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

[willsnow]

"with" my Mac, I moved across a few states. the new trailer performed flawlessly, and it allowed me to fill my boat with all my lightest possessions. Even with blustery cross winds in Idaho, that trailer stayed planted. I had to build a truck bed box to hold my canoe on top, with a bunch of stuff in the bed, which didn't help my aerodynamics. I'd figure my total load was around 5,000lbs. Truck wasn't happy and my mileage suffered... got like 50% efficiency of what I usually get with no payload. Google maps estimated the drive time at 13:03... Took me about 17hours with all that weight behind me.
So here I am, Puget Sound!!! We've got a lot of exploring to do!

All loaded down for the haul

There's my co-pilot/guard dog under the transom during a lunch break. He is a St. Bernard/ Lab mix

I felt like I was driving forever... but this boat's home port was New York, NY

 

[Doc_holiday]

Wet sanded the remnant scum off the bottom after trying to do it dry and was covered with blue ablative paint. Decided to finish with my neighbors pressure washer. I have to get one soon.

Pressure washed the whole boat and couldn't believe how dirty the deck was. Put wax on the port side and ran out of steam so that's it for one day.

Noticed I lost a bearing buddy while I was at it.

I am going to follow the advice and use black bottom paint this year and pay attention to when the blue shows through.

Also sanded down my re-glasses rudder. I filled some dings in and glasses the whole thing. It ain't perfect but the admiral says we can save a little and buy the new rudder in a month or so. I guess I'll have this as a spare then. I didn't put a fowl in where the holes were and I couldn't see them through the fiberglass. I thought for sure I would be able to do I had to poke and hope to get them re-drilled.

Seems like I am a month later than I wanted to be. Maybe once I get the new tank in, finish wiring the new autopilot and radio I'll be able to splash it.

 

[justsomeguy]

Today, I rigged my M25 for "heavy" weather. Jacklines, reefing lines and battened hatches.

While exiting the channel onto the Sea of Cortez, 4 foot waves with whitecaps, combined with a wave period of about 3 seconds had me turning around relatively quickly. Monday morning looks better.

We're gonna take the dogs to the beach.

And of course, I called my mother up to wish her a happy mother's day.

 

[willsnow]

dropped her off at a marina for a total overhaul on the iron jib. ... 1/3 the price of a brand new motor... but a worthwhile investment in our lives, potentially, sailing these big waters with 4knt currents and whatnot

 

[walt]

About three hours ago in Denver

 

[SoundWave]

Sold our Mac 25 and got a new (to me) 1992 26S

Projects in order of priority:

1) Compliance

2) Safety/Reliability

3) Performance / ease of use

4) Aesthetics


So this past week we ripped out the spaghetti bowl that was PO wiring

Put in all new wiring stem to stern; new bow lights , new steaming light, added anchor light to the mast,added new connections for electric start motor wired back to 2nd battery under the sink

All new trailer wiring and safety lights

That feels better

On to step two...

4)

 

[BudGates]

Congratulations on the new boat SoundWave. I'm sure you'll have many enjoyable hours with her, both sailing and working on her.

I always enjoy working on my boat. The only problem now is that I've run out of projects. Maybe it's time for me to sell it and get another..... Naw, I'm sure we'll come up with new projects once we take her out again Labor Day weekend.

 

[walt]

changing from a hank on to a roller furler is a nice big project..

The sail and furler are on order and I just received the new forestay rigging (5/32 cable and all 5/16 pins).

At the turnbuckle, there is a wire swage connection to the cable - allows the turnbuckle to fit up inside the furler drum. However, since my boat is 875 miles away, I am going with a thimble and copper sleeve setup at the top as I have the tool to compress the sleeves so will be able to custom make the length when I get to the boat.

In one of the pictures a black arrow shows the connection between the wire and the swage and on the last roller furler I had, I did not have a toggle at the top of the forestay and my old cable had all the wires broken right at the interface except just a couple when I inspected it. So on this install, the toggle in the first picture will attach to the mast hound so I should have stress relief in both axis - hopefully no point loading.

If things work out.. I won’t need to move the mast hound even through I’m adding the toggle at the top and the two inch "adapter" for the experiment pinning stick idea at the bottom http://analogengineering.com/sail/mac/pinning_stick.html

 

[jstyers]

Had the boat inspected by the local power squadron,,,passed and squeezed in a short sail before the weather got rocky. Repacked trailer bearings, looked like new when I pulled them out. Replaced amber incandescent side clearance lights with LEDs, never could keep the amber lights going. Replaced two rotten trailer bunks with fresh lumber, not sure why I only did six of eight last year, anyway, they are all new now. Tomorrow I'll replace the brake fluid and bleed. The trailer is nearly ready for our 700+ mile trip this summer.

 

[SoundWave]

?..The only problem now is that I've run out of projects. Maybe it's time for me to sell it and get another..... Naw, I'm sure we'll come up with new projects once we take her out again Labor Day weekend.

Thanks, BudGates. Reading on this forum about all that you, Sumner and others have going on your boats, I can't imagine running out of mods and things to tweak!

 

[Doc_holiday]

Well, it looks like today is splash day. Finished up the antenna wiring, grabbed all the stuff from my office (sails, ropes, etc.).

Put the mast on, raised it to check the rigging, got the halyards on. Loaded the truck with the new fuel tank, ladder, head, and more.

Hooked up to the hitch and ready to roll for the 1.5 hour ride to Deltaville. Now let's see how long it takes everyone to get ready.

 

[Chief RA]

Have fun Doc! Chief

 

[Bfranchini]

Gettin Egret ready to sail. We were going to sail her today but the weather was terrible here in Quebec so I decided to work down the To Do list which ch is just as well because, as it turned out, she was most definetly not ready to sail!!
The PO did a lot of not too kosher modifications with 2x4s ( favorite Quebec building material for EVERYTHING!!) like the mast step and the jiggymajig in the lazaret to hang ropes from, not to mention the table leg. The First and foremost modification was the CDI furler that was only one turn away from dropping the mast on our head. The furler was installed on top of a turnbuckle, and to make it worse the turnbuckle did not have any cotter pins and had worked itself down to the last three threads. Instructions state clearly that the only turnbuckle allowed is the one inside the furler, so I substituted it with a nice long shackle I happened to have handy, works like a charm'!.
The second modification was a new SS mast crutch tall enough to allow the poptop to stay open. We intend to do a lot of cruising along the Seaway and the Rideau Canal and we must be able to lower the mast on the way. The original crutch (augmented by a 4' piece of 2x4!!) did not allow this and also did not allow steering to starboard... Which would have had us Running around in circles!! The new crutch is attached to the outside of the aft pulpit and is made of SS tubing.

Next.... Well the list is long and it's getting longer by the day as I am finding new things to fix everywhere I look, but she is an elderly lady ( 1991 26S) and needs a little more than mascara and lipstick, the price was right so I won't complain and she is in top shape for her age as soon as I erase the presence of the PO. Now that the rigging has been fixed, she is ready to sail for the first time the endless waters of Lake St Louis!!

 

[Doc_holiday]

Well, I don't know how much fun it was. We didn't get to Deltaville until close to 3. By the time we put the mast up, and transferred all the gear from the truck to the boat it was at least 4. Decided not to spend time putting sails on as we had to motor around Deltaville and stingray point but it's longer than it looks because of the shallows. Have to out and around the lighthouse.

I can say, I mis-located the hole for the rudder and fought it the whole way. 20 knot winds and 4' swells about beat me to death. It wasn't till we got around stingray point the waters resembled somewhat calm.

Lost my rudder haul down (my bowline came loose which made bad worse and then the haul up slipped over and was trailing. I knew docking was going to be a riot. I called one of the guys who lives on his boat and he was out of town. As I approached, two gentlemen were standing on the pier so I hollered that we were going to need help at our slip because I knew as soon as I hit reverse, the trailing haul-up would wrap the prop and it did. They were great.

One even offered to drive me to the ramp to get my truck. We had planned on walking the 3 miles.

Wore out, I didn't do anything but tie the lines and lock it up. We still had and hour and half drive home. Will head back tomorrow to figure out what I need to do with the rudder.

Long day behind us.

 

[Leatherneck]

Put the name decal and registration numbers on. Put moorings in at my dock. Gonna splash her and motor her across the lake and dock her at her new home.

 

[willsnow]

I built a new bow post on the trailer

I'll post more on the trailer write up thread

 

[jjsbiggs]

Finished the last coat of bottom paint. I sanded the old bottom paint off and then coated it with five coats of barrier coat and then three coats of bottom paint. Glad I shouldn't have to do that again as the sanding was not fun at all. Planning to launch this week and put it on the mooring for the first time. :dance:

 

[JohnCTV21]

I got tired of the ugly plastic spreader boots and the leather ones at West Marine were expensive, so I made my own

 

[walt]

No sailing with the screwy weather we have been getting.. prepping the red AI for hopefully a new owner

 

[Justin_NSA]

I got tired of the ugly plastic spreader boots and the leather ones at West Marine were expensive, so I made my own

Good work John! I replaced my dried and cracked rubber ones earlier this year. I expect I'll need to do it again in a few.