The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!
- Thread starter Sock Puppet
- Start date
Try a search (blue "button" at the top) on rotating mast on this forum. In the past, there have been at least a few discussions usually involving 26D’s of people either putting on the rotating hardware from Macgregor and in one case a Hobie 18. I think Mac used to sell the rotating base and spreader for under $300 which seemed like a good deal.
I thought about it for my 26S but decided it probably wasn’t worth doing. The 26D would make more sense and it would make the boat incrementally faster - but your still probably going to get beat by someone with a better keel (like a J24). And if you have the boat outfitted for comfort (i.e., adding weight), still slight improvement - but still slower than lots of stuff and it makes even less sense. I think if you put on a rotating mast, the boat would need to be bare bones light weight to take advantage. The thing these boats do better than most is trailer - setup, launching and towing. Anything that is faster is a huge amount more difficult to get in and out of the water. Ill just enjoy having something that is very easy to trailer and still somewhat fast.
Part of the reason I put the rotating mast on the small boat is that I sail it at higher elevation where the wind is gusty and changes fast. One benefit of the rotating mast is that it works well on just the main especially in windier conditions. I have a wire luft furling jib on this boat and just by either having the jib up or not, I get a really huge wind range from the boat. On the big boat, you can get the same range by just reefing the main which works nicely and the jib negates some of the benefits of the rotating mast. On my small tippy boat, reefing the main in the conditions where I would need to do it are pretty much out of the question.. but reefing the jib - very easy.
I thought about it for my 26S but decided it probably wasn’t worth doing. The 26D would make more sense and it would make the boat incrementally faster - but your still probably going to get beat by someone with a better keel (like a J24). And if you have the boat outfitted for comfort (i.e., adding weight), still slight improvement - but still slower than lots of stuff and it makes even less sense. I think if you put on a rotating mast, the boat would need to be bare bones light weight to take advantage. The thing these boats do better than most is trailer - setup, launching and towing. Anything that is faster is a huge amount more difficult to get in and out of the water. Ill just enjoy having something that is very easy to trailer and still somewhat fast.
Part of the reason I put the rotating mast on the small boat is that I sail it at higher elevation where the wind is gusty and changes fast. One benefit of the rotating mast is that it works well on just the main especially in windier conditions. I have a wire luft furling jib on this boat and just by either having the jib up or not, I get a really huge wind range from the boat. On the big boat, you can get the same range by just reefing the main which works nicely and the jib negates some of the benefits of the rotating mast. On my small tippy boat, reefing the main in the conditions where I would need to do it are pretty much out of the question.. but reefing the jib - very easy.
I didn't get the line on the new bailing device. I found the line though! It was at the shop in a really big rubber maid tub with; 5" random orbital sander, power buffer, wax and buffing compound, 1q Interlux primer, 1q Interlux bilge cote, 1gal of thinner, A stripper thing made by B&D (It's kind of a hand held wire brush like a skill saw.), misc line, and a lot of other stuff.
I went by the shop to let the duct cleaners in. They didn't show up after 30 min so I left. They called an over an hour after they were supposed to be there and said they were on there way. I fired them.
I was supposed to be at the hospital with Squeaky for her 3 mo check up. (She is doing great! And has no ill effects of her treatment. They tell us to keep doing what ever we are doing... What ever that is...) Heidi had to take her because of the timing delay. (I was hoping to hook up with the resident clown. Olley. He wears a button that says... "I pooped today!" and is a blast! The kids love him.) Heidi doesn`t like the kids cancer clinic. I`m not the fondest of it ether. But scaring the heck out of Olley makes it fun! I usually have some crazy phenomena that i tripped over on line to share with him. I think last time we talked I introduced him to Bronies... (If you don`t now what a Bronie is your probably better off not knowing.) I think that if you can make the clown in the kids cancer ward laugh or cringe your doing something right. Or horribly wrong...
I did some measuring and figuring tonight for the arch and deck hardware. I`m rethinking the use of clutches for the halyards. They sit kind of high and I`m not sure they would be the best addition. I may stick with Cam Cleats.
I did some stuff in the garage too. I installed the vice I keep looking at... I have used it in the past by screwing it to a table with big washers so the deck screws don`t pull through. Handy but impractical. I have had a place for it and beefed up underneath with a piece of plywood. That marble was surprisingly easy to drill though.
My compressor made a funny pooft noise the other day so I too it apart to see what was up.
Mice! That`s what was up. They moved in under the plastic housing. Well that was one problem. The big problem was the hose that runs the auto shut off had blown off. So I reattached it and got all the mouse house out.
I also cleaned the pop top covers for each boat on a big tarp in the back yard. While I was cleaning the covers my lovely wife was dancing with a rake planting wild flowers ware Jasmines sand box was. (Note the dress and rubber boots fashion crime. And she gets all weird if I try and wear socks and sandals! Yes she was twirling at the time of the photo...)
I haven told her yet... I`m going to plant onions amongst the wild flowers. I probably shouldn't tell her...
I went by the shop to let the duct cleaners in. They didn't show up after 30 min so I left. They called an over an hour after they were supposed to be there and said they were on there way. I fired them.
I was supposed to be at the hospital with Squeaky for her 3 mo check up. (She is doing great! And has no ill effects of her treatment. They tell us to keep doing what ever we are doing... What ever that is...) Heidi had to take her because of the timing delay. (I was hoping to hook up with the resident clown. Olley. He wears a button that says... "I pooped today!" and is a blast! The kids love him.) Heidi doesn`t like the kids cancer clinic. I`m not the fondest of it ether. But scaring the heck out of Olley makes it fun! I usually have some crazy phenomena that i tripped over on line to share with him. I think last time we talked I introduced him to Bronies... (If you don`t now what a Bronie is your probably better off not knowing.) I think that if you can make the clown in the kids cancer ward laugh or cringe your doing something right. Or horribly wrong...
I did some measuring and figuring tonight for the arch and deck hardware. I`m rethinking the use of clutches for the halyards. They sit kind of high and I`m not sure they would be the best addition. I may stick with Cam Cleats.
I did some stuff in the garage too. I installed the vice I keep looking at... I have used it in the past by screwing it to a table with big washers so the deck screws don`t pull through. Handy but impractical. I have had a place for it and beefed up underneath with a piece of plywood. That marble was surprisingly easy to drill though.
My compressor made a funny pooft noise the other day so I too it apart to see what was up.
Mice! That`s what was up. They moved in under the plastic housing. Well that was one problem. The big problem was the hose that runs the auto shut off had blown off. So I reattached it and got all the mouse house out.
I also cleaned the pop top covers for each boat on a big tarp in the back yard. While I was cleaning the covers my lovely wife was dancing with a rake planting wild flowers ware Jasmines sand box was. (Note the dress and rubber boots fashion crime. And she gets all weird if I try and wear socks and sandals! Yes she was twirling at the time of the photo...)
I haven told her yet... I`m going to plant onions amongst the wild flowers. I probably shouldn't tell her...
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I installed the pop toppneumatics struts the other day on my Mac 22,, what a difference! I don't have to muscle the top up to put in the metal pipes. I wish I would have done it sooner.
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Now whats the plan. I'm going to do the same with mine next week and make a plywood seat with hinges. All my electrical is in there and it is a birdsnest. Too hard to get into the way it is now.
Like this?
Tip: Don't cut as close to the outer hull as I did. There is a piece of cloth under there that holds the inner liner to the outer hull. If it was installed properly there won't be a problem... If...
Mine wasn't installed properly... It was bumpy and not stuck for about half of the length of it! It's stuck now!
Check Sumner's link to his mods and you should have a good idea how to do it.
Use a fine toothed blade on the jig saw or get allot of cracking and chipping.
Wear a dust mask and safety glasses!
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Thanks. Yah, I'm only going to open it up enough to get in to clean up the electrical and some storage. Are you still at home doing this or at the North Channel. We go there for the last week of June. Last year was great. No one was there yet. We had all the anchorages to ourselves. I guess it was because we go the week before school is out so most people wait until then for vacation. At least the ice is gone now.
We splashed last weekend in Erieau and Mosquito (our 4 hp 2 stroke motor) roared to life after only 20-30 pulls and much gnashing of teeth. It got us over to the new slip with all the power of a lame duck but it did get us there.
The alternative was to put the bow line in my teeth and do my best Johnny Weissmuller impression. Since there were kids present and I have no wish to mentally scar a child, I let the motor do the work. Some things are not meant for the human mind to comprehend, the face of God, cats yacking up a furball, me in a Speedo,...
Anyhow, this weekend was spent pleasantly crammed in the area under the cockpit where a snake would break it's back trying to move around. I was adding walls to the end of the cabin to try to get some separation from where the life jackets live and where I have my morning coffee. At the end of the day, the life jackets seem to have more room ( and probably better coffee).
On the bright side, the port wall now has my electrical system connected to it and it actually works.
The down side is I have had two fantastic weekends in a row (unheard of in Southern Ontario) and no sailing.
I think I'll have the boat ready just in time for the Ontario weekend monsoon season.
The alternative was to put the bow line in my teeth and do my best Johnny Weissmuller impression. Since there were kids present and I have no wish to mentally scar a child, I let the motor do the work. Some things are not meant for the human mind to comprehend, the face of God, cats yacking up a furball, me in a Speedo,...
Anyhow, this weekend was spent pleasantly crammed in the area under the cockpit where a snake would break it's back trying to move around. I was adding walls to the end of the cabin to try to get some separation from where the life jackets live and where I have my morning coffee. At the end of the day, the life jackets seem to have more room ( and probably better coffee).
On the bright side, the port wall now has my electrical system connected to it and it actually works.
The down side is I have had two fantastic weekends in a row (unheard of in Southern Ontario) and no sailing.
I think I'll have the boat ready just in time for the Ontario weekend monsoon season.
Have I mentioned that you should write/blog about your experiences?
You do write well, I think...
Walt. Good thing you used the flash! There is a wolf right in front of the camera! It looks like it is cleverly pretending to be the cyotee form Buggs Bunny cartoons. There the sneaky ones!
I found out why the lights on the bow don't work! And I got the car waxed in the 40 min of shade I have just before dark.
I found out why the lights on the bow don't work! And I got the car waxed in the 40 min of shade I have just before dark.
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No picture because the camera is at the bottom of the lake but just got wildly slam dunked capsized today in the 15 foot dingy. The boat has a float at the mast top which saved me again as it kept the top of the mast floating. Winds were very strong with the boat tipped over and if I let go of the boat it would have been blown away from me quickly so I got hold of the sheet rope after releasing the main sheet and made my way to the side of the boat with the centerboard sticking out, climbed up on the centerboard and eventually righted the boat but I was still in the water. Second try, got back in and sailed off. The mast float kept any water from entering the inner hull so the boat was in good shape as soon as I had it uprighted. Sailed for another maybe four hours with just the main. I only lost the camera and a water bottle in the capsize, not bad for how wild it was.
Atta boy Walt! I really like the fact you took it in stride and continued to sail for a while and didn't just lick your wounds back on land. I hate that you lost a camera tho, losing valuables is never any fun (my glasses which generally cost me between 5-700 went overboard but that was my fault. Most importantly we are glad you weren't hurt and didn't have the dog with you.
Im real sore today. The part of that adventure that scared me a little was that at 58 now, I was barely able to pull myself up onto the boat. I had to do this from the windward side to keep the boat stable and the wind kept that side a little higher than the other side. On this boat, there is a lenghtwise bar for the traveler and I grabed onto this bar to pull myself up. but that arm is hurting today (mostly just enough to whine about). If I hadnt made it that time I probably would have had to wait until the wind died down (in the water holding onto the boat).
I also had no choice but to sail as all I had on the boat was the 30 pound thrust electric trolling motor and I know from past experience that it wont get me home in those winds. But the boat has a rotating mast which still sails well on the just the main in some big wind, I was doing a lot of 6 to 7 knot zipping around.
Shortly after I got back sailing I passed by a Pram sailier who was also just recovering from getting knocked down. Went by and it was a kid maybe just barely a teen. Tough kid who did a good job.. I was reallly impressed.
At the end of the day I want over and talked to a Laser guy who was getting ready to go out.. Turns out he is 65 years old..
Overall, a really fine day.
One note about sailing the small boat during the summer.. when I get back to the 26S, it seems HUGE. Keeps me from wanting something even larger.
I also had no choice but to sail as all I had on the boat was the 30 pound thrust electric trolling motor and I know from past experience that it wont get me home in those winds. But the boat has a rotating mast which still sails well on the just the main in some big wind, I was doing a lot of 6 to 7 knot zipping around.
Shortly after I got back sailing I passed by a Pram sailier who was also just recovering from getting knocked down. Went by and it was a kid maybe just barely a teen. Tough kid who did a good job.. I was reallly impressed.
At the end of the day I want over and talked to a Laser guy who was getting ready to go out.. Turns out he is 65 years old..
Overall, a really fine day.
One note about sailing the small boat during the summer.. when I get back to the 26S, it seems HUGE. Keeps me from wanting something even larger.