New Owners!

[Greengas]

Hi

I'm Ronn and my wife and I, along with our kiddos and grandkiddos just purchased our first ever boat, a Macgregor 25. We are very excited about starting this family project. We live outside of Denver so we will be trailer sailors. Both of my children are familiar with sailing since we lived in Hawaii for a while and they were active members of Sea Scouts. So the way I figure it is, they do the sailing while I coordinate all the rehab the boat needs.

As part of our purchase, we took the boat out to a local lake and sailed it for a couple of hours. According to my "experts" it handled very well and the basic aspects of the boat are in good shape. From what I see, the teak needs lots of TLC, the electrical wiring needs to be redone, the gelcoat needs to be revitalized, and my wife is determined that the 70's era cushions must go so she can create new ones. I'm attaching a picture of the boat (neither of the two people in the picture are me), one of some teak to show how bad the wear is, and finally a picture of my key helper decided which tool I should use next.

A little background on my wife and I. She is a Navy Veteran, having served 8 years. I am retired from the Air Force after an almost 28 year career. She now works for the FED while I am a partially retired school teacher.

I am really looking forward to all I can learn from the experts on this forum. I know I am a complete novice when it comes to sailing so please feel free to shower me with your collective brilliance. I will be asking lots of questions such as how do I get the finish of the boat to look good again? And, what is a good mast raising system (After having 3 back surgeries I can't do that much heavy lifting)?

Well, enough for now, I look for to many years of happy sailing!

Mahalo Nui Loa

Ronn

 

[Kermit]

Welcome to boat ownership, sailing and to this forum. You'll find a wealth of knowledge and helpful folks here. But seriously, why do you need us when you have an expert tool-picker-outer? ;-) No, seriously, welcome!

 

[trainmanjess]

hello and welcome to the sailing family

my 1st sailboat I owned was a Mac25... nice boat for lake sailing.... I enjoyed it a lot.... I finally sold it when I got demasted and the mast got broke into 2 parts.... one of the shroud lines broke at the fitting... you need to inspect them a lot.... any wear or freyed wires in the cables or fitting, and you need to replace them asap... or the mast might be coming down on you... when mine was demisted, the mast fell into the cockpit between me and my son, just missing us....

as for a mast raising system, here are a couple of diagrams of what I used to raise my mast...

remember this, the safest place on your boat when sailing is in the cockpit.... with this in mind, I ran all the ropes back to the cockpit and set my boat up for solo sailing.... and with novices aboard, for learning process, I make each rope a different color... this way if I tell me visitors onboard to pull or let out the port jib sheet and they look at me with a dumb stair, I can say let out the white rope with the red stripe... or pull in the mainsheet, like wise, pull in the white rope with the blue stripe... I use red for jib/genoe, blue for main, yellow for spinnaker, and golden for dock lines.... on my new to me 45ft sailboat, I am using green for the mizzen mast.... using the color coded ropes is good when you want to take out visitor for a sail and they do not know anything about sailing....

I have also included 2 pictures of solo setup for a sailboat.... the hand drawn one is how I set it up on my Mac25... hope this will help... if you have any questions, please feel free to ask...

what was your MOS in the Air Force.... I was a k-9 specialist....disabled veteran now....

sincerely
Jess

 

[Greengas]

hello and welcome to the sailing family

my 1st sailboat I owned was a Mac25... nice boat for lake sailing.... I enjoyed it a lot.... I finally sold it when I got demasted and the mast got broke into 2 parts.... one of the shroud lines broke at the fitting... you need to inspect them a lot.... any wear or freyed wires in the cables or fitting, and you need to replace them asap... or the mast might be coming down on you... when mine was demisted, the mast fell into the cockpit between me and my son, just missing us....

as for a mast raising system, here are a couple of diagrams of what I used to raise my mast...

remember this, the safest place on your boat when sailing is in the cockpit.... with this in mind, I ran all the ropes back to the cockpit and set my boat up for solo sailing.... and with novices aboard, for learning process, I make each rope a different color... this way if I tell me visitors onboard to pull or let out the port jib sheet and they look at me with a dumb stair, I can say let out the white rope with the red stripe... or pull in the mainsheet, like wise, pull in the white rope with the blue stripe... I use red for jib/genoe, blue for main, yellow for spinnaker, and golden for dock lines.... on my new to me 45ft sailboat, I am using green for the mizzen mast.... using the color coded ropes is good when you want to take out visitor for a sail and they do not know anything about sailing....

I have also included 2 pictures of solo setup for a sailboat.... the hand drawn one is how I set it up on my Mac25... hope this will help... if you have any questions, please feel free to ask...

what was your MOS in the Air Force.... I was a k-9 specialist....disabled veteran now....

sincerely
Jess

Jess

Thanks so much for the guidance. I am going to turn the drawings over to my son so he can figure it all out. In the AF I started out as a 702, which became a 3A0. But I spent the final 14 years as a First Sergeant, including being the shirt for the SP unit on Andrews AFB.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Cngratulations.

Don't know what you know or don't know about boats.

Teak cleaner & teak brightener will restore the teak. Your choice on what to do afterwards: leave it, teak oil,varnish or cetol. Your boat, your choice.

Hull: http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266

 

[woodzy]

I'm new to this too, 1982 mac 25. All the info I've got on this site has been great. You get all different ways to fix things and you pick which works best for you. As for the finish, mine was so oxidized from sitting out for 15 yrs. They color sanded it and buffed,it came out very nice. Go back and search my threads for stuff I had to fix and check out replies, lots of good info.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

 

[vizwhiz]

Congratulations!!

 

[SoundWave]

A little background on my wife and I. She is a Navy Veteran, having served 8 years.

Congratulations and welcome!
Our first boat was a Mac 25, that's a really good choice.

This is a good place to get sailing and boat maintenance wisdom.

Wife is ex-navy? Some of us refer to our wives as "The Admiral" so this thing might be a natural for you!

 

[arknoah]

Welcome. The Mac25 is a great boat.

 

[topcat0399]

Welcome to our old boats.

We finally gave up on worry over our teak and have learned to love our old gray wood. Too many other things take precedence.

 

[Freedom77]

Welcome to the "Legion of the Damned". :cussing:Have you refinanced your house yet and spent all the kids college money? Seriously, after 45 years and three Ventures and ??? miles of great adventures I wouldn't trade it for anything. As for teak, sand first, get WATCO teak oil and apply it every two hours X 4. It will soak in and you'll see a difference. Keep us posted on your progess.

 

[finding41]

Welcome to the forum. You will like it here. Lots of people with great advice and handy tips.
Tip. Check the keel bolt and cable for wear. Replace both if you see any signs of wear. I would just replace the cable anyway just to be sure it doesn't break. If it does you keel is on the bottom of the lake. (For good.)
Enjoy the new boat.

 

[Greengas]

I'm new to this too, 1982 mac 25. All the info I've got on this site has been great. You get all different ways to fix things and you pick which works best for you. As for the finish, mine was so oxidized from sitting out for 15 yrs. They color sanded it and buffed,it came out very nice. Go back and search my threads for stuff I had to fix and check out replies, lots of good info.

Thanks for the info and welcome. Real quick, what is color sanding?

Thanks

Ronn

 

[Greengas]

Welcome to the "Legion of the Damned". :cussing:Have you refinanced your house yet and spent all the kids college money? Seriously, after 45 years and three Ventures and ??? miles of great adventures I wouldn't trade it for anything. As for teak, sand first, get WATCO teak oil and apply it every two hours X 4. It will soak in and you'll see a difference. Keep us posted on your progess.

I'm glad to join the legion. Actually it is the second legion I am a member of. The first was the RV world in which I own a 40 ft 5th wheel trailer. As for the teak, I'll take your advice and post pictures with the results.

Thanks

Ronn

 

[Greengas]

Welcome to the forum. You will like it here. Lots of people with great advice and handy tips.
Tip. Check the keel bolt and cable for wear. Replace both if you see any signs of wear. I would just replace the cable anyway just to be sure it doesn't break. If it does you keel is on the bottom of the lake. (For good.)
Enjoy the new boat.

Thanks for the advice. As for the keel bolt, is that the same as the bow eye? If so I already replaced it. If not, then what is it? As for the cable, are you referring to the winch cable and if you are, I see some use cable and others use a strap. Is one better than the other? If not, then I must ask, what is it?

Thanks


Ronn

 

[Greengas]

Oops. Still learning how the forum works. I reposted this where it belongs.

Thanks

Ronn

 

[Greengas]

hello and welcome to the sailing family

my 1st sailboat I owned was a Mac25... nice boat for lake sailing.... I enjoyed it a lot.... I finally sold it when I got demasted and the mast got broke into 2 parts.... one of the shroud lines broke at the fitting... you need to inspect them a lot.... any wear or freyed wires in the cables or fitting, and you need to replace them asap... or the mast might be coming down on you... when mine was demisted, the mast fell into the cockpit between me and my son, just missing us....

as for a mast raising system, here are a couple of diagrams of what I used to raise my mast...

remember this, the safest place on your boat when sailing is in the cockpit.... with this in mind, I ran all the ropes back to the cockpit and set my boat up for solo sailing.... and with novices aboard, for learning process, I make each rope a different color... this way if I tell me visitors onboard to pull or let out the port jib sheet and they look at me with a dumb stair, I can say let out the white rope with the red stripe... or pull in the mainsheet, like wise, pull in the white rope with the blue stripe... I use red for jib/genoe, blue for main, yellow for spinnaker, and golden for dock lines.... on my new to me 45ft sailboat, I am using green for the mizzen mast.... using the color coded ropes is good when you want to take out visitor for a sail and they do not know anything about sailing....

I have also included 2 pictures of solo setup for a sailboat.... the hand drawn one is how I set it up on my Mac25... hope this will help... if you have any questions, please feel free to ask...

what was your MOS in the Air Force.... I was a k-9 specialist....disabled veteran now....

sincerely
Jess

Your post has so much great info I keep going back to it as I learn more. On your mast raising system, how did you fasten the bottom of the gin pole in place? My son really wants to rig the boat for single handed sailing so getting a solid system in place has a high priority.

Also, I know we have a main sail and a gib sail but you mention a spinnaker and a genoa. I would really appreciate some additional info here. My son has tried to explain it to me but......

Thanks

Ronn

 

[centerline]

Thanks for the advice. As for the keel bolt, is that the same as the bow eye? If so I already replaced it. If not, then what is it? As for the cable, are you referring to the winch cable and if you are, I see some use cable and others use a strap. Is one better than the other? If not, then I must ask, what is it?

Thanks


Ronn

not even close.... but thats ok we will explain it to you.

the 25 has a swing keel... the keel bolt is what the iron foil (keel) pivots/hinges on... there is a pivot bolt and a lock down bolt. they are both important but for different reasons.

the keel cable is the one used to lift the keel, (fold it up under the boat, for trailering and motoring thru shallow water)... it will NOT be a strap, but a 3/16" or 7/32" stainless steel cable running from the winch below the companionway, down thru the keel cable hole, and attached to the keel, for lifting it...

the trailer winch and its cable or webbing is for when the boat is on the trailer only...

you can do a web search for any terminology, boat part, or procedure and get lots of information... and you should. its interesting.

and with all due respect, a good starter book is "sailing for dummies". i am NOT trying to poke fun here or be in any way condescending, but for a new sailor, it is a very interesting and informative read and covers almost everything... you would get lots of use from it.

I still find things in it that I need to re-read sometimes as a reminder, as it is a simple to understand book without all the scientific BS and mumbo-jumbo filler some authors use to try and prove their point... it just has the basic facts with a simple description to help you understand why...

 

[Greengas]

not even close.... but thats ok we will explain it to you.

the 25 has a swing keel... the keel bolt is what the iron foil (keel) pivots/hinges on... there is a pivot bolt and a lock down bolt. they are both important but for different reasons.

the keel cable is the one used to lift the keel, (fold it up under the boat, for trailering and motoring thru shallow water)... it will NOT be a strap, but a 3/16" or 7/32" stainless steel cable running from the winch below the companionway, down thru the keel cable hole, and attached to the keel, for lifting it...

the trailer winch and its cable or webbing is for when the boat is on the trailer only...

you can do a web search for any terminology, boat part, or procedure and get lots of information... and you should. its interesting.

and with all due respect, a good starter book is "sailing for dummies". i am NOT trying to poke fun here or be in any way condescending, but for a new sailor, it is a very interesting and informative read and covers almost everything... you would get lots of use from it.

I still find things in it that I need to re-read sometimes as a reminder, as it is a simple to understand book without all the scientific BS and mumbo-jumbo filler some authors use to try and prove their point... it just has the basic facts with a simple description to help you understand why...

Well, that is what happens when you try going over information early in the morning before coffee. I should have and do know better. I've swung the keel down each time we've sailed and my son checked the keel line for fraying before we bought the boat. Boy do I feel sheepish.

I do appreciate your, and everyone's patience and I will get that book so I can get better educated. I know it is an ongoing process and I learn more and more each day.

New rule, no responding to posts until sufficient quantities of coffee are consumed