launch ramp at Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham

Bellingham Lauch Ramp.JPG

You could be seeing views like these in the San Juans...

DSCN1348.JPG

[kerrye]

It's a Sumner dinghy. Has a sailing rig too. I talked the seller into driving from Austin to Amarillo so I wouldn't contest your record. Our plans for the near future are for the Ontario and NY canals. I'd like to do Desolation Sound someday. Perhaps put in at Lund. I was thinking about those goofy guides yesterday. They have to be moved out for launch and recovery. The boat is currently not correctly centered on the trailer. Been sitting that way for years. One way to get it centered is to install some keel guides. Maybe I'll have to do that.

[DesertAlbin736]

Our plans for the near future are for the Ontario and NY canals.

Been there, done that too, the Erie Canal that is. Launched at the state park on Seneca Lake, ran the connecting Cayuga-Seneca canal up to the main Erie Canal, then West to Fairport & back to Seneca to haul out. 11 locks each way, that is 4 on the CS canal, 7 more on the main Erie. We had a great time. Lots of fun!

We went at the end of May and first few days of June because we were on the way to meeting friends in Rhode Island & were on a tight schedule. If we went again I'd go in the fall right as the leaves are at peak color.

We weren't the only Albin 25 on the canal. We passed this fellow with his A25 "Flika" just as he was about to turn in to the Midlakes Marina in Macedon, NY. We pulled in and had a meet & greet chat.

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[DesertAlbin736]

Been sitting that way for years. One way to get it centered is to install some keel guides. Maybe I'll have to do that.

I've thought about that too. Problem is, with the trailer backed down the ramp the boat is floating above the back end of the trailer by a couple feet when bow is winched up the to the stop. The keel is fairly shallow, especially towards the front of the boat an only 2.5 feet draft at the prop & rudder. So as you're pulling out the stern settles down onto the bunks. Once the hull is resting on the bunks it's not moving. Therefore I think the best way is to have side guides amidships where the hull is widest.

[kerrye]

I was thinking a couple of angled keel guides about 12-18" high near the back.

[glk34]

With Iron Jack, we use bunks with no rollers. The boat centers correctly almost every time. The key is not to put the trailer too far in the water, drive the boat onto the bunks so that she stops about 2 or 3 feet from the bow post on the trailer. Then as you winch the boat it should "almost" center itself. If rear trailer guide posts are used, you can tell that you are centered by the position of the boat in relation to the guide posts.

Chris
Iron Jack A25

[DesertAlbin736]

Iron Jack,

It must be something with our trailer. We have to back it in pretty far in order to be able to winch the bow fully up the the stop and get the bow eye over the roller at the winch post.

[kerrye]

I've done a lot of work over the last few weeks on the old girl. Painted the bow cabin and head. Removed marine head and added a porta potti with extra tank. Removed liner from aft cabin and painted it. Added a starboard hardtop over the wheelhouse. Added a swim platform. Added a Groco raw water filter. Moved the fuel filter. Sanded, stained and poly'd the xterior and interior wood. Redid the water system, cleaning the tank and running all new lines. Removed old instruments and antenna. Removed all engine soundproofing and installed new. Installed new bow and stern windows. Epoxied and painted the outboard drop down mount. Epoxied and painted the danforth anchor holder. Added new anchor chain and rode for bow and stern anchors. Got a new Mantus anchor--it stores nicely by hooking the hoop over the bow rail. Made new curtains. Added a keel roller at back of trailer. Will add another in the middle. Fresh engine oil and filter. New impeller. New fuel lines with a primer bulb for filling the filter. New wheelhouse light. Added brass kickplates on the doors.

[DesertAlbin736]

Wow, you're really going to town! I'm impressed! You should join up with us this summer & do the Gulf Islands & Desolation Sound from Bellingham, WA. Good launch ramp there & free patrolled truck & trailer parking for up to 60 days at Sqaulicum Harbor. 1,390 miles from Denver up through SLC, Boise, & Yakima. Can make Desolation in 7 days of 20 to 30 mile passages from Friday Harbor or Roche Harbor in the San Juans up through the Gulf Islands to Nanaimo, cross the Strait of Georgia & on up the Sunshine Coast to Desolation. Would be a great maiden cruise & closer drive than going to NY & Ontario.

Check out albinbc.com . Lots of A25's up there in the Gulf Islands. Maybe a chance to catch one of their rendezvous meets.

[kerrye]

I would like to do that however, we have family back in NY which is part of the reason it's the first planned cruise. I do have a trip like that in mind for the future though.

[DesertAlbin736]

Where in NY? Although I'm originally from NJ, before I moved to AZ in the late 1970s I had lived in Upstate NY near Saratoga for 10 years, not counting my Navy hitch, since midway through my high school years. I don't have any close family there anymore. All have either moved away or are deceased.

We had fun doing the Erie Canal but if I ever went again I'd go in mid September or early October for the fall colors. First half of our 5 days on the canal at the end of May were cold and rainy, although it did clear and warm up the last few days.

Ironically we had far better weather in the Pacific NW & BC in 2014 than we did going back East last year. In 40 days afloat in the San Juans and Gulf Islands in 2014 we were only rained out for a whole day once as we sat hunkered down at anchor in Port Browing, N. Pender Island BC. On the Erie Canal 3 out of 5 days were cold and/or wet. Out of 2 weeks on the Chesapeake 4 of the first 10 days saw wicked thunderstorms with heavy rain and lightning. The rest of the time was hot & muggy.

[kerrye]

Relatives in Warsaw and Clyde. Friends in Waterloo. We lived in Lima for many years. Had relatives on the Rideau and St Lawrence until they recently moved. Yes, fall is best. A good fall loop would be Erie to Champlain to St. Lawrence to Oswego to Erie.

[DesertAlbin736]

We went right by Waterloo & Seneca Falls on the CS Canal.

[kerrye]

How many other vessels did you encounter on that canal trip? The public docks at Waterloo don't look heavily used and when I was in Lockport last fall it didn't look as though anyone had stayed in the public marina there for months--docks covered with goose shit.