Rudderless P26 Adventure

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Shep83

Shep83

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Nov 14, 2011
23
Pearson 26 Cape Coral
Group,


You all were such a great help in making the trip I thought I'd share our progress.

We're moving a fixer upper P26 without sails or rudder about 55 miles.
If you know southwest florida we have to go from Cape Coral
around Pine Island and back down around the east side of P.I. to get to the north side of Matlacha.
The P26 draws 4' and we don't feel comfortable going the short way. (thank you)

We started the first leg of our maiden voyage last weekend and it went very well.
She didn't fall apart and the 15 HP Johnson ran perfectly (Craigslist special)
Sure wish she was sailable the wind was perfect.

We crossed the "miserable mile" without any trouble (it was cold so traffic was minimal). We fell in behind a large power boat and pretty much followed t across.
Really the only trouble we had was on the approach to the canal at St. James City.
Plan was to tie up at the Waterfront Resturant and we hti a sandbar.
We pushed off that one turned around and hit another, but we got free and with a little direction from the guy at the resturant
we went right in.

Tommorrow we have the next leg, it's the longest +/- 30 miles from St. James City to Bokeelia...
Wish us luck!

Don
 
kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
10,219
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Ahhh.. Delivery adventure ! Sounds like yall did well! Good Luck on the next leg, Don..
 
MacNCheese

MacNCheese

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Dec 28, 2011
193
MacGregor 26D Boston
Nice work Don! Good luck on tomorrow's leg.
Just think, if you had the rudder already on, you might have broken it off on the sandbar!
:-D
 
31seahorse

31seahorse

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Aug 2, 2005
1,155
Pearson 33-2 & Typhoon 18 Seneca Lake
Bokeelia.......music to my ears! Nice place. If you are planning on going in through Shell Cut to get to a protected area at the end of the canals of Bokeelia you will likely find very shallow water. If you plan to anchor, there is a lagoon inside the Bokeelia channel entrance, but getting to it may be a challange.

Anchoring just outside the ICW at Useppa across from the channel to Cabbage Key is a possibility with food available at Cabbage Key. Pelican Bay is farther up the ICW on the port side but a great place to anchor. No food there. If you intend to go to Bokeelia for the night try anchoring just outside the Shell Cut channel. Depending on the wind you will be fine.

Oh, by the way, Captain Rich of Tow Boat US (based in Bokeelia) is a capable and friendly man. If you need him tell him Phil sent you! It won't cut your bill, but he'll get a smile out of it. He towed our previous boat, helped us dock a time or two in high winds, and found us a buyer for her the first day we began to advertise her for sale.

Best Wishes, use your charts carefully, and the GPS if so equiped,
Phil
 
Shep83

Shep83

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Nov 14, 2011
23
Pearson 26 Cape Coral
WE MADE IT!!!!!

Only ran aground 5 or 6 times......
We did anchor near Useppa and had lunch but continued on.
We tried to take ashort cut and got hungup at the double green markers just north and west of Bokeelia but I pulled us off with the anchor.
We made Matlacha by around 4:00 and were planning on tying up at the bait store/ boat launch right at the mouth of the canal we had to go up when we hit another sandbar...
This was a big one and if not for the help of some boaters then really just wanted to see if we could actually do it that might have been the end of the journey.
These guys tied a line to the halyard and drug us the 100' across the point to deeper water.
After a couple beers at a resturant and one more fight with a sandbar we were able to tie up to a pine tree in the canal and went home.
I'll continue the tale after I get the pictures posted....
 
Sumner

Sumner

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Jan 31, 2009
5,254
Macgregor & Endeavour 26S and 37 Utah's Canyon Country
Shep83 said:
WE MADE IT!!!!!....


..We tried to take ashort cut and got hungup at the double green markers just north and west of Bokeelia but I pulled us off with the anchor.....
Click to expand
You did good!! I was one of the nay-sayers, but glad you proved me wrong :dance:.

We made it through that area by Bokeelia with the Mac and wanted to try it with the Endeavour at some point, but now you have me worried ;). Anyone else go through there with 4 1/2 feet of draft?

Post the pictures when you get a chance and write up the best way to get unstuck. I'm sure we will need it :redface:,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]
 
MrBill_FLL

MrBill_FLL

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May 4, 2005
4,062
Macgregor 26d Ft Lauderdale, Fl
I'll say, I'm also impressed!

lots of oyster bars, and sand bars, and hard to read the water...

nice job, you did pretty good!
 
Shep83

Shep83

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Nov 14, 2011
23
Pearson 26 Cape Coral
Thanks, really the biggest part of the trip was beautiful.
The intercoastal between the islands was great...
Getting up the canal was really not something I woud recommend.
We are going to start a campaign to try and get the county to dredge
the mouth of the canal..
We were told the county kept it 4'-0" min at low tide, that was not the case.
We had to be dragged across the 1st sandbar sideways by some guys in a power boat.
 
Shep83

Shep83

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Nov 14, 2011
23
Pearson 26 Cape Coral
Oops, sorry I repeated a little.
Anyway, we came back on Saturday to attempt the final (most difficult) leg of our journey. Up the canal. This is the part that hasn't been tried before...
We untide from the tree and pushed off, we were in the deep and headed in the right direction and scrape another sandbar...
We were able to push off that one and back up and we managed to get thru the "pinch point" that we've actually been worried about since planning.
Made it thru the narrow pass and SCRAPE another sandbar. This time we're stuck good. we could back up but no matter what line we tried we couldn't et over that sandbar, it was kind of cressant shaped and it completely crossed that canal.
Luckily some guys came by in a small johnboat and ask if they could help..
We gave them a line and they took it over to the bank. 3 men could not move us so they tied it to a pickup truck and pulled us the the sandbar...
We're moving again...
Another 100' and there is an S curve that we have also been warned about...
We get thru the curve and into the straight part and SCRAPE......
You guessed it...
We are about to give up when along comes the Coast Guard Auxilary in a small power boat and they agree to go ahead of us and mark the channel.
We follow them for maybe 100 yards and they tell us it's easy going from here and amazingly it was..
The next 5+/- miles are deep and wide without a problem all the way to her new home.
 
MacNCheese

MacNCheese

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Dec 28, 2011
193
MacGregor 26D Boston
Steve Dion said:
Do you need a rudder for the boat?
Check out the Gear Ads. There is one for sale. Don't know if it is for your model, but worth a check.
http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/in...ce&page=show_ad&catid=19&adid=3538&Itemid=220
Click to expand
Yup, it is my ad and that Pearson 26 Rudder is still available.

Shep, I had promised you pictures of that rudder and told you that the rudder had been painted black. Here they are. Also, maybe I'm wrong and shipping won't be too bad. I'd guess it's 70 pounds, does, anyone have a guess how much it would cost to ship form Boston to Florida?





 
Merlin Clark

Merlin Clark

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Oct 26, 2005
2,057
- - Satellite Beach, FL.
MacNCheese said:
Yup, it is my ad and that Pearson 26 Rudder is still available.

Shep, I had promised you pictures of that rudder and told you that the rudder had been painted black. Here they are. Also, maybe I'm wrong and shipping won't be too bad. I'd guess it's 70 pounds, does, anyone have a guess how much it would cost to ship form Boston to Florida?
Click to expand
One of the members mentioned shipping via Greyhound on another thread. Maybe it would work for this?
 
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