My first second post .....

I have been loving the Newsletter that comes to my email inbox for a few months now. I made one post that was a reply to another, offering words of encouragement, and I am only now taking the time to post again. The delay? I have been busy with the boat and other life requirements. But making progress on both fronts.

Our 1983 Albin 36’ Trawler was purchased in August of this year and we have been making descent headway on the work we need to do to her.

I have been trying to absorb all the info I can on this forum about painting the deck and flybridge as we are getting closer to that task completion. Hopefully by the end of the year.

Our goal is to costal cruise the Gulf side of Florida and possibly other adventures, but one step at a time. First we need to become full time live a-boards. We are only able to ‘visit’ her a couple days a week right now as other commitments and care of family has taken precedence.

We are currently unable to visit her due to the tragic events that occurred at the Pensacola NAS Thursday, as that is where she is kept.

Great information on this forum without a doubt. It would seem that most, if not all, the questions that I want to ask about, have already been asked by other Albin owners and a quick search reveals those pearls of wisdom.

Now, back to reading.

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat. We used to live there back in the late 70s. Suspect it has changed quite a bit. Was very sorry to hear about the news from Pensacola.

https://theaudreyjill.com

Our blog with a bit of information on the Audrey Jill (name change soon to be unless convinced otherwise).

So much to do and an exercise in patience without a doubt. A bit overwhelming at times.

I enjoyed the blog. You've done a good job posting pics with descriptive narrative. Please keep it up.

I noticed in the Vessel Specs section that you listed "2200 Amp Battery Bank." Could you provide the specifics? You also mentioned your wind turbine, solar, and inverter/charger a number of times. Please update those specs when you get a chance.

The First Mate page is a good idea, but I see there's nothing yet entered there. Involve and educate the crew on all responsibilities, including captaining. My wife would not be nearly as interested in this hobby were she limited to deck hand, cook, and cleaning responsibilities. In fact, I do most of that plus engineering and maintenance while she navigates and captains. She's not interested in talking on the radio - required rarely - but my flying career prepared me for doing that part.

It took me 2 seasons before I finally traced the unlabeled switch on the pilothouse dash to discover it provided power to the raw water washdown pump for cleaning the anchor rode during retrieval. The satisfaction I felt at that discovery was indescribable, even though the pump needed replacing. I looked for faucets near the windlass in your pictures that might indicate a washdown system but couldn't see one.

It's great that you've gotten the boat out of the slip and have been able to enjoy it without a bunch of work to be 'ready.' What other projects are you working on or considering?

Greg.

Welcome aboard, Bill! Nice blog!

It's a lot like drinking from a fire hose at first. I keep a long to-do list with revolving priorities and links to additional info online when needed. As the projects get accomplished, I move them to my Completed list to record the info and retain the links to other info if needed. New failures or discoveries get added to the list.

My list has never reached end since I've owned the boat and I suspect it never will.

PS -

STARLITE is slipped in PNS at least till June.

Free beer for TF'ers --- at the Oar House --- tomorrow!

Congrats on the new boat - PM if you need any help. My dirt home is further north, but I'm back and forth frequently.

GregBrannon said:

I enjoyed the blog. You've done a good job posting pics with descriptive narrative. Please keep it up.

I noticed in the Vessel Specs section that you listed "2200 Amp Battery Bank." Could you provide the specifics? You also mentioned your wind turbine, solar, and inverter/charger a number of times. Please update those specs when you get a chance.

Click to expand...

I appreciate the words of encouragement.

I have 2 house batteries that are approximately 1100 amp rating each (1045 and 1155 respectively), so I just added those numbers together, however I think I would need about 2 more to really have 2200 amp with a 50% longevity cushion. Not sure on that but I think I have read that discharging beyond 50% decreases life of the flooded batteries.

The solar panels on board right now (3 panels) probably only provides about 400 watts or so under ideal. I have plans to add two more panels and a 500 watt +/- wind generator. Do not have them at this time.

The boat came to me with no generator and I was told it never had one, which maybe true. My plans are to go entirely renewable and replace the charger with a inverter/charger around 2500 watt continuous and we think that should provide what we need for now.

All subject to change as I learn more.

GregBrannon said:

The First Mate page is a good idea, but I see there's nothing yet entered there. Involve and educate the crew on all responsibilities, including captaining.

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Definitely. Her observations thus far is that I don’t have enough confidence in her and I worry about her getting hurt, which in turn, causes things to not go as smoothly as it possibly could. She is right and something I am trying to work on.

GregBrannon said:

I looked for faucets near the windlass in your pictures that might indicate a washdown system but couldn't see one.

Click to expand...

After the first time out overnight and anchoring, I learned that quickly, and it is on the list. Pouring 5 gallon buckets of water on the rode as it is raised wore my ass out.

GregBrannon said:

What other projects are you working on or considering?

Click to expand...

Hahaha. Far too many.

FlyRight hit home with a perfect description of what I am doing now with the lists and prioritizing.

The main reason I created the blog was so that friends and family could keep track of progress and know when she is in good shape to make a visit and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The fire hose analogy from FlyRight was the perfect description of our current status, however that is fine since one of the goals of this endeavor is to learn to exercise more patience.


Olebird - thank you for the offer and The Oar House is one of our favorites. Great place. Trying to gain enough experience and confidence to bring her over and dock for a meal. Planning on heading over to the boat today and doing a little work on her. Will shoot you a PM if I make it.

Olebird, we did head over that day, and many since, but the forum will not allow me to PM so I will ask in open.

Are you the Trawler on the transient dock with the ‘battleship’ aft / starboard?

Bill