New Alajuela 38 Owner

[Tim Fleck]

Hello, everyone, my name is Tim and I recently purchased Alajuela 38 hull #24 built in 1976. She is presently on the hard at Marina Seca in Sam Carlos, Sedona, Mexico . She is in surprising good condition but she has been sitting out of the water for about 8 years. We had a survey done but we were not able to do a sea trial or start/turn over the  3-cylinder Pisces diesel. She has some glass delamination on the bottom of the keel roughly amidships. I'm going to have a rigger check the standing gear and I anticipate it will need to be replaced. Also, the bowsprit may have some wood delamination as well and need some epoxy injected or replacement. Decks are in good shape (no teak) and brightwork just needs sanding and varnish. Sails are good. Basically I just wanted to say hello and for see if anyone had any suggestions on how I should proceed to bring her back to life. Thanks!

[S/V SIMBA]

Congratulations Tim on your new boat, it should be a lot of fun and a good experience fitting her out, although the distance between Tucson and the boat will make it interesting. We have had Simba (ex-Camille) hull number 15 for more than 25 years and have gone through almost everything on her during that time. She is not a factory finished boat but was very professionally done by the first owner, or someone he worked with, and she has worked out very well. So because of that some things were done different from the factory finished boats.  Our portlights are different, the mast is wood, we have a boomkin, the bobstay is attached to an external bronze fitting and for some reason the interior layout is reversed port/starboard, there is extra ballast under the engine and the fuel tanks are port and starboard next to the engine (a Yanmar 4JH2E). Keeping the differences in mind, If I can’t help you out with any particular issue I’m sure someone on the forum here can.

 

We did upgrades due to time and age like replacing the standing and running rigging, sails, new engine, refrigeration and a new DC panel. A couple of hull issues we faced that you might look for include bottom blisters 20 years ago (peeled and barrier coated) but no problem since and a could-have-been catastrophic failure at the rudder head that we caught just in time. The upper rudder fitting is set into a recess in the rudder and this discontinuity in the rudder allowed a full-thickness crack to form right along the fitting, to the extend you could wiggle the top of the rudder and watch the crack open and close. This was solved 20+ years ago by removing the rudder, rebuilding the area at the fitting to eliminate the recess and remanufacturing the rudder fitting to make it wider to fit the now-fatter rudder thickness.

 

We don’t have a problem, because we have the external bronze stem fitting, but I have heard others worrying about the stainless steel stem fitting that is imbedded in a resin filled cavity at the bow. I don’t know that there was actually a problem but it was talked about.

 

Best of luck with your project,

 

Frank Cassidy

Simba A38

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[Dennis Wilcoxon]

Hi Tim,

My name's Dennis Wilcoxon. I moderate this group. I'm the one who keeps you from getting posts in Arabic and Russian and about parrots for sale. Really! I had hull #30, Maya. She was a factory finished boat and I did everything on her. I probably have pictures of just about any job you might want to do. 

I sold Maya many years ago and now have a Cambria 44 which I have also rebuilt. It's a great boat but I still miss my Maya. Sigh...

Good luck and keep us posted.

Dennis

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[Trevor Robertson]

Hello Tim

You have a bit of a project ahead. Some random observations: 

Bowsprit - if in doubt, replace it. The security of the mast is dependent on it. The inner forestay's sole function is to spread a sail and it gives the mast very little support. I did away with the dainty teak platform on the bowsprit.   The bowsprit is wide enough to walk on without it and it weakens the sprit. There is a fair chance that the platform will not survive being hove to in a biggish sea. I washed mine off in nothing more severe than a F8 gale, which left the pulpit and life lines dangling. While you are at it, consider replacing the cranse iron with something that encompasses the bowsprit without weakening it. The standard design is ok for low latitude work but not good enough for hard usage. 

Rig: Regardless of the survey report, I would replace it, preferably using wedge lock terminals (StaLok, Pettersen etc.). Replace all the running rigging while you are at it.

I built new, stronger anchor rollers too. Again,  the standard design is ok for light usage,  but  marginal in more demanding circumstances such as anchoring in a gale in a poorly protected bay or retrieving a fouled anchor in 30metres of water (I have had to do both and the strain on the gear is considerable.)

The interior layout is a matter of individual taste and usage.  The standard interior is fine for coastal sailing but I found it wanting on longer passages.  Changing it to suit one's preferences/ prejudices is easy but tedious. 

Engine: fine if it can be resuscitated easily but I would not spend a lot of money on it. All its auxiliaries are old - starter, alternator,  injector pump, water pumps etc. The cost of rebuilding an engine AND replacing most of the bits bolted to it is likely to be more than seems worthwhile. 

Best

Trevor 

Trevor Robertson.  Iron Bark III, Tonga

On Thu, 21 Sep 2023, 15:55 Tim Fleck, <t...@levelonepf.com> wrote:

Hello, everyone, my name is Tim and I recently purchased Alajuela 38 hull #24 built in 1976. She is presently on the hard at Marina Seca in Sam Carlos, Sedona, Mexico . She is in surprising good condition but she has been sitting out of the water for about 8 years. We had a survey done but we were not able to do a sea trial or start/turn over the  3-cylinder Pisces diesel. She has some glass delamination on the bottom of the keel roughly amidships. I'm going to have a rigger check the standing gear and I anticipate it will need to be replaced. Also, the bowsprit may have some wood delamination as well and need some epoxy injected or replacement. Decks are in good shape (no teak) and brightwork just needs sanding and varnish. Sails are good. Basically I just wanted to say hello and for see if anyone had any suggestions on how I should proceed to bring her back to life. Thanks!

[Greg Campbell]

Gidday Trevor,

I note you've crossed yet another ocean to Tonga. What plans for the cyclone season?  Will you be bringing Ironbark III to Oz? Likely the only A38 in this part of the world so it would be good to catch up.  You've covered a lot of miles since you first bought that 30 footer in Two Rocks 40 years ago.

Cheers

Greg Campbell

SV "Mico", Hobart

[Trevor Robertson]

G'day Greg

I'm bound for New Zealand to refit so probably won't make it to Tasmania this summer. Perhaps next year.  A lot has happened since we were in Two Rocks. I'd like to hear more about your time running the Kidman cattle empire.

My email address is trevir...@gmail.com if you want to keep in touch.

Cheers 

Trev 

Trevor Robertson.  yacht Iron Bark III

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