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

[BudGates]

Walt: Looks like you had a great time. The SoCal Potters are a great bunch of people. Glad your two casualties were minor.

Leatherneck: Your cabin looks beautiful. Nice job.

My heart was heavy over the weekend as I fogged my outboard to get Miss Behavin' ready for a year of storage. It's sad to see her sitting there sobbing in our back yard knowing how she's pining for a splash of cool water. Next summer, however, I plan to give her as much cool fresh water as she can handle, maybe even more. I know she'll love Minnesota.

 

[BILLNPR]

I have used non-ethanol gas and ran the carb dry on a regular bases. What I found was that the gas formed blue flakes in the motor fuel filter on the motor. These blue flakes will then clog the low speed jet some time after the is in use. The motor will still run with the choke on/out. Take the carb off and clean the Jets with carb cleaner and good to go. This year, I changed the motor filter and had no problems.

 

[My Mistress]

I took "Mistress" upper panel apart again. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to wire a DPDT (mom)-off-(mom) switch so I can monitor both batteries separately on a single analog battery gauge.


1 Aug - Got it! Works like a champ!

 

[walt]

The SoCal Potters are a great bunch of people.

Bud, we did have a great time with that group.. Getting there in the middle of summer including towing through LA (which seems to last about 100 miles) from a very hot place (Havasu) and coming back during a heat wave was an adventure in itself but worth it. I hope we can do that again next year.

One other data point on the Arizona to California border crossing. Arizona has no boat inspection but California does. Another 26D (also water ballast) went through there one day after I did and the inspector looked at the hull and outboard for a visual sign of mussels then asked if they had a "drain plug". Answer "yes". Second question from inspector "is it open". Answer.. "yes". Inspector.. OK.. your good to go. A third boat going there was not water ballast and they had to show the inspector the anchor.

Three different boats, three different inspectors and three different completely different responses but all easy. It probably helps to go through when they are busy - which is probably most of the time. FYI, all the boats were careful to NOT transport mussels - but that is a different subject and other threads talk about that.

 

[russculling]

Hello again. I haven't been on the site for a while, so apologies - here is a quick update on the hatch. It has been working extremely well and my wife loves it. An added benefit is that when the hatch is flipped open it makes a great place for us to cook on with our Coleman 2-burner cooker (the 19ft doesn't have a Galley) which fits very well into the frame (I didn't plan this but it worked out that way). We are fairweather sailors so rain is not much of a problem. When it does rain the weatherproofing strip keeps the water out quite well (a few drips). I have to watch when opening the hatch when it is wet because then the water sitting on top tends to run down into the cabin (not a lot so no big deal). When I store the boat, I put the old fibreglass cover over the hatch to protect it from sun and rain. Works really well. Overall, well worth the effort.

 

[russculling]

vizwhiz, because my boat is on land, I like to keep it on its side when I work on it -- much easier to reach and I can stand next to it while I work, instead of having to climb on top. It's so much easier this way - you should try it.

 

[vizwhiz]

LOL, i just couldn't help a little silliness...

 

[RussC]

I was really frustrated and tired of dragging our two 20# iron "Navy anchors" all around the dang lake. those things are totally worthless. I'm also the consummate tightwad, so I spent a couple hours and built myself the best Ronca clone I could, by just looking at a few on-line photos. After spending the past two days at the lake I can now say with authority that it's the best couple hours of my time, and $8.00 out of pocket, I ever spent . 1/8" steel body with additional 1/4" plates welded top and bottom on the nose for additional weight. It only weighs 11lb, but dug into the mud/sand bottom almost instantly and never budged an inch. As usual, we dropped anchor ~150' out and nosed the bow up to the beach, where it was tied off to a stump, and then we backed out 50' or so and tied off for the night. 15+ MPH winds were on our beam for several hours that evening. The rollbar makes it virtually impossible to lay anyway but right-side-up on the bottom and ready to set, which it does with authority. I'll be making another one for the bow now .

 

[My Mistress]

I'll be making another one for the bow now

That looks real nice.
Mistress came with a homemade claw-type anchor and an 8# Danforth type anchor. I initially tossed the homemade anchor out and bought a second Danforth (20#, I think). After dragging on the hard mud at my local lake, I put the homemade monstrosity back aboard with 10ft of 3/8 chain and the 8# danforth at the end where I warped the anchor line to the chain. No more dragging, but its a bear to get back o board. The 20# danforth is now my lunch hook.
I've been considering a plow-type anchor but they are too expensive.
Wish I could weld.......

 

[RussC]

I've been considering a plow-type anchor but they are too expensive.
Wish I could weld.......

It is pretty amazing how much they get for such a simple thing to make. Certainly nothing precision about them.
You could be welding in 20 minutes if you had a decent (even used) mig welder. very easy to learn to do this kind of project. heck bring over some steel and I'll weld it up for you.

 

[JohnCTV21]

It's time to pull the genoa car tracks and the plastic spacers and stops are in need of replacing....
I have some teak, and sand paper, some varnish

So I made these

 

[sailnewbie]

I added my hound dog for the first time! He doesn't know whether to bail or hide, it's an experience for sure!

 

[walt]

nice shot! I think he is smiling.. happy dog!

 

[Cowpokee]

I switched to a RudderCraft performance rudder this afternoon. Just had to take it out for a test run. What a difference! It is like adding power steering to a sailboat!

 

[My Mistress]

heck bring over some steel and I'll weld it up for you.

Texas is a bit of a haul from Oregon, otherwise I'd take you up on that!

 

[walt]

Some pictures from Lake Grandby Colorado yesterday..

 

[Azzarac]

Love the shot with the Akita! I can't get ours to go anywhere near the water...

 

[walt]

Definitely made you do a double take seeing that. The dog seemed to be very comfortable on the sailing kayak and looks like he is in charge of the boat (cockswain) barking out orders to the crew LOL. This was at a local event (Lake Grandby) A couple more (hosted on FB, linked to here)

 

[RussC]

The first time I sailed Tweety (our recently purchased Victoria 18) I discovered how much I love self jamming horn cleats, for use on the jib sheets, and just had to have some on the Mac........ until I looked at what they sell for. Are they out of their friggin minds?? I'll just modify my own, thank you very much . Wile not a "simple" modification, it was mostly just a matter of patience to carve the needed additional wedge out of a chunk of aluminum I had laying around. took a few hours for each one, but was a good way to pass the time on a 107* summer afternoon at home. Out of pocket expense = $0.00 .
I think the photos show the modification process pretty well without further explanation. now I'll ditch those Winchers that have been on the winches since I bought the boat (but almost never used anyway).

 

[justsomeguy]

it was mostly just a matter of patience to carve the needed additional wedge out of a chunk of aluminum I had laying around. took a few hours for each one, but was a good way to pass the time on a 107* summer afternoon at home. Out of pocket expense = $0.00 .
I think the photos show the modification process pretty well without further explanation. now I'll ditch those Winchers that have been on the winches since I bought the boat (but almost never used anyway).

Nice!