I am looking into purchasing a 1969 370. Due to covid, im trying to learn as much as possible before checking it out. Amazingly, there are few video walkthru's available online!
In many boats, there are tanks, batteries, etc hiding underneath benches, beds, cabinets and inside wall cavities. Does the alcan have any of this? Or can I move the couch, galley cabinets or dinette without worry?
Thanks!
Matt
What's hiding below?
Re: What's hiding below?
Hi Matt
Interesting question. On the 1969 model, the default location for the batteries is in the engine compartment in the rear, and the fresh water and hot water tanks are under the floor of the pilothouse. You may notice that I left out the holding tank and that is because many of the boats would have shipped from the factory without. The built in furniture usually opened up one way or another to provide storage and didn't hide too many things. Behind the walls, however you will find wiring and plumbing, so you may need to do a little re-routing if you want to invade that significantly. Now for the problem... At 52 years old, there probably isn't a single Alcan that has remained unmodified by its owners. On my own boat, the holding tank is located in the base of the vanity in the head and one of the dinette seats has been reserved for electronics (inverter, stereo amps, solar charge controller, etc). The problem is, however countered with a positive, and that is that almost everything is a standard part of some sort. There are no tanks that are molded to fit only in one location, and all the equipment is off-the-shelf. So you should be able to move things around without too much worry.
One thing I have noticed that is a bit of a double-edged thing is that the '69 Alcan has the large volume under the pilothouse that provides space for all kinds of stuff. It looks like a great place to add tanks, heaters, batteries and so on. The problem is that it is pretty far forward and too much weight will shift the C-of-G quite a bit. This causes problems for drainage as the boat will float with the deck a little low in the bow, and is also causes problems with performance as the boat will tend to plow as it comes up on plane.
Lastly, in case you haven't spotted it, the Technical section on the web site has blueprints for the '69 Alcan (see http://www.alcanboats.com/newsite_wordp ... blueprints. This might help you figure out where things are.
Hope this helps
David
Interesting question. On the 1969 model, the default location for the batteries is in the engine compartment in the rear, and the fresh water and hot water tanks are under the floor of the pilothouse. You may notice that I left out the holding tank and that is because many of the boats would have shipped from the factory without. The built in furniture usually opened up one way or another to provide storage and didn't hide too many things. Behind the walls, however you will find wiring and plumbing, so you may need to do a little re-routing if you want to invade that significantly. Now for the problem... At 52 years old, there probably isn't a single Alcan that has remained unmodified by its owners. On my own boat, the holding tank is located in the base of the vanity in the head and one of the dinette seats has been reserved for electronics (inverter, stereo amps, solar charge controller, etc). The problem is, however countered with a positive, and that is that almost everything is a standard part of some sort. There are no tanks that are molded to fit only in one location, and all the equipment is off-the-shelf. So you should be able to move things around without too much worry.
One thing I have noticed that is a bit of a double-edged thing is that the '69 Alcan has the large volume under the pilothouse that provides space for all kinds of stuff. It looks like a great place to add tanks, heaters, batteries and so on. The problem is that it is pretty far forward and too much weight will shift the C-of-G quite a bit. This causes problems for drainage as the boat will float with the deck a little low in the bow, and is also causes problems with performance as the boat will tend to plow as it comes up on plane.
Lastly, in case you haven't spotted it, the Technical section on the web site has blueprints for the '69 Alcan (see http://www.alcanboats.com/newsite_wordp ... blueprints. This might help you figure out where things are.
Hope this helps
David
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MJWBUFFALO
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:38 pm
Re: What's hiding below?
David,
Thank you! I hadn't thought of the double edged sword of being a relatively wide open platform.... this is the one for sale with outboards so I know there is a big open spot where the inboards and generator used to be. Moving fresh/grey/black tanks to there should take care of the COG issue, right?
As soon as the temps break 40, I'll be able to check it out and hopefully answer the questions for certain. I really like the idea of swapping the dinette and couch/sleeper which I saw in some pics online.
Matt
Thank you! I hadn't thought of the double edged sword of being a relatively wide open platform.... this is the one for sale with outboards so I know there is a big open spot where the inboards and generator used to be. Moving fresh/grey/black tanks to there should take care of the COG issue, right?
As soon as the temps break 40, I'll be able to check it out and hopefully answer the questions for certain. I really like the idea of swapping the dinette and couch/sleeper which I saw in some pics online.
Matt
Re: What's hiding below?
Matt
I'll be interested to see how that boat floats
Doing some rough math... Assuming the original loading was optimal, it would have included 2 AQ170 engines at ~700lb each and 1 6.5KW generator at 380lb for a total of around 1800lb in the engine compartment. The outboards on that boat weigh around 350lb each, so there is 1100lb missing from the rear of the boat. Granted, they are a foot or two farther behind original, so they count for more in terms of balancing the boat out and there are some healthy aluminum mounts to add to the weight. The nice thing as you point out is that the engine compartment has lots of room to accommodate equipment, so you can put all the stuff there and probably have room left over.
Cheers
David
ps - anyone with a '69 with additional info? I would be interested to hear from owners.
I'll be interested to see how that boat floats
Doing some rough math... Assuming the original loading was optimal, it would have included 2 AQ170 engines at ~700lb each and 1 6.5KW generator at 380lb for a total of around 1800lb in the engine compartment. The outboards on that boat weigh around 350lb each, so there is 1100lb missing from the rear of the boat. Granted, they are a foot or two farther behind original, so they count for more in terms of balancing the boat out and there are some healthy aluminum mounts to add to the weight. The nice thing as you point out is that the engine compartment has lots of room to accommodate equipment, so you can put all the stuff there and probably have room left over.
Cheers
David
ps - anyone with a '69 with additional info? I would be interested to hear from owners.
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MJWBUFFALO
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2021 7:38 pm
Re: What's hiding below?
David,
Its on the hard now so, unfortunately, there is no way to know until it splashes in the spring.
Assuming the survey comes back decent and I get it, I'll need to play with the ballast to get it to balance correctly.
Matt
Its on the hard now so, unfortunately, there is no way to know until it splashes in the spring.
Assuming the survey comes back decent and I get it, I'll need to play with the ballast to get it to balance correctly.
Matt