New Macgregor 25 owner with lots of newbie questions

[GSmith116]

I am thrilled to be a new owner of a 1982 mac 25. I have taken her out twice single handed and I have got a lot to learn. I wore a PFD the second time! I have sailed and raced my Hobie cat for 30+ years and I still love to take it out on windy days but I like the idea of staying dryer especially in the spring and fall up here in the NY finger lakes... I also spent a lot of time as a kid working on the bright work of my father's cruiser and laying under it when it was on the cradle getting that interlux copper bottom paint all over my face as well as some on the hull. I got my start in woodworking repairing boats so I am pretty comfortable with maintenance aspects although I don't have much FG repair experience. Probably a pretty typical story. I do have a couple of questions.

1) I have yet to find the keel lock pin hole (in the keel) I found the plug in housing. The previous owner said he never used the lock pin. Any chance there isn't a lock hole? It looks from the drawings that if the cable is all the way down (slack) then that is past the lock hole. Maybe since I have been by myself I have been cranking past it before I get back to look?
1a) The boat is on a lift and the back/bottom of the keel is just forward of the back lift member so I could drop it to take tension off the cable when I lift it up. Would that be a good idea?
2) I think I have the mast setup "right" it is raked back so the main halyard hangs about 4" behind the mast where the boom goose neck is but I can not sail it as close to the wind as I can the Hobie so something must be wrong. The only foresail I have is a 100% jib that has seen better days but is serviceable. How much might a free hanging keel have to do with this?
3) Anyone have any suggestions for where I should look to get a used 135 or 150 genoa?
4) One of the two owners before the previous owner mounted quite a few additional fairleads that the previous owner never used. I will probably have questions about that but for now with the 100% jib, I have just been routing the sheets inside of the shrouds to the winches. I have seen some posts on inside/outside for small/larger foresails so I think I might understand what to do there.

This seems like a really good forum with very knowledgeable contributors. I hope to be able to contribute something after I know a little more.

Greg​

 

[Tsatzsue]

Welcome aboard!
These are great boats. Dry and a toilet are both pluses! There is a lot of discussion about the lock pin.Whether to use or not to use it. The previous owner of my boat hit a rock with the pin in and sank the boat. The flotation saved it. I found this out two years after I owned it. he tore an arc in the trunk and glassed over the hole. There are two camps...those that do use it and those who don't. I have never used it but would like to have the option in case of bad weather and big waves. I still have to drill out the holes in the trunk.
I use the keel winch to trim the center of effort of the boat. You can increase or decrease weather helm and adjust for different sail configurations to balance the boat. My boat points pretty well to the wind but a Hobie is hard to beat.
Search the site. All the answers are here and everyone is very helpful.
Ken B.

 

[GSmith116]

Welcome aboard!
I use the keel winch to trim the center of effort of the boat. You can increase or decrease weather helm and adjust for different sail configurations to balance the boat.
Ken B.

Ken,
Thanks for the reply. Not having any experience with a swing keel it never occurred to me to use the keel that way. Of course, I didn't understand what weather or lee helm meant either until I read up on it recently. It turns out the previous owner bought used sales that are kind of close but not quite right. My main is a Hunter 21 main. Not sure about the jib except for the sail maker. It should have been obvious to me that my main did not say M 25. Another guy with lots of experience pointed it out. It is loose footed but the tack to clew length is too long for my boom so I really don't have an effective out haul or maybe the tack grommet (cringle?) is too far aft for this sail. The goose neck on my boat needs to be replaced as well. Basically he said that I have a loose goose and effectively have no clew (clue). I don't think that was a complement. Is his J boat any good?

 

[timebandit]

Beware of advice from owners of other types of boats. Sometimes they do not know the difference between roller furling and slab reefing.

 

[PineyRidge]

Beware of advice from owners of other types of boats. Sometimes they do not know the difference between roller furling and slab reefing.

Neither do I, but it sounds like good advice.

 

[Tsatzsue]

Here is a cool video of the TsatzSue, if it opens, of a Buzzards Bay night sail to Wood's Hole from Fairhaven. We had some chop. We did hull speed with just a small amount of jib rolled out and no main. Yahoo!!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2361534054071810

 

[GSmith116]

Neither do I, but it sounds like good advice.

I didn't have any idea was slab (jiffy?) reefing was either so I thought I would not reply until I did. I do appreciate timebandit's response.

 

[RussC]

I never use the keel lock pin, and don't see any need, for the typical lake sailer.
Proper sails that fit the boat will benefit you, but a larger jib may not be all you hope for, as the M25 doesn't point as well with the larger for-sails.

 

[GSmith116]

Ken,
Basically he said that I have a loose goose and effectively have no clew (clue). I don't think that was a complement. Is his J boat any good?

Just finished a boom extension experiment so that maybe I will be able to use my mainsail clew. I got the idea when I looked at the boom cap offered by BWY and noticed that the top was cut off to expose the channel. The PO bought a good North sail that is still "crispy" but the foot is a little long form my M25 10.5' boom. I guess this could be a success and allow me to point better or it could be a spectacular failure. I'm hoping that because the main sheet is connected to the extension that is bolted to the new end cap that it will hang together. The BWY outhaul kit says to mount the cam cleat as close to the turning block as possible. It seems to me that it would make more sense to mount it further forward on the boom. The outhaul cleat on my hobie is about mid boom and that is my only point of reference. Is there a reason that you would want the cleat almost at the end of the boom and have a lot of outhaul line to deal with? Maybe it is because of the note on installing a single line reefing?

 

[justsomeguy]

It seems to me that it would make more sense to mount it further forward on the boom.

Is there a reason that you would want the cleat almost at the end of the boom and have a lot of outhaul line to deal with?

Not really. You need that control line to be accessible when the boom is athwartships.

 

[timebandit]

If your main sail has slides instead of the original bolt rope and you are using the pin in the boom to attach the tack you will find getting a good sail shape difficult. I use one of these to set the tack where it belongs also used to reef.
http://www.rigrite.com/Spars/SparParts/Reef_Hooks.php#Rams Horn Reef Hooks