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

[walt]

My 16 inch LED wide screen TV came in today
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EKJC78/ref=pe_385040_30332200_TE_item

I hooked up an off air antenna and scanned in Denver and picked up 68 channels. All free, many HD, most channel are crap (as is the case if you pay for TV) but still all the major networks, PBS, etc.

The manual list the power consumption at 18 watts but Im measuring about 10.5 watts when run from a 12 volt source.

14.35 volts - .74 amps
12 volts - .85 amps
Standby .01 amp

Not bad.. watching 2 hours will use about 1.6 amp hours..

 

[chp]

I use a 2 line system. Works great.

 

[justsomeguy]

Today, a couple of friends and I successfully extracted the 625 pound keel from under my little boat.

Through the use of a floor jack, a small bottle jack, a come-along, lumber and jack stands, and finally an engine hoist, we were able to slide the keel out from under the boat and over the trailer.

And nobody got hurt. Boredom is highly underrated, huh?

So now what? Reading the archives about keel refurbishment.

The bolt looks great, and there's plenty of meat on the keel's pivot and lock bolt areas.

 

[finding41]

Justsomeguy: "So now what? Reading the archives about keel refurbishment."
Your keel looks great! I'd just clean off the rust that is there and repaint. (I'd use ablative paint but just ware you can't get to when It's installed. Do the rest after it has been installed.)
Then the fun of reinstalling the keel.
Good luck getting your buddies to help with that. If there anything like my buddies...

 

[justsomeguy]

Justsomeguy: "So now what? Reading the archives about keel refurbishment."
Your keel looks great! I'd just clean off the rust that is there and repaint. (I'd use ablative paint but just ware you can't get to when It's installed. Do the rest after it has been installed.)
Then the fun of reinstalling the keel.
Good luck getting your buddies to help with that. If there anything like my buddies...

Yes, it does look pretty good, doesn't it? Seeing the rust slowly appearing over the couple/few years I've had her was giving me the willies, though. Turns out the PO had done a good job.

I hope her next owner will be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

All that worrying for nothing, but the peace of mind is worth it.

Thanks for the painting tips!

 

[finding41]

I broke some stuff on my Siren 17 this weekend. It was the Pumpkin Regatta at Fanshawe Yacht Club.
I broke the tiller extension clip, the jib cam cleat on the Port side. I almost pulled off one of the plastic horn cleats from the mast. They all wiggle now... I lost the cabin lock overboard. And one of my side stays loosened off! Nuts were locked a month ago.
And I hit a Hunter 260. I forgot to check for damage to my boat though. His boat was fine and mine didn't have water in it when I put it away so it should be OK.
I Came 2nd in the keel boat class! (I kicked butt!)
More on my blog. Link below.

 

[Justin_NSA]

Hauled Cuivienen out yesterday. It was a beautiful day for sailing but it had to be done, the lake level is dropping. Have to drop the mast and find a place in town to work on her.

 

[walt]

Turns out the PO had done a good job.

Its really great to hear someone say something good about a PO.. my PO also had done an overall good job. I dont know the guy but after I bought the boat, the place that sold me the boat tried to get hold of him for some reason.. they couldnt as he was down in Mexico somewhere acting like a teenager (good for him - he was in his 60's..)

 

[Doc_holiday]

I wish I was running around Mexico like a teenager

 

[Diver960]

Me too!

 

[keys diver]

Well my wife and I have officially passed over from the dark side. We have sold our 25' and 37' power boats and purchased a 1979 Venture 25. We looked and looked for a trailer sailer to make the transition too and this little boat made the grade. The PO did a lot of the refurb work and we got a very clean blank canvass to start off with. I plan on installing a complete electrical system ( 215AH gel battery, 4 way switch, dock power charger, and switch panels), upgraded LED lighting in the cabin, cockpit, and navigation. I am looking for an appropriate electronics package, I am thinking a combo chart plotter, depth, and anemometer (any experience and/or advice for this instrumentation is welcome). I have seen several post on V berth extensions and plan to make this a phase one upgrade. We would like to add some storage in the quarter berth areas any ideas or projects anyone can share? I know that the upgrades I am discussing are quite costly and I understand the whole silk purse sows ear analogy but it was the only way I could see getting a boat to do what we needed and I enjoy projects so it's a win / win. Before everyone tells me that I am not qualified to design and install systems such as this Ill give you my background, I am a licensed Professional Engineer and grew up with welding leads, wrenches, saws, and such in my hand. Any other upgrade ideas are very welcome and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Happy sailing, Jeremy

 

[finding41]

Welcome to the forum Keys Driver.
Ya don't need no qualifikations to do nutthin to your baot round here.
If you haven't found it yet here is a link to Mainesail's bed it with butyl tape instructions. Butyl tape is a must for stopping leaks from the top of the boat. And it's a Mac. It leaks form the top. They all do.
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/butyl_tape
This site is full of great ideas of how to modify your boat.
Again welcome.

 

[BudGates]

Welcome aboard Jeremy. Congratulations on your new boat. A Mac 25 is a good choice. Enjoy it. Good luck with your projects. Keep us posted on your progress. One of the things I love about my Macs is that even though I'm a long ways from the water I can still work on my boat when I want to.

 

[walt]

Update on my 16 inch LED TV with digital off air tuner..

So.. the TV consumes about .8 amps and the 12 volt DVD player I linked to earlier in this thread consumes about .4 amps. So when I’m running both the TV and the DVD player, draw at 12 volts is about 1.2 amps.. If I’m just watching off air free TV, Ill be using about 10 watts (.8 amps at 12 volts).

I bought an indoor Terk MFTV2 flat digital antenna - refurbished for $20 since I’m not sure how this setup is going to work. In the attached picture you can see the antenna sitting on top of the power supply. It works fairly well in my living room.

The plan is to mount the indoor antenna to the inside ceiling of the pop top cover. The cable from the antenna will follow one of the pop top aluminum support tubes so that the antenna and cable will remain hooked up all the time. I like the pop top idea since the pop top will be raised when I want to watch TV and this should help a little with reception. Also the pop top should have no plywood laminate (wood attenuates RF) so this should also help reception. And.. It’s always ready to go. The hassle of raising an outdoor antenna up the mast just to watch TV somehow sort of killed that idea.. so hope this works reasonably well - Im not hoping for perfection.

I won’t be able to try this out for a while since the boat is just under 900 miles away.. but I have all the parts now.

 

[justsomeguy]

Also the pop top should have no plywood laminate...

I would think it does, but, I could be wrong.

Hope the installation plugs and plays.

 

[walt]

I know the deck has plywood laminate..

But I dont think the pop top does - but no way to check.. ????

 

[justsomeguy]

Definitively, not without a drill bit.
Your new antenna should help to answer that, when you get to the boat.

 

[chp]

What a great fall sailing day. Not too many days like this left.

 

[finding41]

I cleaned out an old gas tank that came with my Siren 17. It had fuel in it for at least 7 years... (It didn't smell very nice.) There was a bunch of stuff stick to the bottom inside so I got what I could off with a paint stick and thought about how to get the rest of the stuff. The old pick up tube had long rotted away so there were a couple chunks of that in there too.
I came up with the idea of putting 1" crushed stone form my driveway in the tank with a couple shop rags and some degreasing cleaner and water. Then I shook the heck out of it! Let it sit and shook it again. Dumped it all out. Rinsed 4 times to get all the bubbles out.
Worked great! And I forgot to take an after picture... Multi tasking...
Don't try this at home.

 

[Azzarac]

I created my very own solar system! I bought 2 60 watt panels off Ebay for $120.00 along with a 20A dual battery controller. I mounted one panel on a pole beside the boat house. The other will be mounted on the stern for cruising. No more messing with battery chargers! :dance: