Another First...at least for me

[Love MACs]

Put the boat on the trailer for the first time While it may be old hat to many of you it was an experience that I did not look forward to. After all that is why we decided to keep her in a Marina in the first place, so once in she could stay in. But with our upcoming trip I had to get the boat out and clean her up inside and out and do some rewiring.

Last night I read and re-read all the posts I could find about the Macs handling characteristics and how others had loaded her. I found most people to be right on the money about what to expect. What I didn't expect was the motor not to start After several minutes of trying to start it and then raising the motor and looking under the hood, check the gas connections, I found nothing that would help me understand why it wouldn't start Then remembered I had just put on a new kill switch after our last outing, checked, and sure enough it was in the "kill" position. Fired right up.

Motored to the ramp, where wife had expertly backed the trailer into the water. She says she did it on her first "try" and I choose to believe her. About 20 yards from the trailer I pulled up Keel and rudders. With almost no wind, headed straight for the ramp and trailer. Motoring at extremely slow speeds the boat handled better than I had anticipated, not to say she handled well... but adequately. Got her square into the trailer on first try. Wife reached down and snapped the winch hook right on the bow tang, gave three or four turns and pulled us tight. I sat proudly in the cockpit as she pulled us out I was pleasantly surprised that no Mac bump was necessary as she had winched us right into the roller

Getting the mast down was PITA, but I knew it would be. I really don't know how some of you do that on a every sail basis Maybe I am just too old, or maybe I don't do it enough...or maybe I am just too old. Wife is a big help but she is only a year younger than me. When it was down and all was put away, She ask me " what are we going to do in 10 years?" I told her we would take the mast off and still have a nice motor boat


Allan

[Russ]

Good job.

I'm concerned that you winched the boat up tight on the original try. That could damage the winch..maybe.

I hear ya on the weekend trailering. I launch and put her in a slip once a year, so I've only had to pull her out 3 times so far. Not fun rigging and I don't know how folks do this quickly or weekly.

Now how much slime was under that boat?


--Russ

[pokerrick1]

You did great

BUT

Next time:

Pull up to the dock and secure the boat for a minute - - - then WALK the boat onto the trailer. Much safer. easier, and better for the ramps. It's not hard to walk the boat. Just back the trailer in as close to the dock as you can.

That way, also, you can keep the rudders down and daggerboard at least partially down for control to the dock, and then raise them at the dock and walk the boat.

Rick

[Divecoz]

Sounds like you did great.. If You did this time ....please don't POWER onto your trailer Next Time. I am not talking coasting on , as you may well have done..... but what we all have seen, far too often as....... Really Powering onto the trailer..
You've no doubt seen or heard about.... Jeff Foxworthy's Brother in-law doing just that
Its always The Brother In-law isn't it...?
Dropping the mast? PITA? Its gets a LOT easier the more you practice... If you couldn't do that , ( drop the mast) then there would be a lot of others things or places .....you wouldn't be doing or going too..Its a good trade off , even if it had taken you .....twice.....as long as it did...

[Love MACs]

There was not near the amount of slim on the bottom, as I had expected. But more than enough to take a pressure washer too, as I am doing today (I know not to use the high pressure nozzel on the washer). Although it was in freshwater lake for 9 months, I did have bottom paint applied before I slipped her and that seems to have helped.

I don't have a dock next to the ramp. So the idea of walking her onto the trailer is not feasible. Although that sounds like a good idea if the dock is in the right location. IF the water temp had been 10 deg warmer I might have just got off on the submerged part of the ramp and pulled her on the trailer though.

I talked to the dock-master before we loaded the boat. He was the one that mentioned powering on. I told him of my concerns and he laughed, telling me that there was another 50 ft of concrete ramp extending past the end of my submerged trailer. He told me they had launched a 100' boat just last week so more than ample ramp and that I would hurt nothing by powering on. So I did I would have never done that if I hadn't known the ramp condition/length.

And speaking of the wench and trailer...I just don't know, but don't think it would hurt or stress the wench. I have a after market, double axle trailer.



Allan

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

Put the boat on the trailer for the first time While it may be old hat to many of you it was an experience that I did not look forward to. After all that is why we decided to keep her in a Marina in the first place, so once in she could stay in. But with our upcoming trip I had to get the boat out and clean her up inside and out and do some rewiring.

Getting the mast down was PITA, but I knew it would be. I really don't know how some of you do that on a every sail basis Maybe I am just too old, or maybe I don't do it enough...or maybe I am just too old. Wife is a big help but she is only a year younger than me. When it was down and all was put away, She ask me " what are we going to do in 10 years?" I told her we would take the mast off and still have a nice motor boat


Allan

Yes to what RICK said...we always use a rope...connected to the stern, and bow, and simply pier- walk the boat onto the trailer. Works great.

We likewise keep our Mac in a slip...it's just convenient, safe, and much more fun...especially having a "quality" Marina with nice facilities. As you say...messing with the mast, and trailering the Mac every trip to the water...is TOOO much work and time consuming. We did that for one season...and it was enough.

Your wife mentioned what's in the future...10 yrs or so, if the mast, canvas, etc. are too much work for "seniors".
Your answer was "right on"...the Mac makes a fine self contained cabin cruizer (motor boat). We removed the mast and hardware one entire winter...and it worked just fine. Loads of fun for the family.

[magnetic]

I agree with your comment about walking the boat about; when I left my previous crowded marina yesterday I stood for a good minute trying to work out how to spring my off of the pontoon, rotating on a fender on the rear starboard quarter, hoping that the bow wouldn't get caught by the wind before I had enough foward motion and sea room to counter it, before suddenly deciding just to walk the boat out by hand, point the bow in the right direction, step aboard and start motoring, all without a rope in sight. I could never have done that with my Beneteau 343 - sometimes, having a lightweight plastic bleach bottle (as someone has recently described the Mac) has distinct advantages!

When I arrived at my new swing mooring I had a similarly refreshing experience; with the Beneteau, this kind of solo manoeuvre required some serious planning - work out which was the strongest element (wind or tide), approach the buoy head into whichever it was, slightly overshoot and then rush forward with the boat hook hoping to be able to pick up the line and make it off on a bow cleat before the boat coasted back too far. With the i was able to approach the buoy from pretty much whichever angle I chose, pick up the line from the cockpit, kill the engine and then walk the line forwards to the bow at my leisure - the boat is so damned light that I could bully it into doing pretty much whatever I wanted it to do, even when holding the mooring line in one hand whilst climbing forwards with the other.

Incidentally, I now also have a 5 gallon bucket slung on 2 30ft mooring lines from the stern cleats, and this really stops the boat wandering too much. I strongly recommend this, especially in a crowded mooring, as without some kind of dampening the Mac will dance around with every puff of breeze. The 5 gallon plastic bucket is fairly easy to recover even when fully submerged and - after a couple of 1/2 inch holes were drilled to replace the original handle - seems robust enough to last for a while.

[pokerrick1]

I understand -- if you have no dock and KNOW that the concrete extends past the point you are powering onto the trailer - - - then you did fine. Expect that next time it MAY take a try or two at that ramp!

Rick

PS I keep forgetting that there are poorer parts of the country that don't have docks at launch ramps

[boatbitch]

We keep our boat at home and trailer across the state. This saves in fees and bottom growth. Realizing there are lots of steps in set up and take down we worked up a list of what needs to be done in the order of doing it. I did notice that the spreader bars rub the top of the cabin and with lots of trailer miles its causing wear. I got foam insulation used in covering hot water pipes 3/4" and put that were the spreader rubs. Problem solved. Also the wind indicator on the mast should be removed before going down the road. I found by raising the motor I can stand on the motor exhaust and reach the indicator without a problem once the mast is secured.