The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!

[MrBill_FLL]

Stinkbug, nice fabrication projects! I think we all need one of those laser CNC thing-a-ma-jigs in our basements...

Daylights savings is a little over a week and a half away..

Amen!

Bbbut, what's a basement? I think we we call 'dem pools down here!


finally got my boat out, after way too long. going to need new batteries, so had to use the tie the tiller method of sailing.


it was actually a little too warm, without the wind to sleep. finally cooled down to low 70s after 11pm.

this weekend should be perfect. high in upper 70's lows in mid 60's.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Started getting the 22' unloaded and ready to sell before it started raining. Have a couple of interested parties, so hopefully she'll sell fairly soon. The 26S is still in storage until I move the 22.

 

[justsomeguy]

Today, I put up a boom tent, because we were becalmed about 4 miles out of Puerto Penasco. A bunch of sea lions drove one of my dogs a little crazy.

Okay, the dog was already a little crazy.

 

[walt]

This recent trip to Havasu, on the last day I was there almost no wind. Near the end of the day, three of us who had boats in the marina decided to go out for a sunset sail. We saw a wind line about a mile to the south and motored down to it and had really a super fine sail. Im not wining any races in one of the pictures, that is just where the photo cought us.

Jeff Deer (in one of the three boats) took these pictures of my 26S.. I got to sail on his boat about a week earlier at lake Mohave, first time Ive been on a boat using a spinaker.

Photo credit Jeff Deer

How do I know its my boat.. because of the fender dragging in the water

 

[Sock Puppet]

Good stuff, Walt!

 

[finding41]

Walt I'm so jealous. Your sailing!
My Mac's cosy are under a couple feet of snow...
On Friday I went snow-shoeing to look at another boat. Yes snow-shoeing!
I am looking for something small and cheap with a cabin for the family that I can use at our club this summer. I think I may have found a candidate...
A Siren 17. (I'm told it has the same hull as the Mac 17 but a different top.) Small, light and has a small cabin to keep the raccoons out. (No lugging life vests etc back and forth to and from the car.)
In the last picture (2 weeks old) you can see my big snow-shoe footie prints. I only sank down about 6-7" in that powder. The first 2 are from Friday. I had to go back and get #'s off the hull.
I'll find out this week if I can have that pretty blue one.

 

[walt]

Sailing.. not yet but its not too far away. I used to enjoy the cold weather, now mostly endure it but sometimes its still a good thing. For my birthday, the family went cross country skiiing (way more in my budget than down hill) on thiis weekend. This is on a lake that I sail on in the summer, I think there is still several feet of ice on the lake.

 

[Doc_holiday]

On Friday I went snow-shoeing to look at another boat. Yes snow-shoeing! ... In the last picture (2 weeks old) you can see my big snow-shoe footie prints.

Who are you kidding? Those are from a "Squatch"!

 

[Kestle]

Sailing.. not yet but its not too far away. I used to enjoy the cold weather, now mostly endure it but sometimes its still a good thing. For my birthday, the family went cross country skiiing (way more in my budget than down hill) on thiis weekend. This is on a lake that I sail on in the summer, I think there is still several feet of ice on the lake.

A note: even in Maine, when we cross countried over lakes, we always carried climbing rope in case someone went thru the ice...sometimes, the streams feeding them were unseeable and in unexpected places.

I do miss doing that. On a good track it felt like flying.

Jeff

 

[Fernando Martinez]

I don't really know how you guys deal with this cold weather!! I'm here in Baltimore for the week on business and it's been in the high teens and in the twenties :cry:,, I can't wait to get back to Miami to my high humidity and higher temps. I commend you guys for living in this cold weather.

Anyway, on the topic of the thread I had to tear apart and clean the carb on my 9.9 Johnson Sailmaster. It's been running rough and would not idle,,It had a bit of dirt sediment at the bottom of the bowl, after a good cleaning it is idling perfect now.

Always remember to put the fuel cap back on the fuel tank before you hose down the boat,, i forgot to screw down the fuel cap after i topped off and washed down the boat:cussing:.. installed an inline fuel filter with visible bowl and have been removing whatever water shows up,, added StaBil Marine fuel additive just to feel good.

regards,

Fernando

 

[Fernando Martinez]

On another note,, i'm trying my luck on making sailing videos on youtube. Check this out and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJtiSybf0Ng

There are more videos if you go to my site.

regards,

Fernando

 

[walt]

This time of year my attention moves to a 15 foot dingy. This winter, I made a new mast tip float to reduce the height and weight of the Hobie float I previously had. My past history has me getting knocked over on this boat about once every 25 sailing sessions and the float has saved my hide everytime. This lake just opened up less than a week ago (water temp was 41F). State park guy said I was the first person (they meant "nut case") to bring a sailboat out.

Picture from two days ago. FYI, float passed the test.. had a nice sail after, then it snowed about 4 inches that night. I wore a dry suit.

 

[finding41]

Hey Walt what did / how did you make the the bobber for the top of the mast? Is it foam? How is the Hobie one different? (Weight wise and construction.) Did you happen to make a tutorial...
I ask because if I get that Siren 17, and with the way I sail, I'm sure it's going over at some point. Our lake is 12' deep on average. So anything to help keep the mast out of the mud is a good thing. (One of the guys at the club flipped his Siren 17 last fall.... A few other members went out in a safety boat and helped right it. They said it was kind of tough with the mast stuck in the mud.)
Has anyone tested water woggels or pool noodles inside the mast? I've heard of guys using them to stop the wires from slapping but nothing about there flotation ability.

Isn't it cute. It's a shame someone would leave it sitting open to the elements and critters.

 

[walt]

I’m surprised that boat isn’t self righting? Anyhow, mine is not and regardless of someone telling me that you can learn to not flip these, I sail this boat a lot (about 25 days per season for the last two years) and at high altitude (i.e., gusty) - sail enough and its eventually going over.

The C14.2 is somewhat similar to my boat and someone had sealed the mast on one of those and still turtled it. So I didn’t think that was enough. I did seal the top half of my mast (see the pictures) but that float at the end of the mast is the very best spot to put floatation. It also happens to be the absolute worst place to put weight - which is why I messed with it. I cut the weight in half compared to the Hobie Bob and also lowered the float to reduce the "moment arm". I also did a little experiment with the shape but I don’t expect this to have any influence. I also am using this with a rotating mast so the float gets aligned with the air flow which I think helps. Same as with Hobie cats, they all have rotating masts..

Construction is just insulation foam that has been shaped, covered with glass and epoxy, aluminum mounting brackets glued on then glassed over, then spray painted.

 

[walt]

Couple more picts of the float test. Boat stayed dry inside.

 

[vizwhiz]

Looks good! Creative!

 

[walt]

Well.. one thing I like about this forum is that I can post pictures of something completely whacky (like some of the things I done to that small boat) and I don’t get scolded. You can imagine the response I would get posting those pictures on some forums (which I would put in the same category as the uninformed dink head Mac bashing comments I see). When I started that project, I gave myself complete freedom to make any changes I wanted - no matter how goofy.. but if I ever get tired of that boat, I’m going to have to cut it up with a chain saw and then burn it.

Finding, I looked at the Siren 17 a little, it looks like a boat I would also enjoy sailing. I wonder if the knock down that you referred to happened when they had the "weighted centerboard" up?

 

[Sock Puppet]

Bought a little something for the 26S! Time to sell the 9.9 Tohatsu 2-sroke. I'm going to miss the electric start and alternator, but I found this 4-Stroke Merc locally and was able to negotiate a partial trade. Now I just need to research securing it to the Mac to keep it safe.

 

[Fernando Martinez]

Hey Sock Puppet,

Congratulations on your new purchase, it looks great! Is it going on a motor bracket or on the motor well?

How are you planning on charging the battery going forward?

Best regards,

Fernando

 

[Sock Puppet]

It will go on the motor well. I have a solar panel that I plan on installing in the next month or so. I just bought the 26S last fall, so I'll take a lot of time going through everything. The new owner of my 22' will pick her up next weekend, which will free up the back yard for the 26S. Then the real fun begins!