Bud...That Mac was probably made in the '70s.She looks really nice Todd. Keep at it.
btw. It seems that every Mac needs rewiring. The wiring was only marginal from the factory so any Mac over 10 years old needs to be rewired.
I've done this job three different times.
Once you get started on the keel, it won't take that long. Two weekends. The hard part is getting it out of the boat without dropping it on your toes.
Once you lift the boat off of the trailer, you will have to get the weight of the keel off of the keel bolt so you can move the bolt out. That has always been a slow process for me. There might be a better way but what I did was put a jack on the keel and lift it a little to get the weight off of the bolt... then went in the boat and tried to sledge the bolt out. But each time you enter the boat, your body weight shifts the equilibrium a little so it is a trail and error process. Once you get the keel bolt out, you need to lower the jack to lower the keel but keep the keel lifting cable attached so the keel does not drop out without a way for you to keep it off of the ground. You don't want to dead lift 500 lb keel off of the ground. Then run a cable through the keel bolt hole and lower the keel the rest of the way to the ground (or onto the trailer is better if you have a way to keep the boat suspended). Either move the boat off of the keel or drag the keel out from under the boat.
If you can find an engine hoist on Craigslist, that is the best way to go, but a stout oak limb and a come-a-long will do the trick. You can always resell the engine hoist after you are done (that is what I did). Lift the keel up and start stripping it to bare metal. I've used a grinder on one of the keels that was relatively smooth, and a chipping hammer followed by a sandblaster on one that was full of rust scales. You will also need to get some rust treatment (phosphoric acid based) and some barrier coat. Once the keel is stripped and rust treated, paint several coats of barrier coat on the bare metal. Then fair and cover with fiberglass and barrier coat again. Kevlar would be a great choice but I never sprang for that since I already had fiberglass cloth in the shed.
Then you have the joy of reversing the steps you took to get the keel out of the boat.
But when you are done... you will know it is right and strong and you will feel safe sailing her in big waters.
Thats pretty poetic I'm hoping my boat is thankful and treats me well when we're back in the water after all the long hours I've put into her. This is the first boat i've fixed up on my own, and even during the most horrid job of sanding the bottom of the hull, i look up at this mass of fiberglass above me and just think "damn this is my boat and im going to make it look good"Looking back over the pictures from the past year and a half it's hard to believe how far we have come. I don't think there is anything as rewarding as putting an old boat back on the water. They seem to know it somehow and maybe it's just me, but the ones I've brought back to their glory always seem to return the favor.