My 1977 Albin 25 Deluxe rebuild thread

[tribologist]

Hetek, just checking in on you. How are things going. Hope everything is ok. Im missing yiur updates! Im hoping to have a Albin 25 Rendezvous with you soon. I just found Sigrid that the peopke in NY restored. I think yours will be even nicer.

[hetek]

Hi Ulf… Yes, checking in, myself.

Still doing the 60 hour weeks but… wait for it… I am just starting a two week vacation!

My son got the itch with the Glen-L “TNT” I built as a kid. He works the night shift and has lots of time to surf the web. Lo and behold he found a 1979 Johnson 35 hp for sale and asked “will this work?”

Long story short: it’s on a stand in my garage!

Also, just pulled my wife’s 15’ Boston Whaler out of storage and washed her up (the boat, not the wife). Ready for the mooring.

Last of the trifecta is the Albin. Dad asked same question again tonight: What is left to do? I gave the same reply: Put in the bilge plug.

Might have 3 boats ready this year. Fingers crossed it happens!

[tribologist]

Nice!! Love the Whalers!! I restored an early 13’ some years ago that i sold the covid summer. Do you have a trailer for yours?

[hetek]

I have a trailer for the Albin and the Whaler but not for one for the TNT.

Funny thing about the TNT… I built it from Glen-L plans. It’s supposed to be 11’ but when I finished I put a tape measure on it and it was 12’. I can see where the extra foot went (near the dash board frame) but if I didn’t point it out you wouldn’t notice.

Hey, I was 16 when I started building it and I’m 62 now and putting another outboard on it!

A boy and his toys!

[hetek]

I worked at a Pontiac dealership in the Parts Department in 1978. I bought the Trans Am hood decal, my cost, for $100 then. I only took home $99 a week!

I had to put it on the TNT. It makes it go faster!

58D34E3C-A771-45EE-B45C-BF85BDE13D4F.jpeg

That’s the Whaler trailer btw.

[tribologist]

Love it! The red unes r faster!!!

[hetek]

Hi All -

I'm back at it again. Better late than never.

Cleaning off the cobwebs and making a "to do" list that doesn't seem so bad.

I am contemplating increasing the size of the waterlock muffler in my exhaust system though. My current one, a Centek Vernalift #1500042, has a capacity of just over 0.5 gallons.

I'm looking at a Vetus unit, NLPH50, that has a capacity of 0.8 gallons. I am within capacity requirements with the Centek unit but not much of a margin for safety. The Vetus one has a much higher safety factor for my system. Hey, I know its only a little more than a quart difference, but if that quart ever happened to make it to my exhaust valves? Not good.

I'm also going to be adding a vented loop in my cooling water hose before my mixing elbow. Prevents siphoning, they say. Cheap insurance. Don't like water siphoning back into my motor.

Vetus has 17 pages or so on exhaust system design and system components in their catalog. Minimum and maximum design specs and, yes, a formula to determine minimum waterlock capacity.

Maybe I shouldn't read so much but I would feel more secure following their recommendations.

"Hello? Defender? I'd like to place and order..."

Ha! Nobody calls on the phone to place an order anymore, but it sounds better than "click, click, click, tap, tap, tap, click, and enter".

[WillieC]

Someday I might address the exhaust loop too. Yes a little knowledge can be dangerous. It sure is expensive.

Nice to hear from you again!

[Thumper74]

Man…… there’s a lot to absorb in this thread.

Guess it’s time to sink or swim….

P.s. I resolved the username issue….

[hetek]

Agreed, Willie C... Just throw money at it until it goes away. Ka-ching! Good to be back too.

Thumper! Welcome! And don't let my "War and Peace" sized thread intimidate you. I started with a sad, empty boat on a trailer and a non-standard engine on a pallet (a Vetus 3 cylinder 25 hp diesel). What was in the boat is 90% gone or replaced. Labor of love or sign of insanity? Still trying to figure that one out myself.

My kids had a rabbit named Thumper. He thumped with his feet... not his one cylinder.

And... I learned to drive and took my driver's license road test in my Dad's SAAB 99. Then I totaled it a year later (van ran a red light - I had the green. I swear!).
And... I owned a SAAB Sonnett III once. Fiberglass body two seater (think Datsun 240Z) with front-wheel drive and a V4 engine. Yes, V4.

Vetus Waterlock and vented loop came yesterday. Ordered on a Thursday, arrives on a Friday. Cant beat that!

[hetek]

“Houston? We have a problem…”

About the Vetus water lock muffler…. Seems there is a loss in translation here.

They spec capacity at 3 liters or .79 gallons. However, the instructions that came with it note that the VOLUME is 3 liters. I measured it and sure enough, the cylindrical body occupies 3 liters of space. Note I did not say capacity. Capacity is only about .4 US gallons.

By contrast, my original Centek unit has a “volume” of 1.28 US gallons but a measured “capacity” of .59 gallons. The capacity is advertised as .54 gallons - much more accurate than the Vetus numbers.

There is more to the story I won’t bore you with but for now it looks like the Vetus is going back to Defender. I’m keeping the vented loop for the cooling water though.

Here’s a side by side comparison…

C76BBAFE-6314-4621-9CF9-CBE7E5BCEF1F.jpeg

[tribologist]

If it was me I put that Vetus in and nothing else. Many people has used it. Straight pipe is fine too. I use the cheap Centek Checkvalve. If you like i can meet you up in New london if u take the ferry over, go to defender and then Pauls Pasta before dropping u at the Ferry.

[hetek]

Thanks for the offer Ulf!

Well, since my system is installed, I’ll just stick with it. I did follow the Vetus exhaust system guidelines in the design/ build process. Many may think it’s overkill but I’m ok with it.

I’m sure anything is better than the old Elastomuff!

[tribologist]

Nothing wrong with a proper goose neck as long as you remember that u have one …. Make sure u dont fill it when bleeding etc.

[tribologist]

Looked back at your original muffler post from 2017. What was not to like with that install?