The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!

chp · Jul 6, 2014

Tackled the electrical birds nest today. Last week sailing the North Channel we had a blackout. The wiring in this boat was a mess. The problem is getting to the wiring. So I cut out the starboard seat, made a plywood hinged seat and got to work. Took out a lot of garbage wiring from the previous owner. All negative wires now go to a bus. Same as the positives to the fuse panels. Also got the wires out of the bottom of the bilge. This is what caused our power outage. My wife didn't have the the ballast valve closed properly and some water was sitting in the bilge with the wiring. All wires are now held in a harness and tie wrapped to clips well out of the bilge. Now I have all that room for storage. I've been putting this job off since I've had the boat. So much better now and easy access.

finding41 · Jul 6, 2014

It was windy here today. 20-35km/h.
A blast in a Siren with an over size genoa and main!
I got out around 1 pm and sailed all afternoon. Got home around 8 tonight.
My excursion wasn't without it's challenges though...
I motored out and raised the main sail. What a bear! The halyard was twisting and getting caught up top.... I put new halyards on yesterday...! I didn't put a swivel clip, just a regular one... I took it down and unwound the halyard and wound it up the other way and hoisted it again. Success! But wait.. The sail doesn't look quite right. Oh the out haul... So I cut a 18" piece off the topping lift and now have a new out haul. I sailed a bit with just the main and after a while I thought... Hmm it's not too windy on this art of the lake right now. So I hoisted the genoa. Same twisting halyard problem...! (It could be the blocks.) I saw my thin line for the topping lift and used it. Solved, kind of stretchy solution though.
Now I was cooking! This is a quick little boat. Especially when it's got lots of wind.
Then the main sheet ripped off the deck.... I was running wing on wing and the main now wanted to be in front! I dropped it quickly and threw it in the cabin along with the boom.
Still had one sail and I wasn't going to let a little rigging problem ruin my day.
The wind picked up anyway... And the boat handled it great with just the genoa. (I'm surprised how well balanced this boat is!)
I got thinking that it was going to take me a little bit to tack back into the wind and get back to the car so I started heading that way. I was right. It took a long time and allot of tacks and jibes. I got to one spot on the lake and I couldn't get past it. Tried 3 times and kept ending up in the same spot.
So I thought I'll motor sail. And I did! Over to the windy part of the lake... Since I was in a new part of the lake I cut the motor and sailed again. Wow what fun! I had the genoa bottom touching the water! (I know why there are hiking straps in the cockpit!) I was moving fast! Then water started to come in the cockpit because the rail was in the water. Oops. I eased the genoa a tiny bit and fixed that. Until the next tack! Then same thing. More wild riding and water coming into the cockpit. (You can't do that with a Mac 26D or you head up into the wind.) I'm not sure when or if a Siren would head up or not... I had nice shoes on so I decided to head in the rest of the way with the motor.
I dropped the genoa and started it. It ran for about 1 min and quit. Fuel... I was out of fuel... I thought it must have leaked as I sailed. (I started out with what I thought was more than half a tank.) No matter as it was gone.
Plan w by now... I hoisted the genoa again and was lucky enough to sail right up to the main dock of the yacht club. (I always marveled at how some of the guys at the club did that. Now I'm one one of those guys...)
I went and got the car and the gas. When I was filling the tank this time I figured again it should be at least half full. You know how fast it comes out of the can... Right...? Right... I had just changed the spout on the can to one that has a on and off so I don't over fill it.
Well I checked the amount I put in this time... Less than 1/4 tank! I know why I ran out...
The new spout doesn't fill very fast...
So I must have had less than 1/4 of a tank when I left the dock originally. It was really sunny when I checked it before I left. It could have been a reflection I thought I saw.
I'll use a sick or the batten that fell out of the main to measure it next time.
Over all I had a great day! I also figured out a few other things to put on the list of stuff to bring.
See the video of after the main sheet broke. http://youtu.be/nl4hD9Ei4BI
It should be uploaded by midnight...
Last pic is what is left of the main sheet attachment.

justsomeguy · Jul 6, 2014

finding41 said:
snip-
Then the main sheet ripped off the deck.... I was running wing on wing and the main now wanted to be in front! I dropped it quickly and threw it in the cabin along with the boom.
-snip

You almost had a Viagra commercial moment, right there!

Well done, especially the docking while under sail.

Yosi · Jul 6, 2014

Added mast gate out of aluminum carpet edging. What a difference. Works great with the lazy jack and much easier to reef. I sail in SF Bay, so reeding is a daily event.

walt · Jul 7, 2014

The Siren sounds fun. Ripping the sheet attachment off - must have been a good day.

Too crowded to sail here this weekend but I got in four days last week. I was working on the house and left this foam can over a piece of bark to catch the drip. This is what I found when I returned.

oldiesrocker2001 · Jul 7, 2014

My plan was to work a little and sail a lot. Mission accomplished! On our previous sail I noticed the motor running rough even though I had cleared the blockage in the vent system. On arriving I blew out the vent line again and it needed it. I also came prepared with fresh fuel. I suspected that the fuel I filled my tank with had not been the most recent(I keep a number of tanks around for my big generator, lawn tractor, contractor sized leaf blower....)batch, so I poured the boat's fuel into my tow vehicle and refilled with fresh fuel and fuel stabilizer.
We had 15+ mph steady and some lengthy gusts, so I kept the reef in the main and only unrolled 1/2 of the jib. Sailed most of the day to put is in a good mood for the rest of the week. Too bad the local fishing boaters couldn't figure out how to recover their boats efficiently - used more fuel going in circles waiting for a ramp to clear than I usually use in half a season. Good thing the motor had stopped being cranky.
The Admiral still misses our elderly cabin-dog who was our constant companion whenever we sailed locally. We still sometimes look out at the foredeck and expect to see him standing there sniffing the breeze.

finding41 · Jul 7, 2014

I got to the lights on the Siren trailer. Someone had the idea that if you put the light's on the back of the boat it would be a good thing.
I was thinking yesterday as I drove to the lake about how I was going to launch the boat with the light thing the way it was... I ended up removing it and used a bungee to hold it to the trailer frame.
I put the lights on the mounts I made a few weeks back. I just taped the wires to the frame because I want to paint ht trailer once the boat is off for a few days.
Here is the main sheet set up I made. There was a fiddle block there originally but when I was replaced the rusted bolt holding it on I thought I'd go with a different set up. I wasn't the happiest with how it worked with the new set up anyway. I also cleaned and painted the rear mast mount.

justsomeguy · Jul 9, 2014

Sock Puppet said:
I don't care who you are, that right there is funny!

Thanks, I'll be here all week! Don't forget to tip your wait staff.

Today, I stepped my mast, and wrote a blog post about how I use my homemade gin pole to do so.

http://tomeshew.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/stepping-the-mast-with-a-gin-pole/

finding41 · Jul 10, 2014

Viagra... The ultimate on line Monetization.
After I fixed the lights on the Siren trailer I now had a mast crutch that was free of the nice piece of wood work and rat's nest of wires. (Something was up with the wiring because my right tail light fuse would blow whenever I towed the Siren... It shouldn't blow now.) The crutch was rusty so I took it to the wire wheel on the bench grinder. After I had it clean of rust I primed and painted it white.
I installed it tonight and am quite happy with how it turned out.

Viagra commercial... Now I'm thinking... And now I'm making a story board... I'm sure nothing good will come of this.

chapster5 · Jul 11, 2014

Looking good Marty !!! Amazing, little love, bit of time and look what a fella has

Enjoy, Chapster5

west wind · Jul 11, 2014

Just finishing up the modification on my rudder..

thought long and hard about doing it, finally got it done . not an easy task, cost was $100.

justsomeguy · Jul 15, 2014

Well, I didn't do it, but my mast was struck by lightning late this morning.

Thank goodness it's stupid hot for another month or two, giving me time to sort out the situation.

Small boats have their advantages and disadvantages, don't they?

walt · Jul 15, 2014

Yikes.. was the mast up on the hard?

I keep hearing about the weather your way. We have been getting some crazy monsoon weather here also (Denver and the mountains around here) but the worst that has happened so far is that my garden Zucchini plants look like someone was target shooting with a shot gun because of a wild rain and hail storm last night.

Sock Puppet, what is your local lake? The boat is looking great (very clean)..

justsomeguy · Jul 15, 2014

On the hard, right in my "front" yard. I'm finding bits and pieces of the windex, and the VHF antenna's gone.

Bolt seems to have jumped from the boat to a nearby irrigation line, blowing the PVC connection to the valve. Had to shut down the well. Messed up the old timer box and the transformer that powered it, too.

First I'll cap the irrigation line, trying not to damage the ancient galvanized supply line.

Water (cough cough), water...

Aw, criminy, the supply pipe's gone TU, too. More digging.

finding41 · Jul 15, 2014

Justsomeguy. That lightning is not nice! I hope you get things fixed quickly up so you can get water and get on the water.
I made a thing for my tiller extension tonight. I keep breaking the stock Ronstan ones. When you put on a new rubber bendy bit the tiller extension has a mind of it's own... It wants to stand at attention...
I made mine out of HDPE. (I think. It's white plastic stuff that is easy to work with wood working tools.)
I cut up a spinnaker tonight too. I made a new fly for my tent. (Or a spinnaker for the Siren....) The Spinnaker was too big for the Mac's. I took 5' off the bottom. I am going to re-cut the rest to make it asymmetrical. I got it with another spinnaker I bought. (I agreed to buy one and the guy showed up with 2 symmetrical spinnakers and 3 head sails. He gave them all to me for $60! (He told me he lost his boat in a race on Lake Huron... Someone hit him and it sunk...)
I cut the 130 jib to fit the Siren. So now it's about a 200 on it!
I got lazy and used the old fly's zipper and cover... I got tired of ripping the stitching out.
The tent is 20 years old and in great shape but the fly was held together with duct tape. I need the tent on Sat night so...
I can't remember the make of the tent. But I remember why I bought it.
On the box it said it set up in less than 60 seconds. I thought... Yea right!
I got it home and read the instructions. (really)
About 45 seconds later I had the tent up!

justsomeguy · Jul 16, 2014

finding41 said:
Justsomeguy. That lightning is not nice! I hope you get things fixed quickly up so you can get water and get on the water.
I made a thing for my tiller extension tonight. I keep breaking the stock Ronstan ones. When you put on a new rubber bendy bit the tiller extension has a mind of it's own... It wants to stand at attention...
I made mine out of HDPE. (I think. It's white plastic stuff that is easy to work with wood working tools.)

Thanks. Got the water going within a few hours. I'll be dropping the mast pretty soon this morning to start the diagnoses.

Does that "thing" for your tiller extension hold the extension in place when it's not in use?

The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!

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