The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!
- Thread starter Sock Puppet
- Start date
To put the pop-top up, I have to disconnect both the vang and the boom kicker. The boomkicker I have is about 10 years old and I think they changed the design but on mine, if you lift the boom up, the boom kicker "slides out" and I can put it over to the side with the pop top up. Some hassle.. but I use the boom kicker more often than the pop top. The pictures are from this morning so I just barely had to mess with this.
Im preparing for a boat parade next weekend. First time doing this, it just took me a while to decide that floating around with 110 VAC all over the boat in the water and at night is a good idea.
In the pictures are 720 LED bulbs on the boat and I just powered up the whole thing yesterday (parade is Friday). I am powering the LED Christmas tree lights (most bought at Walmart) with an inverter off 12 volts. The current draw at 12v is about 2.4 amps. This is under 30 watts so I can easily power the whole setup with a small 150 watt inverter. I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries for the power source so around 100 amp hour "usable 50%" capacity so if fully charged, I could power this whole setup for 41 hours or so just off the batteries. However, I will likely have my outboard running near idle and that will likely provide some of the charge for the lights. Pictures are hosted on FB
In the pictures are 720 LED bulbs on the boat and I just powered up the whole thing yesterday (parade is Friday). I am powering the LED Christmas tree lights (most bought at Walmart) with an inverter off 12 volts. The current draw at 12v is about 2.4 amps. This is under 30 watts so I can easily power the whole setup with a small 150 watt inverter. I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries for the power source so around 100 amp hour "usable 50%" capacity so if fully charged, I could power this whole setup for 41 hours or so just off the batteries. However, I will likely have my outboard running near idle and that will likely provide some of the charge for the lights. Pictures are hosted on FB
These pictures were all taken today - doing some exploring by boat on a light wind day. This post is done from the boat in the third picture (now) where we are camped for the night using a cell phone hot spot.
I've been planning to build a motor mount on the trailer for quite a wile now anyway, so since I recently purchased the "new" motor I figured it was a really good time to get er done. no more wrestling the motor into the bed of the truck, where it slides around and gets the paint all battered and bruised.
The 25 trailer is so short coupled that it took some engineering to figure out how to place the motor mount, but by moving the spare tire back it got easier. the main motor support bar is 2x4 .083 steel, with a chunk of leather glued on for padding and "traction". also note the tang on the end to help keep the motor from departing the trailer if the clamps were to ever come loose. in order for the lower unit to be high enough to avoid the stray beer can I also installed a well padded foot stool for the gearbox to rest upon.
I like it
The 25 trailer is so short coupled that it took some engineering to figure out how to place the motor mount, but by moving the spare tire back it got easier. the main motor support bar is 2x4 .083 steel, with a chunk of leather glued on for padding and "traction". also note the tang on the end to help keep the motor from departing the trailer if the clamps were to ever come loose. in order for the lower unit to be high enough to avoid the stray beer can I also installed a well padded foot stool for the gearbox to rest upon.
I like it
I like it too.RussC said:I've been planning to build a motor mount on the trailer for quite a wile now anyway, so since I recently purchased the "new" motor I figured it was a really good time to get er done. no more wrestling the motor into the bed of the truck, where it slides around and gets the paint all battered and bruised. The 25 trailer is so short coupled that it took some engineering to figure out how to place the motor mount, but by moving the spare tire back it got easier. the main motor support bar is 2x4 .083 steel, with a chunk of leather glued on for padding and "traction". also note the tang on the end to help keep the motor from departing the trailer if the clamps were to ever come loose. in order for the lower unit to be high enough to avoid the stray beer can I also installed a well padded foot stool for the gearbox to rest upon. I like it
I posted earlier regarding a very simple bow step and have both used it more and revised it. I thought it worked fine but the wife recently used it and gave it the thumbs up (she is sort of easy to please.. puts up with me..). You dont want the plastic step to either rotate or slide on the line plus provide as flat as surface as possible. The old design allowed the step to slide on the line, this new setup is super simple, just the plastic pipe (I used ABS) and a couple adapter fittings glued on the ends to beef up the plastic where the holes are drillled.
This Mr Buddy propane heater seems to work well with the Mac. I used to keep in on the floor but it was always in the way plus your worried about the dogs tail bursting in flame when he goes too near the heater. So I made a winter fixed spot for the heater (removable for summer) plus mounted the CO detector in a prominent spot about head level. I tested it today for about three hours with the cockpit closed up, no issues at all. The boat feels warmer when the heater is near your feet but this seemed like an overall nice spot for not being in the way. Heater can be easily removed but its pretty rigid where its at, .
Walt.
I assume you only have the heater on wile at anchor? but either way, do you find the safety tip over switch to be overly sensitive? I haven't used our new Portable Buddy yet, but the previous mini job was so sensitive as to be almost un-usuable wile on the water.
I assume you only have the heater on wile at anchor? but either way, do you find the safety tip over switch to be overly sensitive? I haven't used our new Portable Buddy yet, but the previous mini job was so sensitive as to be almost un-usuable wile on the water.
I was in the water but also in a slip and it was windy today so the boat was rocking somewhat, no problem with the tip switch. You can see its tilted to "aim" the heating face down a little since its mounted so high- that also didnt seem to cause any problem either with lighting or it staying running. I have had it go out on the floor when bumped or if your not careful moving it. Where I will use it is for beach camping and it will get used sometimes before going to bed and almost always (in the winter) first thing in the morning. Anyhow.. so far no issues. FYI, I used to have it on the floor about close to where the dog is in the second picture near my feet and often pointed at me.
FYI, I finished off a propane canister in that Mr Buddy heater (whatever model it is - shown in the pictures above). I was not careful about keeping track of how long I ran it but I would guess I got 4 hours +/- total at the low setting. I could be off a little.. at least it "seemed" like about 4 hours.. Shortest day of the year and that 20 watt solar panel with the Genasun MPPT controller is keeping up with my power use just fine. Biggest power use with the boat in the slip is the car stereo which gets used a lot. The boat in the marina makes a fine place for "retired guy" to go hangout even when not sailing and work on some completely unnecessary project.
my tiller pilot is acting up so I re-wired the 12 supply this morning. The spec say you can have something like up to 16 foot of 14 gauge wire for the 12 volt supply and I was violating this. I changed the wiring so that Im now tapped off a 4 gauge wire that runs from the batteries up front to the outboard on the stern. Off the 4 gauge wire I have about a 1 foot 14 gauge wire plus a 10 amp fuse and a 10K uf Capacitor to make sure there is little noise from the tiller pilot motor turning on/off when its on auto. So.. I had to test this out today and just motored with the tiller pilot running things. Its improved with the TP but still not exactly right, maybe I need to re-calibrate it.. Rain today in the afternoon.
Second picture.. I got the boat stuck on a sand bar screwing around trying to find a place to beach the boat. I was about to go blow the ballast with a 12 volt air pump but the boat finally came off with a push. I walked from the boat to where I took the picture below.
Final picture below - I was looking forward and noticed that the bolt that holds the mast to the deck plate is completely missing!!! I have no idea how long its been gone but it will get replaced tomorrow.
Second picture.. I got the boat stuck on a sand bar screwing around trying to find a place to beach the boat. I was about to go blow the ballast with a 12 volt air pump but the boat finally came off with a push. I walked from the boat to where I took the picture below.
Final picture below - I was looking forward and noticed that the bolt that holds the mast to the deck plate is completely missing!!! I have no idea how long its been gone but it will get replaced tomorrow.
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In my defense, it was there when I set the boat up back in late October and I found it just a little bit humorous that its been missing all this time LOL.. OK.. I guess I have to stay serious about that bolt or it will piss someone off. The four bolts that hold the plate to the deck somewhat constrain the base of the mast if the rigging tension is good and I think Im not at 15% breaking strength but everything is always tight and that is why I didnt notice a thing. But.. a new bolt is going back in there TODAY (since some chance I may camp on the boat tonight - new years eve)...
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