I bought a Mac 25 yesterday.Didn't realize it had structural hull damage, Is super lightweight Boat can't find much structure on the inside
Hull damage mac twenty five
- Thread starter 1954 willys
- Start date
Welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear of the troubles. What kind of damage? Do you have pictures of the affected areas?
The whole area what sits on the trailer in this area seems to be structurally damaged. Really disappointed.I didn't catch that when I bought it, Friday. I am gonna have to learn how to do some serious fiberglass. Work, any help would be appreciated. All the damage seems to be done on the inside but you can see how it's curved Where it meets the trailer support.
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See what it looks like after you launch her. Macs will "oil can" on the trailer.
It is probably oil canning. The hull in that area is flat and the weight of the boat concentrated on the beds causes the hull to deform. Fiberglass, especially when in thinner layers is pretty flexible. The hull is also designed to be supported continuously by water, in order to save weight, production time, and money hulls can be pretty thin. Ideally the weight of the boat should be supported by the keel.
All boats when out of the water tend to drape over the top of the supports. How noticeable it is depends on hull shape, support placement, and hull thickness.
Get it in the water to see what happens. Check the trailer to make certain the weight is on the keel. Go sailing.
All boats when out of the water tend to drape over the top of the supports. How noticeable it is depends on hull shape, support placement, and hull thickness.
Get it in the water to see what happens. Check the trailer to make certain the weight is on the keel. Go sailing.
Welcome to the forum. Any specific questions?
With pretty much all of the MacGregor small boat line (26' and under), there is very little by way of additional structural support inside. The closest thing I see to it in my 26S is the aft post on the head enclosure (sits under the mast step), and I'm not really sure how much support it provides. I sure as heck am not going to remove it, though.
The hull, deck, and cockpit are bound together to provide the boats structural integrity. Interior liners are thin fiberglass and provide relatively little structural support.
The 25' and 26' Macs were made to be trailerable by vehicles with a modest towing capacity, so keeping them light forced compromises with structural integrity. Definitely not blue water boats.
With pretty much all of the MacGregor small boat line (26' and under), there is very little by way of additional structural support inside. The closest thing I see to it in my 26S is the aft post on the head enclosure (sits under the mast step), and I'm not really sure how much support it provides. I sure as heck am not going to remove it, though.
The hull, deck, and cockpit are bound together to provide the boats structural integrity. Interior liners are thin fiberglass and provide relatively little structural support.
The 25' and 26' Macs were made to be trailerable by vehicles with a modest towing capacity, so keeping them light forced compromises with structural integrity. Definitely not blue water boats.
I think you are okay. I've owned a few macs (and many other boats) and they will tend to sag if they sit a long time on the trailer. But pop back into shape in the water. I would launch her someplace where you can let her sit in the water for a few weeks. During that time, add some support on your trailer. If the hull does not go back into shape by itself, you can probably jack it back into place using a long jack against the cabin top... then glass in a stringer on the hull sole for stiffness to keep the hull in that shape. If you need help with fiberglass techniques for stringers... this is the forum for that too.
First boat was a '78 Mac Venture 25. Would oil can sometimes even while in the water going through some rough seas. Scared the crap out of me initially. Learned that this was pretty normal given the light displacement, 2300#, I believe, to make it easy to trailer. Never gave me a problem, though. As I gained more experience and started to venture further out, I realized the need for something a bit beefier. The V-25 did a good job at what she was built for. Go sailing.
Thankyou so much!! No Matter what the cost.I want to make it stronger.Any advice would Great
I panicked when I seen it on the trailer.And now I'm come to realize it's typical.Thank you.I will make it stronger though
Once the hull is in the correct shape... you can add a stringer to make it rigid by laying a piece of something (does not matter what) in the shape of the stringer and then glassing that in place using wetted fiberglass cloth. I recommend using epoxy resin here. The strength comes from the fiberglass so the piece of something is not that important. But somethings are better than others. If you use wood, you will want to first coat it in resin to help it resist rot. If you use foam (like a cut piece of swim noodle) make sure the foam you use is closed cell foam. A swim noodle is closed cell foam. A ripped small diameter piece of PVC pipe is also a good choice ... but foam is easier to shape and glue to the bottom of the hull.
Once you have identified where the stringers need to go, clean the hull in that area very well. Scruff it up with some sandpaper and clean again.
- Glue down the form you choose for you stringer.
- Get a piece of visqueen (plastic sheeting) and cut it about 6" longer than your stringer and about 6" wide.
- Cut out six rectangular pieces of fiberglass cloth. Each retangle will be about a half inch narrower and shorter than the previous. The smallest piece will be wide enough to cover the stringer form and touch the hull bottom by about an inch on all sides. Each successive piece of cloth will overlap the previous by about a half inch.
- With the plastic sheet on your work bench, lay all of those pieces down on the plastic sheet with the largest on the bottom and the smallest at the top. (this will be reversed when you lay it on the stringer--- read below)
- Completely wet all f the pieces of cloth with resin and then squeege out the excess resin.
- Lay the plastic sheeting over the stringer form so that the smallest piece of cloth is laying against the stringer form.
- Use a squeege against the back of the plastic sheet to work out the air bubbles and then leave it alone until the resin kicks and hardents. The plastic sheet will peel off easily once the resing is cured.
- You may need to sand off a few rough spots but the plastic sheet will make it very smooth in most places.
You can buy squeeges from any hardware (or even Walmart). They look like this
... and I also like plastic putty knives like this...
Jamestown distributors is one of my favorite places to buy fiberglass cloth and resin.
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You will have to wait until the hull is warm enough to fiberglass. The reaction will not kick if it is too cold and you will have a mess to clean up. Jamestown products come with exact instructions that tell you what the hull temperature will need to be. The last time I ordered product from them, they actually called me and talked me through my order to make sure I was getting the most appropriate product for the project I was working on (a strip plank canoe). They have great tech support.
The cooler you work, the longer the resin takes to cure...and the longer you have to work with it (less of a rush)... so there are advantages to working on the cooler side of the acceptable temperature range. If you have any heat lamps, that is also an option. You can pre-warm the area of the hull with the lamps... do your work in a cool shed or garage... get everything wetted and sqeeged and then set your wetted cloth in place and warm that with the lamp also.
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Jamestown is a great company to do business with, however, for paint and resins it is better to do business with their subsidiary TotalBoat.com. A more limited selection of products than JD which focuses on a broad range of boat building products.
TB recently added a very good incentive program which helps with long term purchases. TB also supports many YouTubers with affiliate marketing, entering TB through an affiliate link will yield a 5% to 10% discounts. The links are usually found in the description of the video. I use my friends Bill and Grace on Calico Skies link.
