NEED A TRAILER for SKØL

[mikesrobinson]

Ahoy 25'ers. We are in need of trailer for SKØL our '75 Ablin 25 deLuxe. She is in Seattle now and we are moving to South Carolina, near Charleston. SO....need a road worthy trailer. We are life long sailors (40+ years) but we are new to towing. Any advise, or leads greatly appreciated. Definitely don't fancy being stranded on the road. Advise on new is appreciated too. That seems like an expensive answer. Thanks in advance. Also texting or a call, 916.705.3200 works for me as I'm frequently away from the computer. Cheers Mike

[Dieselram94]

I opted for new. It’s difficult to find used trailers that large especially in good shape. I think most times by the time you buy a older trailer and go through the wiring, lights, tires, bearings, and brakes, along with misc issues, you are just better off starting from new.

[NickScheuer]

Get a 4-wheel trailer for a boat as heavy as an A-25. Have a tow vehicle up for towing that weight uphill and down without stress. Since the A-25's cockpit is not self draining (actually drains into the bilge) tow with the cockpit canvas in place for rain resistance. Some two vehicles are better than others. I had a 2000 Silverado V-8 that would not tow over the western mountains with the AC on, without the temp light showing red. That truck would also not make up it's mind whether to use third or second gear on mountains and so kept shifting form one to the other and back, towing a boat not as heavy as our present Albin-25. I now tow with an old 1993 Dodge Diesel with a transmission that seems to handle any mountain in third gear and will not overheat. Tow a new (or used) boat and trailer over some rough roads and RR crossings before starting your trip just to prove out your rig. You don't want to learn about problems far from home. Just a few ideas; we've towed our boats hundreds of thousands of miles to all three coasts and back from home port in the Midwest.

[DesertAlbin736]

I tend to agree with Dieselram94 unless you come across a really good deal on a suitable trailer that is good condition. I would not even consider a painted steel trailer, only galvanized steel or aluminum. The question is, will you want/need a trailer long term or are your plans to keep SKOL in a slip with on the hard winter storage in a Travelift equipped boat yard? The road trip between Seattle & Charleston is just under 3,000 miles. From our experience towing with our truck it gets about 10 to 12 MPG. If you average 11 MPG that's 270+ gallons of fuel times +/- $3 per gallon, or over $800 in gas or diesel alone, plus meals & lodging (we camp in the boat in campgrounds or RV parks as much as possible). So if you're not planning on doing much trailering once you're settled in SC it might pay to just have it professionally transported. Just have to crunch the numbers & see. Friends of ours had a big Alden 44 sloop transported overland from the vicinity of York River, VA on the lower Chesapeake to Anancortes, WA a few years ago. If interested & can find out who they hired for that job. But I'm sure the cost to transport will be close to if not more than buying a trailer.

That said, our new guy 'qboat' in Delaware is also looking for a trailer (see that thread). If you go shopping for a trailer & figuring which size/type is best & how to match boat to trailer save & print these photos & that will help setting up a trailer to fit the boat. Adding to what Nick said, a 6,000 lb GVWR trailer is minimum size, tandem axle, load range E tires. Like Nick we also tow with a Dodge RAM 2500 diesel, in our case a 2006 short bed Laramie quad cab 4X4. 4WD not necessary, but very handy for walking up slippery ramps in 4 low without spinning wheels.

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[DesertAlbin736]

Nick,
Speaking of being from Rockford, IL, we passed by through Morris, IL on I-80 about 100 miles south of Rockford in 2015 on our way hauling the boat to Rhode lsland. Our trailer broke down there, bolts holding the disc brake calipers on the right rear wheel worked loose & chewed up the rotors & caliper brackets. We stopped at "Captain Nabbers" boat yard in Morris to get it fixed, but he couldn't get parts in less than a week. Ended up removing the calipers on that back axle and blanking off the brake lines & going on to Rhode Island after a few days on the Erie Canal & spent a good part of our week in Rhode Island getting repairs completed.

This is a shot of the back lot at Captain Nabber's boat yard. Such are the adventures encountered while "DA'ing" ones way across the country.

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[mikesrobinson]

Thanks all. Appreciate your insight and experience.

[qboat]

Mike, I don't know why I have trouble posting on this websire--if this is a duplicate I apologize. I was able to find a very nice 7000lb trailer for my A-25, Placebo, second hand. I will be happy to provide pics and measurements as I get it set up in a few weeks, if that is helpful. That being said, cross-country is a haul with a good-size boat, and the peace of mind of a new trailer may be worth it. Good luck.

[DesertAlbin736]

Placebo is an interesting boat name.

Placebo:
noun
A measure merely designed to calm or please someone.

[mikesrobinson]

Looks like a new trailer is the answer. Since I am 800 miles from SKØL our Albin 25 deLuxe, I am wondering if anyone in the group has these measurements? It would greatly appreciated. I understand the measurements would be different than the original Albin 25 (pre deLuxe)
Cheers

MONOHULL TRAILER ORDER FORM.pdf

[qboat]

DA:
"Placebo is an interesting boat name."
When I first heard the name, I was sure I would change it. Then the seller, who had bought her from the original 1972 owner, a British Columbia physician, told me that he found a note on her when he bought her (I paraphrase) "Placebo; that which pleases but never cures." Mightyy fine boat name, I think; I will keep it. Plus the Latin word itself means "I will please." But anybody who would rather may call her "Sunday," the Spanish word for which is Domingo. So Sunday after the most famous Placebo, the great tenor, Placebo Domingo!

[DesertAlbin736]

When I first heard the name, I was sure I would change it. Then the seller, who had bought her from the original 1972 owner, a British Columbia physician, told me that he found a note on her when he bought her (I paraphrase) "Placebo; that which pleases but never cures." Mighty fine boat name, I think; I will keep it. Plus the Latin word itself means "I will please." But anybody who would rather may call her "Sunday," the Spanish word for which is Domingo. So Sunday after the most famous Placebo, the great tenor, Placebo Domingo!

I think the great tenor you're thinking of is Placido (accent on the first syllable) Domingo, which sounds like it translates to 'Peaceful Sunday' or something like that. What ever the case Placebo beats "Placenta" as a boat name. Even though it's a Swedish boat we chose "La Dolce Vita", Italian for "The Sweet Life", which it very much has turned out to be. The name our boat came with was "Nowell's Ark", a play on the previous owner's last name, which for obvious reasons didn't work for us. Plus the name was applied in cheap 3" stick on letters as seen here circled in red in one of the owner's ad photos from CL.

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We've made so many changes to the boat in the seven years since then besides normal maintenance including re-designed cockpit canvas, the hard top, the 20 gallon holding tank, ditching the stern platform mounted trolling motor, upgrading electronics, replacing the raw water strainer, adding the hard top, adding mahogany name boards, swapping Weaver Snap Davits for Garhauer lift davits, new dinghy to replace the one in this photo which we lost in BC, and making major repairs on the trailer. The canvas it came with was in good shape then, but I made the mistake of covering it with a canvas drop cloth tarp which turned out to be oiled & stained the Sunbrella, plus it didn't take long for our desert sun to fry the vinyl window which was too small anyway. The previous owner up in Idaho lived out in farm country and had a nice big barn to store it in, so it was literally a "barn find".

They do have cold winters up there in Idaho so it's likely the raw water strainer sight glass froze & cracked at some point which caused problems getting the raw water pump to prime itself. This photo shows was when they parked it outside one time during a snow storm in May , 2008, about seven years into their time of ownership. Another thing we changed was to remove to those yellow spare diesel jerry cans hanging out over the bow & shortened the bowsprit. I mean who does that, hanging spare cans of fuel over the bow? Seemed to me like a fuel spill waiting to happen. Spilling diesel fuel is so much worse than gasoline. At least gasoline will mostly evaporate. Not so with diesel. Here you can also see the sailing mast slung on the trailer frame.

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[qboat]

DA: Serves me right--"Placebo Domingo" was (my attempt at) a joke.

[DesertAlbin736]

DA: Serves me right--"Placebo Domingo" was (my attempt at) a joke.

Hey, lame jokes, corny puns, and one liners that zing overhead out to left field, that's my thing.

[Capt.Larry]

It was an Excellent Joke !


Several related Q;s :
1. I am awaiting the dimensions needed to fit a trailer to an A25
and also to hear if there are or are not differences in the early non deluxe hull.

BTW... we simply cannot have an A25 long term without a trailer.
So getting one will be a Must for us.

I often see "junk" power boats being sold cheaply or even free,
that have 2 axle trailers, that should be easily refitted to the A-25.
of course the cost of disposing of the boat, and the work to make the trailer road worthy
explain why they are "free".

2. What is the towing weight of the A25 and typical galv. trailer.
not counting gear, etc.??

Thanks Larry N. Cal.

[tribologist]

Its very close to 6000 lb

I have 3D CAD models of both the deluxe and the classic. If you give me the trailer dimensions i can make accurate bunk drawings