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

Sumner · Feb 23, 2017

How cool. I'd still would love to sail down there, but not sure age and all the other things Dottie and I want to do are going to let me. The Standard Horizon cpn 700i chartplotter I bought has charts for the Sea of Cortez supposedly and I'd sure like to have a reason to use them,

Sumner
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1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas

justsomeguy · Feb 23, 2017

The food, the people and the sailing esta muy bueno. This is the small "Fishing Club" just across the street from my slip. The coffee's kind of thin.

walt · Feb 23, 2017

Nice whale pictures. It is so cool to see them in person.. the pictures or videos never convey what a treat that is.

One of the last sessions of the season (pictures from yesterday).. A long down winder from a camp out mostly under auto pilot. Didnt spend any time on sail trim, just kicked back and watched scenery go by for maybe 12 miles or so. I took these pictures yesterday and was thinking this seat idea I got of this forum (Russ) is one of the best mods I have done to the boat in years. Used them all this season.. they were really nice. Each seat can slide independent on that bungee cord and the set is very easily removed and stored in the Laz for trailering. Most important.. they stay in place even in windy and wild conditions. Second picture shows what the tail end of the rain in S. California did to the desert out here.

RussC · Feb 23, 2017

Surprised you are getting ready to pull out this year already Walt. spring here in S Or has been hinted at a time or two recently, but there were also a few flakes of snow outside about 20 minutes ago, and the Siskiyou pass was still chains required last I heard.
Glad you enjoy the seat arrangement, as we do ours. once ours go in in spring they stay there until the following winter, even wile trailering

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We've been seeing a bit of that odd green color here lately also. even a few tulips and other bulbs are taking a peek from their winter slumber over the past couple of days.

walt · Feb 24, 2017

Pulling the boat out.. but still sailing, just switch boats for a while.. Picture is from today.. We will also do a couple trips this summer with the Mac.

My Mistress · Feb 25, 2017

I haven't been sailing as much as doing mods to "Mistress". I ran a length of RG58 up the mast to replace the old, worn out RG8U, and relocated the antenna closer to the top of the mast. It was amazingly easy since I had no foam flotation material in the mast. I merely ran the new cable through 1/2" pex tubing and pushed it right through. The hardest part was cleaning the bird nest out of the mast base.......

walt · Mar 3, 2017

This mod fits into the completely unnecessary category.. but I had to cut an access hole in the interior liner so that I could install a backing plate for a pad eye on the coaming. When marina sailed, I simply wanted a place to put my keys, cell phone, sometimes wallet. Secure, easy to put stuff in, easy to take stuff out. So.. I made a "box" that slopes downward so that nothing will get tossed out of the box for those items and it also took care of covering the access hole that I needed to make. The box weight is maybe 1/2 pound - very light. Box is held in place with two small bolts at the bottom (cant see them in the picture). All the flotation foam in that area remains intact.

justsomeguy · Mar 7, 2017

Today I cleaned the cockpit, motor, transom and coamings of the bird droppings from last night. It's been pretty windy here, and as I was relaxing in the cockpit before bedtime, it suddenly rained down upon me from a neighboring boat's masthead. Besides having to clean myself and the cockpit, I had to toss out a decent gin and tonic. Yuk.
Needless to say, I boarded the boat and shook the shrouds, evicting the offending bird for a while. When I awoke this morning, it was cleaning time again.
Could be too windy for my little boat again today, but hey, I'm on a boat!
Here's my neighbor doing his part.

RussC · Mar 7, 2017

I've been fabricating replacement trim for a week or more now, whenever the temp gets above freezing. Just last year I had sanded and refinished the (oak or ash) trim that came on the boat (one piece shown next to the new stuff), but it was already starting to show mold spots so I made this new stuff out of cedar, stained it teak and sprayed multiple coats of polyurethane to seal. hopefully it will look good for a bit longer this time.

walt · Mar 13, 2017

For about 2 hours per year I use my Ipad for Navigation and have been using it more on longer trips for email and internet because it uses way less power than my laptop. A while ago I migrated to 12 volt plugs rather than hardwired items and added another 12 volt plug just under the companionway so that I can use the Ipad/ Bad elf GPS powered out in the cockpit for my very seldom navigation application. Wiring the new 12 volt plug snowballed into a much larger job as I replaced several wiring runs with new 14 gauge tinned wire,. I also didn't have an easy place to stash the Ipad and after a good day sailing.. would find it somewhere on the floor so the Ipad also has a new place to store where its easy to get at and can also be charged.

walt · Mar 13, 2017

I also re-did my AC power (last picture of the previous post). Its not "standard" but it actually covers every possible safety case. It is simply a 110 15 amp male marine socket (outside). Then a 15 amp breaker, then a GFCI socket. The distribution to the boat plugs into the GFCI and has several additional interior sockets and a hardwired 6 amp marine battery charger.

I dont have a galvanic isolater in the circuit as the boat is almost never plugged into AC. This boat spent over four months in a marina last year but only 5 nights plugged into AC. Also, I lift my outboard so I have ZERO metal contacting the water.

I dont have a reverse polarity indicator however the GFCI outlet I used will not trip for the self test if the polarity is wrong. So.. I do a trip test.

If I use an extension cord rated for 30 amps (twist lock), I can safely use an adapter that converts from twist lock to standard 110 15/20 amp. The adapter must be at the end that plugs into the boat and it turns out that this is the only type of adapter you can buy (as it should be). I have no 30 amp loads on the boat so the 15 amp breaker on the input to the boat will blow for any fault I have inside the boat (which has wiring only rated for 20 amps).

Interesting also that both marinas where I plugged in both have 110 15 amp GFCI sockets. Both cases I am renting smaller slips (26 foot is now a small boat.. ). The only reason I plug in AC is to run a space heater at night and all I need to bring along is a standard 14 gauge extension cord. I dont need AC in general except for the space heater (winter) but if I did rent a slip with the 30 amp twist lock socket, I would need a 30 amp extension cord and an adapter to 110 15 amp.

My Mistress · Mar 21, 2017

I haven't been working on "Mistress" as much as I wanted to, but I did manage to knock out a couple small mod projects.

First is the installation of a new radio to go along with running the new antenna cable up the mast and relocating the antennae closer to the top of the mast.
The radio itself is one of the new whizbang models with Bluetooth, USB, AM/FM, DVD player, and will even take cellphone calls if the phone is connected. It's not marine rated, but neither was the one it replaced. The only drawback will be figuring out how to connect the wire that doesn't allow video to play unless the parking brake is set.

...and I just can't find the parking brake..........

The second small project was adding backup light to "Mistress". This should help in tight marina's after dark or mess with powerboaters who can't seem to see the white running light.
Here is the daylight pic.

And the after dark pics:
Ladder up

Ladder down:

I'm thinking that this will be of benefit to the fish, mermaids, and manatees also. When sailing after dark, they can see the centerboard and rudder before being hit.........

justsomeguy · Mar 21, 2017

"...whizbang..."

Gawd, I'm so far behind the times.

Wakulla212 · Mar 23, 2017

Finishing up the bottom paint job on my Mac 25. Built a dolly for removal of the keel borrowing from designs of others on this site. Attached a scissor jack to raise and lower the keel. It worked pretty well, though I should have made it a bit beefier. No mishaps, but it seemed a little wobbly. Looking forward to getting Prone Ranger out on the water for another season of fun.

Tsatzsue · Mar 24, 2017

I like it!! We still have snow.

RussC · Mar 24, 2017

Another boring rainy day in Podunkville

so I decided to build a prop guard for the "new" motor I bought this winter. I had built a guard just like this for the old 6hp Johnson, and it worked out well. 2' of 2"x1/8" aluminum strap and a handful of ss bolts/nuts for a total cost of ~ $15.00, which this titewad always likes

.

My Mistress · Mar 27, 2017

My Mistress said:
The only drawback will be figuring out how to connect the wire that doesn't allow video to play unless the parking brake is set.

The solution was so simple that it's almost embarrassing. I thought the connection would need to be under load since it's supposed to sense that the parking brake is set in an automotive installation. That wasn't the case. I simply grounded the wire to the case of the radio. Now I have video when I am sent to the doghouse.
Easy peasy!

walt · Apr 4, 2017

Getting ready for some summer one week camping trips and my wife and I mostly live out of three 18 quart plastic bins. Two of these bins have been stored under the starboard seat. Many years ago I used an idea I got from Timebandit that has worked out very well and that is to make the seat cushion with a plywood bottom, foam on top and then the cloth just stapled to to the plywood (first picture). This has been trouble free for many years. But.. since we typically get into the plastic bins at least once per day (sometimes more), I have to lift that seat up every time so I wanted to improve the ease of access to the plastic bins.

The plastic bins are each 18 quart. The frame had to be assembled inside the settee and in at least one of the pictures you can see how the plastic bin "drops" in and is held in place by the frame but its still very easy to lift the front and slide the bin out. The frame has the three vertical pieces which form "T" sections to support the seat and do a good job as the latch works if your sitting on the seat or not. The cabinet door added most of the weight as its a epoxy laminate of plywood and oak. Havent tried it yet sailing in wild conditions.. but I "think" everything should stay in place but be very easy to access..

My Mistress · Apr 4, 2017

View attachment 134934 [/QUOTE]

How are you securing the crossarms on the outer hull side?

walt · Apr 4, 2017

How are you securing the crossarms on the outer hull side?

With some 5/8 inch lag bolts..

JUST KIDDING.. that frame just rests on the outer hull as does one end of the plastic bin. The frame is held to the boat structure ONLY by the 9 screws that you can see in that first picture.

If I have any issue with front to back movement of the frame on the side that is just resting on the hull, I would just epoxy some stop blocks to the hull on either end of the frame. Its fairly rigid as is as all the frame crossarm pieces are tied together so I dont think I will have any issue. Hmmm.. maybe I will just epoxy in those stop blocks just to be sure.. the added weight will be almost nothing.