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08-04-2014, 19:47
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: L'Isle-Verte, Qc, Canada
Boat: Grampian Discovery
Posts: 31
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Albin Vega
Hi everyone,
I'm in the process of buying my first sailboat. I've sailed on Tanzers (7.5 & 26), Jeanneau (Tonic 23, Fantasia 27), Mirage 27 and a few others. For the first few years, my sailing will be coastal in the St-Lawrence river and estuary( Based in Rivière-du-Loup and near Tadoussac and Rimouski). I would like to sail,further away, like Magdalena Islands, New Foundland and St-Pierre et Miquelon. Shopping around, I came buy what looks to me to be a very goods opportunity. An Albin Vega. I've read a lot on this sailboat. It has a very good reputation as a blue water boat. I guess it would fit my sailing program and it is well equipped. It would be very different from the ones I sailed before. I would appreciated any comments or shared experiences about this kind of boat. Am I right in thinking it shoudl be an appropriate sailboat for the region in which I will be sailing.
Thank you for your input.
Fair winds.
__________________
Jean-François
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08-04-2014, 20:27
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 93
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Re: Albin Vega
These are amazing boats -- Read the story of the guy that circumnavigated the Americas in one.
Here's the website - Lots of cool pictures of the boat.
http://www.solotheamericas.org
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08-04-2014, 20:33
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#3
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Victoria B.C.
Boat: Wauquiez Centurion 32
Posts: 2,874
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Re: Albin Vega
The Vega is a good choice for sailing in any area, except polar regions. Several have circumnavigated. There is good support from the Vega Yahoo group as well.
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08-04-2014, 20:51
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: puɐןsuǝǝnb 'ʎɐʞɔɐɯ
Boat: Nantucket Island 33
Posts: 4,864
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Re: Albin Vega
As an ex-Vega owner they are a great boat. There is a reasonable users group for them over at yahoo. The only real fault they suffer from is a weak mast support beam which tends to warp and work loos over time. My Vega sailed from Sweden to Australia (as have a few others - including one from Canada). Matt Rutherford sailed one around the Americas a few years back and that crazy Beserker guy sailed one to either the antartic or artic. So they come with quite a good cruising resume.
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09-04-2014, 09:59
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Lake Michigan
Posts: 86
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Re: Albin Vega
Do a YouTube search for Crusing LeaLea, great series of videos by a couple cruising in a Albin Vega.
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10-04-2014, 18:50
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: L'Isle-Verte, Qc, Canada
Boat: Grampian Discovery
Posts: 31
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Thanks everyone. I'm going to see her April 17 ! Isis is her name and she is in the water in Halifax. Geez, it is exciting!
__________________
Jean-François
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10-04-2014, 19:31
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: puɐןsuǝǝnb 'ʎɐʞɔɐɯ
Boat: Nantucket Island 33
Posts: 4,864
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Re: Albin Vega
Coincidentally, there is an Albin Vega called "Isis" that was sailed to Oz a few years ago from Canada (I think). That poor boat was left high and dry on land and lodged on a walkway fence after the Bundaberg floods in 2011. It was subsequently rescued and put back in the water. Then in the floods of 2013 it got washed out to sea along with the finger pontoon it and another half dozen boats were attached to and somehow got rescued again. Not sure whether "Isis" is a lucky or unlucky name for a boat after that
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10-04-2014, 19:34
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Everywhere (Sea of Cortez right now)
Boat: PSC Orion 27
Posts: 1,377
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Re: Albin Vega
You might find the headroom a little scant, their 5'10" statistic is fairly generous. If you're 5'6" to 5'8" you won't have to stoop.
Goat
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10-04-2014, 19:37
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: puɐןsuǝǝnb 'ʎɐʞɔɐɯ
Boat: Nantucket Island 33
Posts: 4,864
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Re: Albin Vega
Quote:
Originally Posted by goat
You might find the headroom a little scant, their 5'10" statistic is fairly generous. If you're 5'6" to 5'8" you won't have to stoop.
Goat
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Not a big problem for the vertically challenged but that damned mast support beam would line my head up every time I went to the forward berth!
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10-04-2014, 21:02
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,687
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Re: Albin Vega
Many of them came with a variable/reversing prop which worked great, but most are worn out now and are hard to get parts for the special transmission that they used. I dont know how hard (expensive) it is to convert to a regular prop and shaft and transmission? Check what it has and make your offer accordingly. If you buy it and want to stick to the variable, get in touch with me, and I can get you in touch with a fellow selling most of the parts needed. That is, if he hasnt already sold them. I think they are a great boat. ______Grant.
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11-04-2014, 04:23
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: L'Isle-Verte, Qc, Canada
Boat: Grampian Discovery
Posts: 31
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Thanks again.
I'm 5'5" so headroom won't be a problem I guess ;-). A regular 3 blades prop has been installed on this Isis. Of what I collected on her history, she doesn't look like the Isis that want through all these troubled waters. But I'll double check. Also, the rudder attachments, which could be a weak point on these boats, have been replaced and secured. The survey found this boat to be in good condition (meaning, in their definition, nearly new with only minor cosmetic or structural discrepancies).
The equipment appears right for the sailing I intend to do : radar, VHF, depth, speed, GPS Garmin map 492 (although I'm a bit old school and carry and use paper maps for navigating), autopilot, diesel (Beta Marine model 14), wired (professionally rewired in the last 2 years) for 12 volts with 3 marine batteries and a solar panel, 130 and 140 genoa on a Hood roller furler, 2 mains setup for jiffy reeling (all sails quote to be in good conditions), sheets and halyards appearing to be fairly recent, winches, ground tackles (3) with chains and rods and other sailing equipments. What is missing is some security equipment (flares, life jackets).
If she is half as good as she appears on paper, I guess she'll endure a lot more than me ;-). Well, we'll see in two weeks.
If I buy her, you'll probably read a lot more question on my parts, because it will be the first time I have to take care of a sailboat, aside sailing it ;-).
__________________
Jean-François
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11-04-2014, 17:25
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2011
Location: On the boat, currently Tampa Bay, Florida
Boat: Dickerson ketch, 36'
Posts: 211
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Re: Albin Vega
Quote:
Originally Posted by gjordan
Many of them came with a variable/reversing prop which worked great, but most are worn out now and are hard to get parts for the special transmission that they used. I dont know how hard (expensive) it is to convert to a regular prop and shaft and transmission? Check what it has and make your offer accordingly. If you buy it and want to stick to the variable, get in touch with me, and I can get you in touch with a fellow selling most of the parts needed. That is, if he hasnt already sold them. I think they are a great boat. ______Grant.
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I owned a Vega and the prop is NOT great! It was impossible to get it reliably into the neutral position, so there was always some propulsion. Also, the prop is aft and above the rudder, so you can't use propwash to nudge the stern over -- makes docking more fun! Still and all, a great boat! (They all have quirks of some kind.)
Fair winds,
The Way
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