Albin Vega Wanted

Nov 8, 2001
1,818
Hi Roy

I have spoken to my prop guy and he has not heard of a Volvo MD6A with a
1:1 gearbox

2:1 Ratio means the propshaft turns at half the speed of the engine.

Cheers

Steve B
 
Jan 28, 2001
694
Hi Hans,

Lyric is a Series 1 with the solid glass cabin sides. We did have a problem with "soggy decks". It wasn't a difficult fix. Drilled hundreds of small holes during warm weather after painting them with flat black latex paint. After the foam core had dried we injected the holes with epoxy and plugged them with tapered plugs made from 3/16" dowel. Chiseled them off flush with the deck and then hit them with a drill to counter sink them. A drop of epoxy on them to seal the end grain of the dowel and them sanded everything off. Brush cleaner took care of the latex paint with out much work. All in all, tedious but not difficult. If y0u are handy with tools you could probably do the repairs on the cabin also. You could certainly negotiate the price way down with the damage that was found. How well was the she equipped? WaltTo: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.comFrom: hans_fleischner@...: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:29:52 +0000Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Albin Vega Wanted

Hi Walt,The surveyor said it was the cabin wall between the starboard main cabin window and the starboard head window. He took pictures with a moisture meter showing that it was saturated. It also deflected with hand pressure or a rubbber mallet. The port side was fine. It seems that the cabin side walls were laminated with a foam core on the later boats (1977 and 1978). They have a nice bare gelcoat finish on the interior. Earlier boats are single wall, and you can see the fiberglass roving from the inside (if you don't have a headliner). I haven't yet heard of any major hull delaminations - but I have heard other stories similar to the Idaho boat of some water infiltrations that can do some damage, especially in freezing weather.Anyway, the surveyor estimate many square feet of damage and several thousand dollars (same problem in the adjacent deck area).Hans, and no
 
Dec 11, 2007
179
- - port st. lucie,fl.
Walt-
What was the purpose of the flat black paint? To accelerate the
drying out process?
Richard
 
Oct 25, 2006
10
Thanks Hans,

So does that mean that on a 1974 Vega there is no danger of a leaking seal
on a window allowing moisture into any foam core? I'm re-bedding all of
my deck fixtures to avoid this nightmare. I've got the rain leaks
stopped, but I noticed a very small drip (just a touch of moisture) coming
through where the ends of the black rubber window seal meet. I'm not
ready to buy new windows (though it's on my "list") but I was concerned
about the core.

Nathan
Vega 2178
Albion, CA"No Reply"notify-dg-AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com writes:
 
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
Nathan:
The cabin sides where the windows are installed are solid glass
fiber, no core, so a wee leak will do no structual damage to the
boat, unless it's bad enough to damage the insides.

Peter
#1331 'Sin Tacha'
 
Oct 30, 2019
67
I came across the Bill of Sale for my first Vega (1973) which was
supplied with an MD 6A. It specified the engine as 10 HP at 2400 RPM
with a reduction gear of 1.42:1.

regards,

Clint (V3266)
 
Jan 28, 2001
694
Hi Richard, Yes the black paint was to heat up the inside. I should have said so. By the way, there is a poor mans moisture meter in your kitchen. Tape a square of plastic food wrap over the area you suspect is moist and leave it overnight. Condensation the next day means it's moist underneath the plastic. WaltTo: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.comFrom: coe.richard@...: Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:30:23 +0000Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Albin Vega Wanted

Walt-What was the purpose of the flat black paint? To accelerate the drying out process?Richard
 
Jul 24, 2002
149
Hi Roy,

just for kicks, there is a website with info on prop sizes at
If you are an "Excel" user, they even have a downloadable
spreadsheet where you enter all the info about your boat
and it'll spit out the right propellor size. I did it with my
"non-standard" Vetus motor and calculated that I needed a
12x9 or 13x8. Unfortunately, the vendor I found only had
a 13x9, and sure enough - the prop is a bit too big for the boat.
;-)

- Sebastian (VegaLyra)
 
Dec 13, 2006
227
Hi All,

Just got the news that the bench test on my dynastart went fine, and it runs like a champ...so the question to be asked now is..."now what"?
I am thinking three things:

1.) battery may still be low even though a multi-meter test indicates 12.48v. It was not tested under load, so perhaps the amperage is not sufficient?

2.) bad Ground (in which case I have no idea what to do?)

3.)Still have bad contacts somewhere along the line? Does not appear to be any breaks in the wires that I could tell. How about the ignition switch?

Any ideas?
Chris

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May 30, 2006
1,075
I'm trying to remember your original problem, I think it was that you couldn't start the engine and that your relay box was chattering.

You can attach the voltmeter to the battery. Then try to start the motor. While dynastart is asking for juice, you can see how low the battery voltage will go. When you do this with a car, the battery voltage actually drops quite a bit, maybe down to like 9 volts while supplying bunches and bunches of amps.

You can also get out your car jumper cables and hook them up to the battery, then directly hook them up to the dynastart, thus bypassing any of the possibly bad circuitry. If the motor starts, then you know you bypassed the problem.

Sequentially bypass less and less circutry (the whole circuit is basically wires and a switch). When you get to the point that you are just bypassing one little part or wire or connection, and you are getting the motor to start... well that is the bad part.

rb
 
May 30, 2006
1,075
That same technique goes for the ground too. You can use your jumper cable to connect the negative of the battery to the ground of the engine circuit (which is probably the block). If you do that and the problem goes away, then you need to fix the ground connection.
rb
 
Dec 13, 2006
227
Thanks Roy!

Great suggestions, and I actually did bypass all the circuitry and wiring, and jumped the starter with the cables and all I seemed to get were sparks. The flywheel never budged. Removed the starter and found it to be running good as new, and the generator seems to be charging as well!?!?!?

I am wondering if this is a ground issue, and if so....what then?

Chris

groundhog groundhog1rb@... wrote:

I'm trying to remember your original problem, I think it was that you couldn't start the engine and that your relay box was chattering.

You can attach the voltmeter to the battery. Then try to start the motor. While dynastart is asking for juice, you can see how low the battery voltage will go. When you do this with a car, the battery voltage actually drops quite a bit, maybe down to like 9 volts while supplying bunches and bunches of amps.

You can also get out your car jumper cables and hook them up to the battery, then directly hook them up to the dynastart, thus bypassing any of the possibly bad circuitry. If the motor starts, then you know you bypassed the problem.

Sequentially bypass less and less circutry (the whole circuit is basically wires and a switch). When you get to the point that you are just bypassing one little part or wire or connection, and you are getting the motor to start... well that is the bad part.

rb
 
Dec 13, 2006
227
Hmmmmm....now how is that done, and where would one trace the ground curcuit? There is the cable (large battery cable / power) that attaches to the big lug/post of the starter, then there are three more smaller wires that attach to the underneath of the starter. I presumed that one of these must lead to the ignition switch/key, and the others for return voltage from the charger to the battery?!?!? Does that sound about right?

Chris

groundhog groundhog1rb@... wrote:


That same technique goes for the ground too. You can use your jumper cable to connect the negative of the battery to the ground of the engine circuit (which is probably the block). If you do that and the problem goes away, then you need to fix the ground connection.
rb
 
May 30, 2006
1,075
Boiled down, what you have is some wires and a switch that applies 12 volts to the starter motor. When the starter motor gets 12v, it spins.

I looked at the diagram which didn't totally help, because I get confused about which terminals you apply voltage to on that starter to get it to spin. I am also not a starter/gen expert.

Here's an idea. Ask the guys that tested it to tell you what terminal to apply 12volts to and which to ground to make it spin..

When you do that, email back and we'll go from there. I can then probably give you some hints on spots to put the jumper to troubleshoot.

From the websites below, they explain why it is critical that you have CLEAN low resistance connections. If you see dry crusty connections, you may have to replace wires.
But we're jumping ahead. The bypassing experiments will show where the corosion or broken parts are.

 
Sep 14, 2007
12
Hi everyone,

We finally found the Vega.

Thank very much to everyone in the group who offered leads.

We bought the boat from Idaho after a local fiberglass repair shop
looked at the delamination the surveyor had identified as a big
issue. Turned out to be very minor delamination which I verified
when the boat finally arrived (purchased sight unseen) - and we got a
freshwater Vega!! No oxidation or galvanic corrosion at all. It is
a time capsule, with minimal wear and tear, complete with original
documentation, (original owners manual, MD6A manual, MD7A manual, and
lots of extra documentation). It has the wide cockpit coamings, the
nice gelcoat clamshell interior cabin sides and, unbelievably, a
sharp gelcoat on the deck. It looks like a ten year old boat, and
almost all original! Unbelievably, it still has the dealer sticker
showing that the MD7A had been filled with oil (very low hours). It
is everything that was on the wish list. We searched from around
June 07 and finally got in it December 07 after two surveys, two
countries, going to see boats, and tons of internet searching.
Photos are in group photo album "Vega 3233".

BTW, I found a rough project boat for sale by a marina in MD. It is
on a trailer for around 2,500. I can supply the contact info.

The new boat also came with a trailer which I have set up to launch
and retrieve if anyone needs any help setting up same.

Thank you again everyon who offered leads and advice.
 
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
Wow, Wow, Wow, !!!! She's an original beauty! What a find.
Congratulations on your new boat.

Peter
#1331 'Sin Tacha'