Plastic Classic Forum

I hope this is the correct place to introduce myself and my new project. After many years of boatyard dreaming my personal circumstances changed to the point I am able to take on a restoration / rebuild project. Last week Alberg 30 #48 Tradewinds was trucked from her former home in Michigan to my shop in Iowa. The work that has been done so far by David her former caretaker has been of very high quality. I don't have enough good things to say about him, or words enough to express my appreciation.

A couple of the big projects he has already completed are;
Replacement of main bulkheads and glassing them into the hull.
Removal and rebuild of the main cabin settees.
He also spent time rebuilding the engine beds and numerous other things.
I believe these projects were discussed elsewhere on this site and are well documented on his blog. He's a great guy and I hope to be able to perhaps spend time on the water with him at some point in the future.

I spent the weekend unloading and making inventory of the copious amount of gear and bits and bobs that were included with her. Each step of the way I was more impressed. She's dry everywhere and the decks are very solid underfoot. She is an incredibly sound boat.
So there is the starting point. I will try to update as I make progress.

Perhaps I'll end this post with something new I've learned.
Trucking companies seem to work on a schedule of their own, pickup times are 'best guess' estimates within a few hours. Kind of like a Southwest Airlines flight or a visit to the proctologist. The waiting is almost as uncomfortable as the event.
So when scheduling a crane that charges by the hour and a truck that charges a flat rate, schedule the truck early and the crane late.

Welcome to the group and congratulations on your new boat. Looking forward to hear more of your project once you get started.

Welcome. Yes you found the right spot. I love the Alberg 30. Please post lots of photos of the project. Looking forward to it.

Hi
Will be great to come to the site with another project to look forward to.
Keep us posted with your progress with plenty photos!!

Since David, the previous owner, has already completed the reconstruction of the main bulkheads and the main cabin settees, I have decided to start my project on Tradewinds from the front and gradually progress towards the back. My intention is to achieve a sense of accomplishment in smaller steps as I move forward. To begin, I initiated the demolition process in the forward cabin. I removed the original built-in vee berth and the fiberglass water tank beneath it. I also spent time grinding away the excessive tabbing and multiple layers of paint. During this process, I discovered two areas under the original fiberglass water tank that seem to be filled with some type of body filler. Perhaps this filler was used to position the water tank during the boat's construction? I am uncertain if this filler has any structural significance. Should I completely grind it out before applying fiberglass over this area? My plan involves incorporating an integral water tank, but these filler spots are located outside of the tank area. It's my thought to put a layer of glass down in this spot and then glass in pvc cut in half along the bottom edge of the entire tank running fore and aft for the anchor locker drain line as James Baldwin demonstrates in his video. I have attached a few pictures for reference. Thank you in advance for any guidance provided by someone who has encountered a similar situation before!

Here are a few pics before demo in the V-berth.

The factory installed blobs of filler you encounter on old boats are generally made with talc powder or something similar mixed into polyester resin to form a super hard and brittle gap filler like what we do with West System 406 silica with epoxy resin. It can be grinded out but is slow going with lots of dust so if they are thick and lumpy I often chop it out first with a chisel and then smooth the last bit with a 24 or 36 grit pad on the grinder.

Yes it's structural in the way that anything added to the hull stiffens it in some amount and that is generally welcome. But it was normally not the builder's intent to stiffen the hull and so not really needed, even though it does just that. Once you've smoothed out the lumps somewhat you can glass over them or if they're in your way, chop and grind them out. I can't really tell what's going on in the red circled areas but if those are filler blocking where the drain hose needs to go under the glassed in pvc tube then you need to chop them out.

By the way, contrary to rumors, I found the Alberg 30 and most other boats are not really overbuilt in regards to hull thickness except in a few areas of overlap such as along the centerline when they overlapped the fiberglass. In fact they sometimes can benefit from stringers added to large unsupported areas between bulkheads. The integral tank should be OK though because the baffles and fore and aft panels and top glassed in will stiffen the area.

Thank you very much for your response atonmvoyager! Your use of the word OK makes me think that additional stringers could be useful even with the addition of the integral tank. If so now is certainly the time to do it. Or am I reading too much into this? Thanks again. MG

When I said "should be OK" I should have said assuming you used enough fiberglass applied properly then it will be OK. Stringers in the hull would be optional for areas outside the tank if you felt you needed any. I generally use the equivalent of two layers of 8-10oz cloth on all surfaces of the tank or one layer of 1208 and three layers of 8-10oz cloth tape on the joints.

https://atomvoyages.com/integral-water- ... struction/

The A30 doesn't normally need any stringers unless you have some large unsupported areas of the hull that are accessible on early pre-liner models that you want to stiffen just in case.

Hi Michael - Congrats on your "new" boat!!!

My experience with the blobs'/filler are just as James says, chipping as much away as possible before grinding, saves a lot of work, and dust.
Same also as James (as usual) on hull thickness. I was appalled to find out that the vertical cabin trunk surfaces on my Ariel were constructed with perhaps/at most 1/4" solid glass. There was a liner of slightly lesser thickness bonded (with 'clumpstuff', no less ) to the interior which would help with strength somewhat, but...
I cut that away, and am going with 1/2" H60 Divinycell foam as a core bonded to the inside and an inner skin. Not sure yet if I'll do that in a couple layers of 10 oz woven, or 1708.

"Kind of like a Southwest Airlines flight or a visit to the proctologist. The waiting is almost as uncomfortable as the event." Hilarious.

Glad to have you aboard, and looking forward to progress updates and pics!