Alberg 30 Lora Begins a Circumnavigation 

I've enjoyed the Rigging Doctor channel and looking forward to updates.

hey I know you guys, wink, wink . small world huh

doppler it sure is a small world :)

He left Fiji on June 2nd 2021 expecting 40 days or so at sea till he reaches Indonesia. What a man👍

What does that mean?

@@danielhattaway3734 Go live in your truck in the driveway for 40 days and you will understand what that means.

@@SOLDOZER I don’t remember making this comment But what I think I meant was Why is it the best and worst time? Living in a truck has nothing to do with a seafaring voyage around the world.

Thanks for your comment. One of the advantages about this design is the outboard well is located within the stern locker which is sealed with a bulkhead from the boat's interior so there is no chance of sinking the boat because of the motor and no fuel or oil to get into the bilge.

James work, and Mai's, is incredible. How many people can do 50 or more different sailboat projects at an expert level? I don't know of any others. He has to figure out what needs to be done, design it, engineer it, and then build it.

Vin, I had a look at a few of your videos at Sailing Nervous. Lots of good content there that sailors should check out.

Thanks Kirk. Great to see another Alberg 30 following in Salsa's wake.

Dude has been sailing since he was 10. He does not need your armchair advice.

Late starter eh?. One eye open....dude who will try it one sleepy night shift. @@SOLDOZER

Jason visited me a few days ago. I asked him about what worked and didn't and heard he was mostly happy with the modifications. He just bought a used Tohatsu Sailpro 6hp to replace the old 2-stroke motor he picked up in Indonesia and seems happy with that size motor. He may replace his mast that was bent and straightened after a knock down. He switched from Isailor software on his tablet to Navionics that he likes better. The Norvane windvane self-steering required replacing its plastic bearings and bushings every 10-12,000 miles. He knew the bearings were going bad again after the Virgin Islands stop but carried on hoping they'd hold out, then they caused the windvane to malfunction a few days from home. He will either rebuild it or might buy a new Monitor. One annoyance was the Newfound Metals portlights began leaking in the Pacific and required rebedding a few times. Also, the chain plates leaked eventually because we used polysulfide Lifecaulk sealant on them and that bond only lasts a couple years in many cases so I advised him to seal them with butyl tape. He was very happy with the AIS transmitter and mentioned that nearly all ships saw his signal and altered course for him without needing to hail them on the radio. He is going back to his old office job for awhile and asked me assist him to do some maintenance and upgrades to Lora at some point so he can set off for another circumnavigation on the same boat. Since most of his trip was during covid lockdowns he didn't get to see all the places he wanted and hopes to see more next time. I'll try to interview him here before the next trip and ask him more. Meanwhile, you can ask him questions on his facebook page.

@@atomvoyager Thank you for your reply

@@atomvoyager James, thank you for sharing Jason's short debrief. I'm sure many of us would welcome an interview at a later date....but this walk-thru video was a real treat to watch and very instructive. Your channel's practical and tutorial nature is a wonderful resource.

Great to see you had a good passage to Spanish Wells and looking forward to updates from distant seas.

Jason is currently in Indonesia preparing to depart soon for South Africa via Reunion Island: facebook.com/JasonandSVLora/ Hard for me to narrow down a list to 5 boats but the A30 would be on it as well as the Cape Dory 27 I'm currently refitting, although I'm finding the fiberglass hull liner on the CD27 is awkward to work around for access and modifications. But that's common to many boats built after the 1960s. My classic small cruisers list is at: atomvoyages.com/planning/classic-small-cruisers-list-html/

Brian and Debbie are currently sailing in the Chilean canals not far from Cape Horn. I last heard from them two months ago when they were at Puerto Williams and waiting until the lockdowns eased to continue their trip: share.garmin.com/BrianHarper

The beauty of this conversion is that the motor well can be used for a Torqeedo or similar EP outboard in the future. And once battery technology has become safer and simpler and comes down more in price that will be an obvious choice when range is not an issue. But that doesn't work for everyone. For example, Lora motored through the Panama Canal this year and into the Pacific. EP doesn't have the range for that. Aside from doing the canal or ICW, most people don't need to motor 50 miles in a day so EP might be the way to go.

Lora has completed her circumnavigation and used the sprit pole many times with no issue due to side loads. I built and used a similar sprit pole on my own boat and some other boats many times, even having the rail under in gusty winds and it handles the loads fine. There is a fiberglass backing plate under the deck as well. The mounting sleeve is 9" long with three bolts that spreads the load well. The bobstay takes most of the load anyway. As for lateral forces, I kept the pole short enough at 20" beyond the bow and used 120. wall tube to resist bending to the side, which has proven to be sufficient. If you look at the much longer poles available from Selden and others on big modern boats they look much weaker to me but still seem to handle the loads. Here's a video with more details on the sprit pole installation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pixDwrC-BZM.html

Am i correct in understanding that Alberg 30s were delivered with a rolling boom that could furl the mainsail?​@@atomvoyager

@@Mme.Swisstella Some did come with roller reefing booms that were popular in the 1960's. Maybe it was an option and some boats did not have it. Seems a good idea but doesn't work all that well so most of us have converted them to slab reefing. It's possible to disable the roller mechanism and use the same boom.

One rule of thumb is the more experience and passage planning skills you have the less horsepower you require. That said, most sailors on an A30 size boat would appreciate the 9.8HP option as I laid out in this article: atomvoyages.com/articles/the-improved-outboard-well/

Thanks for the comment. We didn't need to raise the boom because there was about 5'10" clearance under it in the cockpit as it was and we made the bimini frame 5'8". The traveler for end of boom sheeting works as long as you keep the bimini frame far enough forward for clearance. It does have the potential for snagging the main sheet if you don't guide it across during a gybe. If we installed a 9.8hp motor instead of the 6 we would need a larger hatch opening and could not use the traveler. In that case we use three point end of boom sheeting with a double block on the boom and a single block on deck either side of the motor lid as on another A30 Voyager Edition we did.

@@atomvoyager Yes I remember seeing that in your other video. I guess that's a.k.a german system? Truth be told I'm absorbing all your design ideas to one day refit an old Alberg up here in Lake Ontario. I'm a big fan of the outboard well. Think its just briliant. But I'd probably go with an 9.8 hp hoping the extra weight is not an issue to the boat's sailing charactristics. Thanks for sharing your gift with the rest of us.

Although it looks like they might disturb the airflow, in practice they don't affect it because the wind just flows over and around them. Maybe a problem if you tilted the windward one nearly vertical and facing forward when close hauled but no need to do that. I sailed with the same setup on my boat from South Africa to the US and had no problems.

Thanks for the comments. The previous and current owners of Lora chose the outboard well not to save money but because they preferred the long list of advantages over an inboard rather than the shorter list of its disadvantages. Certainly not a preferred choice for most sailors though. I didn't mention the reasons in the video but I laid out the whole story in the article linked here: www.atomvoyages.com/articles/improvement-projects/395-the-improved-outboard-well.html

My 1974 Alberg 30 still has the original atomic 4. Works very well , it’s amazing really. I do have a rebuilt A4 ready to install if needed.

Yes, fixed jib furlers like the one on this boat most commonly use a single furling line on a drum. A removable code 0 typically uses this type continuous line.

We are currently not taking on any more work.

I don't know if Lora is USCG documented as well as state registration. Some states want local registration for taxing purposes even if documented. I sailed for many years to 30+ countries with only state registration and no problems. In todays over regulated world some countries like in the EU might hassle you for not having documentation.

She is federally documented. I did it just to avoid the possible hassles.

You're not wrong but how well it works depends on the sailor's skills and expectations. It's not the current so much because 6hp pushes the boat at 5 knots and you are not likely to get more than 6k from a larger motor. It is when there is current plus headwind and chop that progress slows or stops sooner. I sailed this boat with this motor down the east coast with a detour on the ICW from Norfolk to Beaufort with 4 days of motorsailing and no problem. Here's an article with the full explanation of of the pluses and minuses: www.atomvoyages.com/articles/improvement-projects/395-the-improved-outboard-well.html

Newfound Metals: newfoundmetals.com/product-category/portlights/

On previous boats we did roll and tip but this A30 was one of the first that we sprayed and it saved a lot of labor with a slightly better result.

Canadian made. Designed by a Swedish designer (Carl Alberg)

I made that myself out of Teak "L" Molding, 1 3/16"H x 1 3/16"W from West Marine.

@@atomvoyager nice work

@@atomvoyager if you have anymore L molding I will pay you to make one for my boat

The owner is currently cruising the South Pacific. The refit was done by James at Cruising Yacht Services and he can be contacted through atomvoyages.com

The later interior liner models have 6'0" in the salon and a few inches less going forward. The older non-liner models may have up to 6'1". If needed, you could cut out the sole and drop it an inch or two but that would narrow the width.

I am 6'2", and I can stand up in the doghouse portion of the cabin (main saloon), as long as I am barefoot, or just wearing boat shoes. I have a 1967 boat (Mark I, without the interior fiberglass liner). Reinforcing around companionway hatch has 6', but that is just the lip around the lower side of the hatch opening,Better headroom than almost all other 30 footers, same vintage (Seawind) or newer (Pearson 30).

In the video description above is a link to his current position. He's approaching St Helena Island in the S Atlantic and is 3/4 the way through his circumnavigation.

Lazy jacks are nice in theory on a boat big enough that the mainsail is difficult to gather up by hand. On smaller boats like this there is more work involved in fussing with retracting the lazy jack lines unless you motor straight into the wind when setting sail or unreefing. At sea on a windy day with windvane self-steering many of us don't want to be motoring, which means you need to pull the leeward lazy jack lines out of the way. Having to do that several times is more work than just gathering the sail and lashing it to the boom by hand. One of the advantages of smaller boats is you don't need things like heavy anchors and lazy jacks.

That was five years ago when we used off-white Brightsides with flattener. But we found it prone to mildew so haven't used it again. Since then we use EZ Cabincoat, an off-white, latex type with mold inhibitor and applied with a foam roller.

I also used a latex paint with mould inhibitor. It’s water based and dirt cheap at $30 for a gallon

The material is nylon spinnaker cloth, Challenge Fibermax 144 (I believe that is 3.4 oz), with 4.25 oz dacron UV cover. On my Triton 28 code 0 I use 2.2 oz nylon with about 3.5 oz dacron UV cover.

Why? Seems like a good way to get in and out of harbour if that's all he wants?

@@bobomac8330 Hi Bobo. The Alberg 30 is a medium displacement yacht for its size - it's not a particularly light boat in other words. Even in a moderate breeze, if tide was running against, this boat could find itself unable to make headway and thus be vulnerable to a lee shore or other dangers. There's a reason they put diesels in boats. I imagine they were factory fitted with a 15hp engine which not only has more horses but infinitely more torque.

@@edenhunter9904 you are correct that in the wrong situation, the difference between escaping and being splintered on the rocks, is more hp. There is a solution to this problem. Don't put yourself in such a situation. I am becoming more and more a fan of Atom's strategy of using a light outboard. It eliminates the most troublesome through hull there is, the prop shaft. If also simplifies maintenance and reduces drag. Some will say, yeah, but a diesel gets twice the mileage. To those I would say, use your damn sails more!!!!! If motoring down the ICW is a thing for you, yeah, you need a good diesel. Actually, you need a good powerboat.

@@petec9686 Hi Pete, Nobody tries to put themselves in harms way - but it happens. Coastal cruising is particularly fraught with dangers for the small yacht and if you cruise long enough, you WILL be faced with a situation where a6hp outboard in a medium displacement long keel yacht becomes a very bad idea.

And by the by - I think these boats were factory fitted with 20hp engines!!!!!