Opinion on Albin 40 North Sea Cutter

[yhc]

Good evening,

I am currently considering an Albin 40 North Sea Cutter. Some limited Google search and researching this forum and others (i.e. the hull truth) show mixed reviews. As some of you might own and/or are familiar with this particular model, I would like to solicit your honest feedback.

You are welcome to pm me.

Regards,

yhc

P.S. I noticed my post from this morning was deleted from the forum along with my user name, etc so I am posting it again. Not sure whether it was intentional or not but as this is first time posting on this forum, do let me know if I am doing something wrong.

[RicM]

I have no experience with the North Sea Cutter but I wouldn't take anything I read on The Hull Truth too seriously, good or bad. Every topic there tends to turn into a continual flame war. The people there spend WAY too much time at their computers and not enough time on their boats.

[yhc]

Thanks for the advice RicM.

If there are any Albin 40 NSC owners I would love to get your input.

Regards,

yhc

[jcollins]

YHC,

We had a server failure over the weekend. The backup was from a day previous to your post. That's why it's gone.
I did see the link you posted from ripoffreport. That story is true and will haunt Albin for years to come. I met the current owner of that boat at our rendezvous. He came by car, not boat. The price he paid when it was all said and done was crazy. Not much more than a new TE 28. That being said he says boat needs a ton of work. Those boats do not have a great reputation for fit and finish. But, if your getting a price that reflects everything that needs to be done, go for it.
Personally my love of Albins stop at the 35. But my needs and wants stop at the 35 as well. I have never been on a NSC so I have no first hand knowledge.
As always a good suvey of the hull and an engine/systems survey will give you a good idea where you stand.
There was another reply to your post that was lost in the restore as well. He mentioned feeling claustraphobic in that boat. I forget who it was. Hopefully he'll repost.

Welcome to AOG

[jcollins]

Look in the 40 forum. You will find several owners in there. Send them a PM.

Just a suggestion.

John

[powerboater56]

I had a reply lost in the server failure.

I looked at the Albin 40 North Sea Cutter and talked to several dealers about it when it first came out. The Albin 40 North Sea and the Albin 45 Command Bridge were the boats built by Albin in China, and quite a few of the China-made boats arrived with serious manufacturing defects. A couple of Albin dealers were reluctant to sell them due to problems with the boats.

I believe the Albin 40 North Sea Cutter was not designed by Albin's long-time in-house architect Terry Compton. I think Albin simply picked up an existing hull in China and designed a house and interior to fit it. Boat manufacturers have done this for years but sometimes this process end up with boats that handle poorly because weight distribution can be off a bit. You may want to PM some of the 40 North Sea owners on this site to make sure they are pleased with the performance and the engineering.

I am a big guy and I found some of the doorways and passageways quite constricted on the 40 North Sea.

Given the history of manufacturing flaws on these boats I would urge you to engage a competent, thorough surveyor to go through it before you buy. Albin fixed up some of the China-made boats in their plant in Rhode Island, but I'm not certain they worked on all of them. If you buy at a suitable price, and you are reassured by owners from this site that the North Sea Cutter is basically a good boat, then go for it.

John S.
Jamestown, RI
Albin 35 CB OTTER

[yhc]

Thank you all for your feedback. Indeed I have heard mixed reviews on this model. I would love to hear the owners of NSC's. I found 4 NSC owners on this forum but only 3 had contact info...pm's sent and just waiting on replies.

I am in communication with a surveyor. Once I get all the information I can then I will definitely get the boat surveyed as a condition of purchase. Once again thank you for your input.

Regards,

yhc

[jcollins]

YHC,
What engines? Yanmar or Cummins seem to be preferred.

[yhc]

Good morning,

It has twin Yanmar 370 hp. I will have to check the serial numbers to see whether these are affected by the class action mentioned in another string....

Have a wonderful day.

[yhc]

Just a quick update: I just flew down to check the boat out. The first impression is...so far so good!

Sea trial is scheduled for tomorrow and survey following day. The boat is a "new" 2006 w/ 8 hrs on the 370 hp Yanmar engines which come w/ a full 2 year warranty. With the full warranty on the engines and genset I will probably bypass the engine survey unless we note some obvious problems during the sea trial. The surveyor is also coming along for the sea trial tomorrow so that's reassuring.

yhc

[Mariner]

How did the sea trial go?

[Albinflorida]

Sorry I'm late, but if you want a dealer, whom sold 2 40's opinion, PM me.

[jchappelear]

I purchased a North Sea Cutter and Love it. I bought the boat in florida and Ran up in the Ocean in 6 foot seas on the rear quarter with no problems the Boat did not miss a beat and we were in the Chesapeake bay in 5 days .One day small craft advisories 8ft seas and We came in the inlet at Moorehead city with a crossing sea and breaking waves and just smashed right on thru.When I first bought the Boat I had problems related to Water in the fuel tank but once that was polished she ran like a top.some water got in under the rub rail and that had to be re calked but since then all good

[tomcat]

That's encouraging. What year is yours? We have an '06 and have not commissioned her yet. Bought it in January and waiting for the warm weather to break through...for more than a couple of days! It sounds like you put yours through a pretty good test and did rather well. Did you have any problems with water leakage around the port holes? Looking forward to some more reports. Hoping to get ours from Long Island Sound to the upper Hudson River sometime in in the first part of May. Have fun!

[yhc]

jchappelear,

Good morning and thanks for the feedback. As Tom mentioned it is good to read an actual NSC owner's experience/feedback.

Regards,

yhc