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

[My Mistress]

I also tried out the new interior LED strip lights. White and blue, wired to two separate switches so one side can be turned off. I originally had two blue and two white strips on the STBD side, but that was way too much, so one of each came out and was added to the pair on the port side.

With white light:

And with the blue lights:

The blue reminds me of the old black lights, but everything that is white doesn't have the annoying glow. The picture really doesn't do it justice.
The strip lights are from Academy Sports, and draw ~ 4amps per 36" strip. They are bendable, water resistant, and can be cut to size.
The wood strips the lights are attached to will be covered with 6" wide oak, and the Admiral will make up headrests for them.

 

[RussC]

MM. I know what you mean about being hard to make that kind of cut in your boat. just look back at the hole I cut in the cabin bench to fit a cooler in . But you have to ask yourself..... am I building this boat so it will be just the way the next owner wants it? or am I building it for our own comfort? I'm setting ours up the way WE like it. the next owner (after we're dead and gone) can cuss me all he wants to .

 

[My Mistress]

I'm setting ours up the way WE like it. the next owner (after we're dead and gone) can cuss me all he wants to .

You mean I can't take her with me????

After all the head scratching and wondering "WTF did a PO do that for?", I'm hoping that someone will think "Hey, that was a good idea!"

"Mistress" is coming along, slowly but surely. I've only owned her for 11 months, but she's undergone a lot of changes in that time. Making mods is almost as much fun as sailing her.

-James

 

[RussC]

You mean I can't take her with me????

In spirit only. but I figure that will be enough

 

[justsomeguy]

Two days ago, I installed a new light fixture in the V berth on the head's forward bulkhead.
Yesterday I chipped away the paint and epoxy filler on the leading edge of the swing keel that had been knocked off somehow, and applied a little rust-converting primer to the exposed cast iron. Soon, I'll fill, fair and re-paint.
Today, I cleaned and lubed the starboard winch. Pictures soon.
I hope to get the boat back down to Mexico before the end of the month.

 

[My Mistress]

I finally made that cut!

Next- Hook up power to the water pump, hook up the drain line, bed everything down, and secure it.

- James

 

[RussC]

That looks SO much nicer with the wood top. Great job!

 

[justsomeguy]

As foretold, a few photos of my winch maintenance and the new V berth lamp.

 

[justsomeguy]

And what does a newly-serviced winch deserve? This is the first iteration of my new winch covers.
Never thought I'd need to utilize "pi" in a sewing attempt. Let's see how the next one turns out.



Second attempt-



Got the hems screwed up on this one, but the diameter's much better.

Then, there's this-

 

[vizwhiz]

Then, there's this-

View attachment 129182

 

[justsomeguy]

And I'm still working on it. Kinda like a one-off woodworking project. It takes about 3 times as long to set up for just one item, but if you're making 3 items...

 

[justsomeguy]

Ta-dah!


At the federal minimum wage, I'd have to charge about 28 dollars to recoup my efforts.

 

[Doc_holiday]

I made a new video of Ohana on Saturday for fun

 

[walt]

When most people are putting their boats away from the winter, Im getting mine ready to put in a slip for four months. I have a few projects planned but the first one was to make some improvements to my ice chest "experiement". I made this ice chest a few years ago with the idea that I would have a chamber for the ice and a chamber for food and a 1 Watt fan would aid the natural air circulation that sets up when there is a difference of temperature. Well.. I never turn the fan on, its not needed over the natural air currents that set up. I keep it just in case I have to cool some tasty beverage down quick.

The ice chest has a lot of room - 84 quarts inside volume. All the walls and roof have 2 inches of insulation, the floor has 3 inches. We took a trip this summer and I had put four frozen one gallon jugs of water in the ice chest and in about 8 to 10 days or so just added one bag of ice. When I use ice, I always drain the melt every morning and figure I only lose about 8% of the cooling effect of ice doing this. In return, I dont have some milky fluid sloshing around in the chest at the end of the trip.

The chest overall worked fairly well.. but I made what I hope are two improvements. First is that I think I was getting some heat (or cool) loss at the lids because they were not sealing well. There is likely air currents inside the chamber with the lid shut so the seal seems important. I just added the white vinyl you can see in the picture that is stapled near the top of the chamber.

Second, no matter how careful I am (and Im not really very careful), something always spills in the ice chest during the trip. I had only one drain on the chest (the one closest to the Vberth) and often for some reason, it would not totally drain whatever was in the ice chest. Sometimes the waste water would pool on the wrong side. So I added a second drain on the other side. The original drain will be used to get rid of the ice melt each morning, both drains will be used to clean the ice chest after a trip.

It isnt real pretty.. but its nice on a week long trip and hopefully that better seal on the doors helps keep ice longer.

 

[RussC]

Walt. What is your usual air temp in the food portion when set up that way? I know I was rather surprised to discover that our (high dollar 20 years ago) Coleman ice chest, with 2 milk jugs of ice in it, was typically in the low to mid 50* range since then we try to pick up a small block of dry ice for it also. I haven't checked the temp with that, but I know it makes the ice jugs last twice as long (4-5 days)

 

[walt]

Not exactly sure. With the fan running its cooler but the ice melts faster (the new better lid seal should help that). I would guess its similar to what a standard ice chest would be and would not be surprised if that was around 50F. It kept a gallon of milk fine for that trip I mentioned. Dry ice is good if its available.

 

[walt]

This season I am going to "play" with main sail shape a little more. The PO installed a very nice windward sheet traveler which I have enjoyed. About a month ago I added a Cunningham and yesterday changed the Vang so that I can control it from the cockpit. Ive had a Vang on the boat with the cleat built into one of the blocks but its not convenient to adjust single handed since you somewhat have to get up from where you are sitting and stand in the companionway. So in the past, I just never adjusted the Vang. This might be somewhat screwed up for where these controls are conventionally.. but thats one thing nice about an old Mac.. no problem to learn things on it by just trying them. All those cleats are the wide angle type which I have found nice for single handing, easier to adjust no matter where you are sitting in the boat.

Note.. I could "un-cross" the Vang and sheet line on the port side. The sheet comes in where it does because of the winch rotation. However.. with a 110 jib on the furler, you really dont need the winch. It never gets used on the port side. If I un-crossed the port side lines, I could use the winch for the Vang.. but probably wont. The winch on the starboard side does get used for the jib halyard and sometimes for mast raising.

 

[walt]

One more mod.. Link to something similar Nice job and Im getting some ideas from this... http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/anchor-locker.178286/

I had a variety of box's, bags, ect on the bow of the boat to hold the rode (rope and chain) up near the anchor which is on a bow roller. Well... even with the low profile box I put up there last year, I just got tired of looking at that plus having to remove/install it each time I setup the boat. So.. this morning I got out the saw and cut a big ol hole in the deck of the 26S... OUCH...

The low profile box I used last year (which carried the chain and rope) has a volume of 763 inch**3. In the pictures you can see the new plastic cover/ lid / latch and if I simply build a box with the same opening dimension of the new access, I will get a volume of 806**3 because the depth is will be about two times the low profile box.

The inside box will likely be pine wood with a glass and epoxy laminate. The box will be bonded (epoxy) to the roof of the deck. Its going to be "fun" building the box with limited access but the stock opening inside the boat will help with access. I will end up with a little less flotation foam in the boat after this is done but this is also the first time I will have removed any flotation..

I picked that spot because it somewhat close to the anchor but also not in the way when you are up at the bow deploying the anchor off the roller. I will add some way for the box to drain in the future.. may also put a howse pipe where the glass is on one of the pictures.

 

[justsomeguy]

Walt, regarding your ground tackle. In your third photo down, is that the old "low profile" box on the left?

 

[RussC]

Walt. How about......: if you build your anchor box out of 3/4" plywood so it just fits inside the opening from above. fabricate an aluminum frame about 2" wide and securely screw that onto the top edge of your box opening, forming a flange to support the box in the opening. the lid screws on over that, and sandwiches the flange/box in place. This method allows you to fabricate everything on your workbench also, which is a big plus. I'm not brave enough to cut a hole in my deck, but I think that would work well for you .
Or.... any decent sheetmetal shop could build you a galvanized or aluminum box with flange, ready to drop in under your cover, in a similar fashion.