Is this a D or S?

[Bugzy]

Looking at a boat for sale locally tomorrow. The owners wife said she doesn't know if this is a D or S, but looking at the inside, the sink is on the left side, and there does not appear to be a rope next to the door under it, does that mean this is a D?

 

[Meriachee]

That's an s

 

[Bugzy]

That's an s

How can you tell?

 

[Jim26m]

No dagger board slot running from sink to cabin top might be one way.

 

[Sumner]

Right the dagger board trunk would be just to the left side of the sink if it was a D. D is for dagger board and S is for swing centerboard. D was made first and then the S.

Just under the sink to the left should be a trunk where the line from the centerboard comes up. If the round trunk is there and no line then either the line came off and needs to be replaced or there is no centerboard but that is easy to check, if it is on a trailer as just look at the bottom center of the boat.

We went with the S as we would be sailing a lot of unfamiliar water and wanted the centerboard and rudder to swing up if we hit something, like the bottom .

The D is slightly faster than the S if both have sails in the same conditions and the captain knows what he is doing. Both are pretty fast boats and sail very well. One caveat those is with the water ballast in good wind expect them to heel to about 16 to 18 degrees and then they are like they are on rails...

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/2015 Bahamas/1-Port Charlotte to Key Largo/PC-to-Bahamas-Page-1.html

Notice that when my friend Scott goes below the boat stays the same. Also it appears to be heeled more than it is because I wasn't holding the camera parallel to the horizon.

If one doesn't want to heel that much then maybe consider a different boat.

Sumner
======================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas

 

[Bugzy]

I looked at this boat today. Inside the cabinet I could not see any rope, but looking under the boat this is definitely a swing keel. If the rope is not under the sink, how would someone replace it? The trailer the boat is sitting on has a support that goes across the bottom of the boat, about midway through the swing keel, so it is not possible to lower the swing keel down without lifting the boat off the trailer. Is there access to the rope some other way? These ropes must break occasionally right?

 

[Sumner]

There is a place for the line under the sink, right?

One way to replace it is with the boat in the water with the CB down partially at least. Get the line down through the tube for it into the water and dive and reattach it. Some people are going with lines now.

Ours has a SS cable held on with a crimped fitting on the end of the cable.

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-40.html

I'm guessing it came from the factory like that (or maybe not as that is an aftermarket centerboard). Under the sink the SS cable changes to a line just before the first turning block if I remember right (not home now trying to cross back over to FL from the Bahamas).

It goes through two turning blocks and comes out on the right side of the sink just above where the cleat is in the picture above. I added the block above the cleat and a couple more and ......

... now the line comes out in the cockpit and cleats off there. I didn't like having to go below to raise and lower the centerboard. More here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/rigging-19.html

Besides putting it in the water another option would be to ....

.... make a platform for the transom.

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/outside-3.html

Lower the tongue of the trailer to the ground. That will raise the back of the trailer and the boat's stern. Make a platform the right height to support the transom at its new elevated height. Jack the tongue up and the back of the trailer will go down and you might be able to lower the centerboard enough to reattach a cable or line (could also at this point remove the wheels/tires to lower the back of the trailer more). Do all of this very carefully as that boat could kill you if it fell on you).

Sumner
========================================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas