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

[walt]

First picture.. looking down into nearly 2500 feet of Pacific Ocean water yesterday. Second picture from this morning.. last day on the water at Dana Point before heading home

 

[ghochgraf]

In Eclipse we sailed from Portsmouth NH to Rockport MA. This is our longest voyage so far. Conditions were excellent with a steady wind (that eventually turned around into our face) and gentle swells. Clear skies and bright sun. We've done a lot of work on her, and really like how she works for us

 

[walt]

One more from today sailing the Pacific Ocean off of Dana Point CA under auto pilot. Slightly notable is that our boat speed on a reach is 7.48 mph (6.5 knts) which slightly exceeds the theoretical hull speed of this boat (26S at 23.5ft).

..

 

[My Mistress]

Those are quite interesting mods you made to the interior!

 

[ghochgraf]

6.5 knots! What were the conditions that allowed that? We usually get 5.5, never more than 6. Were you reefed?

 

[walt]

I dont often get to those speeds but the boat will do it. I would have to guess at the wind speed so I wont (you can see the water in the picture) but it was still under where I thought I needed a reef. I have about a 5 foot traveler and I think it was about all the way over to leeward. Tight vang and moderately tight backstay. 110 jib on a furler sheeted from the inside. We were mostly on a reach, maybe with a little downwind. I also have this crazy mod on my main sail http://analogengineering.com/sail/mac/sail.html that after all this time.. think it does make a difference especially in conditions exactly like I was in (windier, either mostly reaching or upwind). This is something I discovered by accident a bunch of years ago and have tried it on a bunch of sails and will put it on the next sail I get. Oddly, I was still fairly heavy on the bow of the boat with an inflatable kayak and SUP up there (deflated and inside) plus about 8 gallons of water. I had about 4 gallons of gas all in the back. The Bimini was also up.. It was windy enough to blow the new hat I had bought from West marine before the trip off and into the water and it sank before you we could get to it..

On this trip, we slept on the boat for 10 nights, the food was in the ice chest for ll days. I had 30 watts of solar with a MPPT controller and two golf cart batteries. I could have plugged into AC at a few of the slips we stayed at.. but never really needed to so did not. I used a new lap top computer this time with a cell phone hot spot a fair amount plus LED lights, plus we watched a fair amount of TV at night and a movie, charged cell phones. Ran the autopilot, VHF and new Garmin chart plotter almost always when sailing or motoring. Inflated the kayak and SUP a couple times with a 12 volt low pressure air pump (still had to use the high pressure manual pump on the SUP to get the final pressure). At the end of the trip I was about 20 amp hours down, battery resting voltage was in the 12.5 to 12.6 range. 30 watts of solar plus the outboard charging system really is all I need. I started the trip with four frozen gallons of water plus a block of ice in the ice chest and purchased two bags of ice on the trip. The milk in the ice chest was still good at the end. I drained the ice melt every morning so the ice chest actually ended up fairy clean at the end of the trip. We slept very comfy in the aft beds. The old Mac did good and we really enjoyed the trip.

 

[My Mistress]

I also have this crazy mod on my main sail http://analogengineering.com/sail/mac/sail.html that after all this time.. think it does make a difference especially in conditions exactly like I was in (windier, either mostly reaching or upwind).

How would you rate those short battens against full battens? My Prindle has full battens that do well at keeping the sail shape.

 

[walt]

My next main will be full batten also.. but the convention is that the battens have a stiffness profile that is flexible near the mast and stiffens near the luft. You can get advice to even sand that area of the batten just behind the mast to make it even more flexible to tune the sail shape. The difference is that in my little experiment, I have stiffened the batten just behind the mast instead of that length being more flexible. The batten is stiff near the mast, less stiff in the middle to induce shape where it should be, then stiff again. It may be that it helps somewhat with the non rotating mast.. dont know.

Your battens are likely thin near the mast, then get thicker near the leach. I dont race so cant be sure of things.. but it sure seems to me that this does something good especially in windier conditions.

 

[ghochgraf]

Kristen and I have continued with our interior mods. Here's one we really like. Neither of us like the idea of using a porta potty for long trips. And the thought of a marine toilet system is worse. So we looked at composting heads. But a 26S doesn't have enough vertical space. You'd have to use it with your neck bent. So I made one. I cut out the false floor where the porta potty sat, re-glassed it for maximum vertical space (i.e. Down to the top of the tank) and made a custom fiberglass bucket for solid waste, found a gallon-plus laundry detergent bottle, and bought a Separett toilet bowl, seat and lid.
A solid 3/8" stainless rod yielded to my torch to become the auger. Peat moss from the garden center completes the solid waste side.
There is very little smell, but just in case I added a very quiet computer fan that vents up through the roof.
It works great!

 

[ghochgraf]

Halyard bags. Pretty simple, very effective. Also solved what to do with an old camping tent.

 

[ghochgraf]

Here's our interior mods to date. Cabinet doors are next. We cut out both setee benches and fiberglassed it over to create a wide flat floor. Cabinet faces are poplar, sides are birch veneer plywood.

 

[ghochgraf]

I also added a anchor rode locker. The fore wall by the head has been cut narrower, and the V berth gave up a trianglular space. Perko makes a access port for this, and I lash the anchor to the forward stanchion. I've been very happy with this.

 

[walt]

Nice.. The composting potty with the venting fan is slick!

 

[its2fun]

IMG_0489

• its2fun
• Aug 2, 2017

Replacing the fuel tanks

We bought our 2011 26M this past April and we are still adding our finishing touches. One of the biggest improvements was the addition of a pair of 17 gallon aluminum fuel tanks. We purchased the tanks from Blue Water Yachts. They were delivered painted black, which was a little surprise. The idea of black fuel tanks in the cockpit to help roast the skin off the backs of our legs was not too appealing. So we went to Home Depot and bought some white plastic panel (http://www.homedepot.com/p/1-16-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Plastic-Panel-63003/202090190) we cut the panel in half and then cut out a template to wrap around the front side of the tank. We used a heat gun to make the plastic cover warm and slightly pliable, then form fitted it around the tanks, attaching the plastic to the tank with marine adhesive and wrapped each cover with a lot of tape to hold the cover in place until the adhesive set. We then replaced the old, sunburned 12 gallon tanks with our better quality tanks - giving a more esthetic appearance to the cockpit, slightly more room in the cockpit, as well as an extra 10 gallons fuel capacity. We are quite happy with the result - will post pictures!

 

[My Mistress]

I've been very happy with this.

Where do you find the time??? I'm semi-retired and I still haven't been able to do that much!
Great idea's though!

 

[My Mistress]

We bought our 2011 26M this past April and we are still adding our finishing touches.

Welcome!
Beware of those "finishing touches"! Improvements can become habit forming

 

[its2fun]

Welcome!
Beware of those "finishing touches"! Improvements can become habit forming

Thanks for the warning, we are already addicted. Here is the list since we got her:

• Storage areas rubber sealed (for easy cleanup & less fiberglass splinters)
• Mainsail reconditioned at Sail Care
• Genoa replaced (the cost to recondition was close to a new sail, the original will be a backup!)
  
• New Genoa sock
  
• Quick release pins installed everywhere to make taking the mast up/down simpler
  
• Quick release control arm for motor to easily disengage motor when sailing
  
• Two new 17 gal. aluminum gas tanks custom fit for under cockpit seats
  
• Compound sand, wax & buff
  
• New MacGregor decals affixed
  
• Rub rail re-sealed
  
• New bunk boards and carpet pads on trailer, we had a mishap in that the bottom paint on the hull was stuck to the carpet and the wood was rotted - which cause a little scratch on the bottom paint when we re-trailered after our first outing, which has been repainted.

What's left (next season!):

• Registration numbers and name decals applied
• Generator
• A/C
• ??????

 

[macgregor_sailor]

I agree with the addictive part of mods as well. One question, isn't there enough generation capacity in your motor to meet your needs?

 

[My Mistress]

• Quick release pins installed everywhere to make taking the mast up/down simpler

I must caution you about the quick release pins! They are hollow cored and not as strong as a solid core pin of the same diameter! Your rigging carries a lot of load and a dismasting due to pin failure could be catastrophic.
I replaced the quick release on "Mistress" forestay with a solid pin after I found that it was bent.

That's quite a list though!

- James

 

[ghochgraf]

I have encountered an unintended consequence of cutting out the settee benches in Eclipse. Condensation. In Rockport Harbor we woke to heavy fog, which condensed on the cold fiberglass below waterline, which previously was under the settee and drained to the bilge. But now that water soaks the carpet. I'll need to add a false wall there restore drainage.