I am thrilled to be a new owner of a 1982 mac 25. I have taken her out twice single handed and I have got a lot to learn. I wore a PFD the second time! I have sailed and raced my Hobie cat for 30+ years and I still love to take it out on windy days but I like the idea of staying dryer especially in the spring and fall up here in the NY finger lakes... I also spent a lot of time as a kid working on the bright work of my father's cruiser and laying under it when it was on the cradle getting that interlux copper bottom paint all over my face as well as some on the hull. I got my start in woodworking repairing boats so I am pretty comfortable with maintenance aspects although I don't have much FG repair experience. Probably a pretty typical story. I do have a couple of questions.
1) I have yet to find the keel lock pin hole (in the keel) I found the plug in housing. The previous owner said he never used the lock pin. Any chance there isn't a lock hole? It looks from the drawings that if the cable is all the way down (slack) then that is past the lock hole. Maybe since I have been by myself I have been cranking past it before I get back to look?
1a) The boat is on a lift and the back/bottom of the keel is just forward of the back lift member so I could drop it to take tension off the cable when I lift it up. Would that be a good idea?
2) I think I have the mast setup "right" it is raked back so the main halyard hangs about 4" behind the mast where the boom goose neck is but I can not sail it as close to the wind as I can the Hobie so something must be wrong. The only foresail I have is a 100% jib that has seen better days but is serviceable. How much might a free hanging keel have to do with this?
3) Anyone have any suggestions for where I should look to get a used 135 or 150 genoa?
4) One of the two owners before the previous owner mounted quite a few additional fairleads that the previous owner never used. I will probably have questions about that but for now with the 100% jib, I have just been routing the sheets inside of the shrouds to the winches. I have seen some posts on inside/outside for small/larger foresails so I think I might understand what to do there.
This seems like a really good forum with very knowledgeable contributors. I hope to be able to contribute something after I know a little more.
Greg
1) I have yet to find the keel lock pin hole (in the keel) I found the plug in housing. The previous owner said he never used the lock pin. Any chance there isn't a lock hole? It looks from the drawings that if the cable is all the way down (slack) then that is past the lock hole. Maybe since I have been by myself I have been cranking past it before I get back to look?
1a) The boat is on a lift and the back/bottom of the keel is just forward of the back lift member so I could drop it to take tension off the cable when I lift it up. Would that be a good idea?
2) I think I have the mast setup "right" it is raked back so the main halyard hangs about 4" behind the mast where the boom goose neck is but I can not sail it as close to the wind as I can the Hobie so something must be wrong. The only foresail I have is a 100% jib that has seen better days but is serviceable. How much might a free hanging keel have to do with this?
3) Anyone have any suggestions for where I should look to get a used 135 or 150 genoa?
4) One of the two owners before the previous owner mounted quite a few additional fairleads that the previous owner never used. I will probably have questions about that but for now with the 100% jib, I have just been routing the sheets inside of the shrouds to the winches. I have seen some posts on inside/outside for small/larger foresails so I think I might understand what to do there.
This seems like a really good forum with very knowledgeable contributors. I hope to be able to contribute something after I know a little more.
Greg