Deck Work Rough Cost Estimate

[Celestialsailor]

Some Albergs do...and some don't. On the Atom Voyages... Atom Voyages - Home he talks about ones on the East coast with problems.
I'm assuming you haven't yet looked at one. They are ok boats. Heavily built but limited sailing characteristics by modern standards. If you lack experience, always, always use a good surveyor,

[Captmorpheus]

Guy next to me in the yard re-did the decks on his early Alberg - 38' I am pretty sure. His decks did not have balsa, They had peg board instead. The deck glass delaminated from the peg board. He ground out in small sections the deck and the peg board below to the cabin top liner, glassed in new balsa and new decks. If he had to do it over again he would have left the peg board in place and just redone the glass deck skin, replacing any failed pegboard along the way but only as needed. He did a lot of work to his boat, basically every weekend for the past 5 years. Decks were a big part of it.

Better to fix what is broken than fix everything regardless of condition.

Good luck with your boat search.

Joe

[blegh]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

They are ok boats. Heavily built but limited sailing characteristics by modern standards. If you lack experience, always, always use a good surveyor,

I wasn't looking for speed to get anywhere; I just want to get there. I understood the Alberg 30 & 35 to be very sea kindly - something close to an Ohlson 38. If I am going to make this sailing thing work for me, it is going to have to work for my partner, and she will need a boat that cuts through six foot swells like a rock, if you get my meaning. I was on an Ohlson 38 in 15+ kn, six ft swell, beam reach and it was like a rock. I couldn't believe it. So I am looking for a boat with a high motion comfort rating. I will get a surveyor. money well spent either way.

thanks again,

[Celestialsailor]

I delivered an Alberg 35 from Alameda Ca., to Santa Cruz, Ca. in a day. Following seas with wind. It always felt like it wanted to round down. I had to constantly look aft to plan for the next 7 ft'r. Another boat you might like is a Tartan 34 from the mid-70s.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by marshmat

I have to disagree with you there. The deck of a composite sailboat usually forms the compressive flange of the hull girder. If it is significantly weakened, the hull may sag more than intended under the combination of the mast step compression and the head / back stay tensions. That leads to joinery working loose, an inability to maintain stay tension, and accelerated fatigue of the hull structure.

Not all boats are designed with a structural deck, and many that are have sufficient excess strength in the gunwales to not be too badly affected by deck deterioration. But widespread deck delamination or core failure is a serious enough problem to essentially write off the boat as unrepairable in many cases; while it may still be usable in light weather, structural compromise is not acceptable in an offshore cruiser.

You make some very good points and, though I would not recant my original statement for all designs, I do recognize that there are vessels that are designed with the deck as a structural feature beyond what I outlined; however, there are also those boats that are designed with a keel stepped mast and chainplates fixed to the hull with a structure that would behave the same if the deck were not present. I believe that my thoughts are highly influenced by the nature of my own boat that is not cored within a foot of the perimeter near the hull deck joint and all the bulkheads are lightly tabbed "floaters". My deck, which is balsa cored in segments has had soft spots from water intrusion over an array of "spots" that truly are cosmetic. In relation to this thread the OP should evaluate the soft spots with a consideration of the design of the boat. I believe the Alberg 35 does have the deck stepped mast and the compression post will be critical, but with the more than 1" thick hull under the waterline and soft deck spots or areas not extending to the areas near the hull-deck joints and with the chainplates passing scrutiny, I would suggest that the Alberg 35 would be a vessel with "cosmetic" soft spots.

[rtbates]

Great boat. With a cored deck, our Cape Dory has a cored deck, you simply look at the deck hardware for issues. ESPECIALLY DIY jobs. As for finding problems, it's a simple matter of tapping around ALL deck fittings with a mallet.

And yes just about any issue can be fixed w/o re-doing the entire deck...

Our 1984 Cape Dory's cored deck is as solid as it was in '84...

[blegh]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I delivered an Alberg 35 from Alameda Ca., to Santa Cruz, Ca. in a day. Following seas with wind. It always felt like it wanted to round down. I had to constantly look aft to plan for the next 7 ft'r. Another boat you might like is a Tartan 34 from the mid-70s.

Interesting story. I looked at the profile of the Ohlson 38 and, my knowledge of boats being the proverbial grain of sand on a beach notwithstanding, I could see how the cutaway forefoot of the keel could allow the boat to 'spin' with a force from a following wave on the quarter. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on terminology.

Speaking of terminology, the discussion on 'deck as structure or not' is way over my head, but I am going to look at the boat, with a surveyor, and i will ask him to pay special attention to the deck, the compression beam and the chain plates. Thanks to everyone for tips and encouragement.

cheers
barry