liveaboard new to this forum

i live in rochester ny, its cold here! i live on a 1981 albin 43' trawler... look forward to hearing from you all

Better you than us. Good luck and keep warm if you can.

cool to see you here aswell... any other good forums im missing out on??

Not really. This is the best one. We have very informed/ opinionated participants. We load fast. You only hear from us when you go to the website. And generally a very courteous and supportive bunch.

There is the Living Aboard Forum and Passagemaker. **Many of us are on the other sites also.* I prefer Passagemaker, then Trawler Forum and lastly Living Aboard.* *I would prefer if the shrink wrap did not cover rthe windows so you could see out.**The canvas enclosurers*are mostly clear and the tarps cover the roof and sides but not the windows.* Many of the boats in the PNW on the hard are srink wrapped but not on the water.*
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Hello glad to see that we both live in cold weather on the boat!!

Jeremy Larkin* 43 gulfstar
Cranston RI.

where abouts do you live??

Hi What do you heat with? I have a Webastco forced hot air on a 50' Independence Trawler and its does a good job. I am on the north end of the Chesie Bay. Stay warm Ron T.

Ron T, right now im just using little ceramic heaters 1500 watt with addtional ecectric coming into the boat, sometimes a little buddy propane heater when its real cold. i section off rooms for when im sleeping or relaxing usally.. im installing a oil fired boiler but theres alot of plumbing that goes into that. a few more weeks till thats done but then ill have a nice heat throughout every inch of the boat. post photos of the independence id love to see her.

You've got guts! I liveaboard here on the Gulf Coast (Seabrook, Tx) and I'm freezing my ass off down here!
My Albin had a Webasto diesel fired furnace when I got her, (and practically no Air Con.) but it wasn't needed down here, and I don't intend to go far enough north in winter to ever need it, so I took it out. I do now have 3 A/C units though! Two 16's and a 12!

It also apears that you're a young guy too! I admire you for that! More young folks should try it. There is a 30 year old guy that lives on an Island Gypsy 36 next to me. He loves it.

By the way, the pic at the top of all the Trawler Forum pages has my Albin in the center. I'm anchored and everyone else is rafted to me. Matter of fact, Troy the young guy's IG is rafted on my starboard side.

brent, ive asked before whos albin that was but never heared anything.. id love to play 20 questions with you about your boat and the systems..

i just turned 21 last week and my goal is to never live on land again. i love it and wouldnt trade it for anything. the cold weather sucks id say but once the boiler is complete im sure it wont be so bad. my boat had an espar heater but was in rough shape and hadnt been used in along time.

1988 was the year i was born... mine is a '81, i have twin lehmans but just the 120s, im thinking yours must be the 135s..

i dont know where to start, how are your decks, fuel tanks, windows, veneer panneling? how large of holdinng tank do you have for wast and where is it located? im redoing the whole plumbing system in mine. i havnt talked to a A43 owner yet just alot of 36s

we just had 2 1/2 ft of snow over the past weekend, if you click my blog theres alot of photos on there.

take care!!

-- Edited by albin43 on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 06:28:36 AM

Every winter I put of the canvas and tarp the boat so its about 80% covered.* The reason is it keeps the cold rain/snow/wind off the boat.* Our canvas and tarps are blue so they absorb light heat.* Even on a cloudy day its still warm under the canvas tarps.* The canvas is mostly clear plastic and the tarps come down to the windows so we can still see out and let in the day light.* The windows I have covered with plex a glass which also keeps the cold off and the warmth in.* The tarps are secured with bungee cord so they have some give/flex.* Even in 60+ winds the tarps hold up
*

Instead of portable heaters you might want to install some permanent mounted heaters. I installed Pic A Watt heaters where you can adjust the wattage of the heater.* For several years we heated the salon with a vented catalytic heater,*so the amps could be used to heat other areas. *However, diesel boiler/heat was the best investment and made the boat live able.* We have been*a *live board for for12+ years with no*plans on moving back to the dirt until we are not capable to live on the boat.*

Since you are a young male living on a boat maybe presently idea for you, but very few females/girls will be a live a board for long unless the boat and YOU give/have the creature comforts and facilities she is use to. So you may want to keep that in the back of your mind/equation.*


-- Edited by Phil Fill on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 10:37:47 AM

phill, im having a boiler installed. 75k btu. very very nice set up ill post pics when its done, about half way there

I have been living on the boat for 6 years in the northeast. My girlfriend of 4 years loves it as much as i do. We heat with propane like alot of other boats do around here. We have a vangaurd 22,000 btu heater and it heats the hole boat even in this years cold early winter.
The only problem is bringing down the tanks on a cold windy day. But we all got together and made some phone calls . We found a welding company that would drop off the tank and hook
it up for us and take back empty ones . So life is great now only if i could get someone to fill are potable water tanks.

BYE All What is your name ? I have been living aboard since i was 26 years old.
I am also a Merchant sailor Tug boat captain. Go For it man everyone told me i was crazy its been the best years of my life .

salty76 wrote:

I am also a Merchant sailor Tug boat captain. Go For it man everyone told me i was crazy its been the best years of my life .

Click to expand...

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Working on the water and living on the water?? How did you manage that??
I agree, living on the boat has been the best years of my life!!!

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-- Edited by troy994719 on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 07:23:47 PM

salty76 wrote:

BYE All What is your name ? I have been living aboard since i was 26 years old.
I am also a Merchant sailor Tug boat captain. Go For it man everyone told me i was crazy its been the best years of my life .

Click to expand...

What company are you with? Number one son is chief mate with K-Sea out of NY (or was til recent layoffs and forced drop down back to 2nd).

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My name is Jakob VanReenen, I have a 100 ton licence but am doing a 200 ton upgrade in march. I wish I could do something like what you do, that's my dream. I'd like a TOAR but Id have a hard time getting off from work to get the sea time onboard with a master of tow. I've only been living aboard for about 4 months now but I love it. What license do you hold?

Here's an email I sent to another Albin owner about 6 months after I bought Friendship.

Sorry for the delay getting back. Our boat is (we were told) an '88 model.
The hull # is AUL43246K788. I guess it is hull # 246? Hull laid up in July
of '88? I understood they quit making them around '88, so would that mean
there were only about 250 total 43's, or 250 Sundecks?

Anyway, she is a Sundeck model with a door on the starboard side & one going
to the sundeck. No door on the port. The only one I've seen without a port
door. She has twin SP135 Lehmans with BG trannys. Hardtop over the sundeck.
Our home port is Seabrook Tx, although the boat spent it's whole life up
until last May in New York. I am the third owner, original owner living up
the Hudson River in NY & the second in New Jeresy, keeping the boat on
Staten Island. The engines had 600 hours on them when we found her. They now
have about 1100 & about 700 on the 8KW Westerbeke genset. (end of message)

Now, I've owned the boat 8 1/2 years, the engines now have 2700 hours, and the genset has 3100.

I'm attaching a few pics taken over the last couple of years.

Brent,Beautiful Ship! How do you like the isinglass?

Jakob, I'll try to answer some of your questions quickly, but you can email me privately any time you need help or advice with the boat. I've been through this boat from one end to the other!

My decks look good, but have had 3 leaks that I know of since I've had the boat. Removing them is on my short list. Sure dread it!

Fuel tanks look good, but I've known several Albin 43's that had to be replaced. Got my fingers crossed. Removing the teak decks will go a long way toward protecting the tanks.

Windows are pretty good. Have had to clean tracks on movable ones, and reseal the front fixed ones, and all port holes need new gaskets. On my list.

Most of the panneling is good, except below leaking port holes. Some damage there, but mostly cosmetic, nothing very bad.

I installed a new 50 gallon waste holding tank a couple of years ago. It's under my galley floor/ forward part of engine room below my genset. I also replaced ALL sewage lines, macerator pump, and both toilets. I put VacuFlush in mine and love them.* Ronco is the place to get the tank. They are "semi-custom" and will put inlets / outlets anywhere you want them.

Other projects I've done: Large house battery bank (8 golf cart batteries). 2500 watt inverter / charger. 3 Reverse cycle air conditioners, 2 16's and a 12. Oil changer system that drains both engines, transmissions, and genset. Washer/dryer. Wetbar on sundeck with icemaker. All new electronics, (radar, chartplotter, 3 vhf's, 3 gps's, 3 depthsounders, stereo system, Surrond sound in salon, built in computer with monitors in salon and flybridge, etc). New custom salon furniture. (including a pic of computer desk in salon) 120 amp alternator with smart regulator on one engine, and in process of adding a second on other engine.

There are other countless projects I can tell about, but this should give you plenty to think about!

Keep us posted on your progress. I'd really like to hear about the teak deck project as it progresses.

Here's another pic of the desk /* entertainment center. The 26" tv is also a monitor, and the burgandy chair is a recliner that was modified to be tall enough to work as a desk chair. I work out of my boat, so this is my office.

By the way, I'm a marine tech, working mostly on yacht electrical systems. I have 3 ABYC certifications, Electrical, Marine Systems, and Marine Corrosion, as well as a Master Marine Tech cert.

Eat, sleep, live, breathe, boats!


Here a few words from The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, 1908

"Believe me, my young friends" said the Water Rat solemnly,* "There is
nothing . . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply
messing around in boats, . . .** Simply messing, . . .** Nothing really
seems to matter,** That's the charm of it . . .** whether you get away, or
whether you don't, whether you arrive at your destination or whether you
reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're
always busy, and you never do anything in particular". . .

Thanks Steve!
In the winter time, I love the enclosure. It's good in warm weather when it rains. It's hot in the southern summers! I've taken it down a couple of times, but that's a huge pain, and it's hard to find a place to store it without damage.

I love the Present's also. Had a friend years ago with one like yours. Where are you located?

Brent
We are currently in Bay St. Louis Mississippi - but are planning to move her back to Kemah in a few months. I enjoy the open flybridge during the summer but am leaning towards taking everything in as you have done. First mate has wanted that all along. In Kemah there will be a lot of places to get it done. I gotta sY that I have not seen anywhere with the boating resources you guys have!
I agree with you also that messing around on a boat is as good as it gets!

Kool. Let me know when you get back down this way!

brent, thanks alot for the reply. the pictures look great i absoutly love these boats. if you go on my blog theres some photos of the deck removal. ill keep you updated and im gonna send you an email soon.

nice boat

Thanks for the compliments on the boat guys. I really love it too.

Jakob, I looked on Google maps to find where you are located, and damn, you're way up north! Should be an interesting winter for you! Are you having to use bubblers or something to keep the ice off the hull?

By the way, Friendship spent her first 13 years in New York, with the original owner living aboard (I suppose just during the warm months) somewhere up the Hudson River for about 5 years, and the second owner keeping her in Great Kills Harbour in Staten Island. They each owned for 5 or 6 years each, and I was told that both shrink wrapped each winter. I bought her in Staten Island and brought her down to Texas by water. My avatar pic was taken at the Great Kills Yacht Club dock in Staten Island.

I've cruise her somewhere around 18,000 miles since, with over 2000 engine hours.

By the way, we're having a big weather event here for the next few days. It's supposed to get below freezing for 3 nights in a row the later part of the week! That's a big deal for us! I'm not far enough south yet! )

brent, ive got 3 bubblers running full time around my boat, the river is froze over solid

Hi Jacob Very good to see you living your dream. I live in Cranston RI. on a 43 ft gulf star so i feel your pain of just getting aboard and learning how to live aboard.I bought the boat in november and sailed it down from*Maine. The next week i went back to sea for three weeks . When i returned to the boat it was like a ghost town i was all alone. No water and no boats around just alot of ice. So i turned up the electric heat and went to the bar. The next morning i*woke up to 2 ft of snow i openend the door and all the snow rolled in to the salon. I said to myself i think i made a big mistake. But i just*grabbed a frying pan out of the galley and started shoveling and its been a great ride since.You will*learn very fast how**everything works*.Just dont let any women get you off that boat. I have had lots of girls love the boat but have them come down when its 10 degrees and you will see*what you really have . If she is*true Gal for you she will be down to help you wheather out a storm.*I hold a 1600ton Master of towing oceans ticket . So keep sailing and keep studying and get all the sea time you can. Remember you will never be out of a job if you keep going.
Have your parents called you crazy yet?

Tugtrash@msn.com
Jeremy