Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

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Tatra Man
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Re: Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

Post by Tatra Man »

Tatra Man wrote:No crack through the P-bracket mounting holes - because it had all been welded!! But what are the extra four blind holes for? I checked and found that the hull here is no less than four layers thick! Between the sub-frame rails and the outer skin there's a sheet which is folded up round the outside of each rail and riveted to the rails and another sheet between that and the hull which is riveted to the hull and folds up to also be riveted to the stringers. The riveting isn't very even so I'm guessing it was added when the outer skin was welded. The blind holes seem to go through the outer skin and that "new"(?) sheet so could they have been there to bolt them together whilst welding up the outer skin? Anyway, I seem to have four good intact layers but there's a nasty looking crack in the outer skin round the rudder bush although the "new"(?) sheet is perfect inside.
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Look carefully and you can see that a small part of that crack has been welded too. I'm not sure what to do with it. Does anyone have any experience of Durafix, Lumiweld or Technoweld? Are they all the same thing under different trade names?
I had a closer look at the P-bracket mounting area and there was a crack so, along with the ones round the rudder bush mounting holes, I decided to attack them. I got hold of some Technoweld but it's not really welding, more a soldering/brazing technique. Anyway, here's the result of grinding out the cracks and brazing/soldering/Technowelding them up. On closer inspection, the blind holes only went through the outer skin so, as I couldn't see any point in leaving them, I filled those too. Unfortunately, the hull is on its side so it was all done on a vertical surface but it's not too bad for a first effort I suppose.
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I hope my new Alpine floats better than my old one!

Good buy
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Re: Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

Post by Good buy »

Do you know what has caused all that cracking ?

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Tatra Man
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Re: Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

Post by Tatra Man »

Well, I assume that the welding was done to repair cracking caused by the alloy work-hardening over time and I'm guessing that the residual ones were caused the same way but I'm still puzzled by the ones around the rudder bush. Like I said before: why is there that crack round the rudder bush and do Continentals crack there?
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I hope my new Alpine floats better than my old one!

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Tatra Man
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Re: Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

Post by Tatra Man »

It's all very well producing a nice oval hole complete with flange but another matter altogether to fit it in its intended place so the dreaded Technoweld has been pressed into use again. For comparison, the bottom picture is 2002.

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A slightly different angle between the two photos but the dash on 2002 is noticeably shallower.
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I hope my new Alpine floats better than my old one!

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Howstar
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Re: Albatross Alpine number 2003 restoration

Post by Howstar »

It starting take shape now and looks like you doing a good job. well done

Cant wait to see it on the water

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Tatra Man
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Re: Albatross Alpine restoration

Post by Tatra Man »

Tatra Man wrote:
Tatra Man wrote:Rootes list a pressure cap for the cooling system but I've been told that Albatross didn't pressurise their systems. Is this true and is it because the heat exchangers wouldn't stand it?
Well I have some answers - but not all.

Alpine 2010 has its original Alpine engine but it would appear to have been marinised by Albatross, not by Rootes Marine. . . . . .
That boat comes with an Albatross header tank which is mounted on the top two carburettor to manifold mounting bolts and that manifold is not Rootes. Both those components are rather crudely fabricated and the manifold takes twin SU carbs - something which Rootes never used. The thermostat housing has been replaced by a simple outlet so there is no provision anywhere in the circuit for a thermostat and the header tank has the Albatross filler cap. The bypass circuit spigot on the water pump has been fitted with a bleed valve so there is no bypass circuit but, without a thermostat, there's no need for one.

All those components appear to be totally original and fit in with the history of the boat which is quite well documented.

2003 on the other hand has a genuine Rootes Alpine Marine combined header tank and heat exchanger with a pressure cap which has been remotely mounted from the engine and leads me to believe that the thermostat and bypass arrangement would be intact on the engine. It also has the Alpine Marine inlet manifold and original twin Zenith carbs.

So, it seems that just a very few early Alpines have additional cooling in the form of the Rootes combined header tank and heat exchanger and what looks like a better engineered water cooled sump so I'm going to run an 82° thermostat and a 7lb pressure cap to start with.
Whilst sorting out the hull, I ran my hands across the outer face of the cooling pods and it's very obvious that both bulge slightly. There's no obvious reason for them to have been made like that so this appears to confirm that the cooling system was pressurised as I had figured before. :perfect:
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I hope my new Alpine floats better than my old one!

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