Ahoy there! I'm a newbie Mac 26X owner who just popped in here to the Venture Discussion Area to give a plug for Brian Gilbert's great little book, Fix it and sail: Everything you need to know to buy and restore a small sailboat on a shoestring (Camden, ME : International Marine, 2006) [ISBN 0-07-145809-3]. It turns out that of the many old boat choices he discusses at length, Mr. Gilbert opted to restore a Venture 222. I have personally found many of his tips and suggestions very helpful in the very light restoration of my own new "hole in the water" 2001 26X, and I imagine any newly-minted Venture owner or someone undertaking a full restoration of pretty much any "Classic Mac" might find this book even more so. As well as the previously-given Amazon link for the book, if you have 3 hours to kill (or go do something else), it seems the book is also available as a freebie download from DataFile.com at http://www.datafile.com/d/TVRFd01EazBOZ ... 20Sail.zip, though they'll make you wait as a "non-member" for a long spell until the download commences.
Anyhow, Enjoy and we'll see you out there!
Helpful Restoration Book for Venture and Other Mac Owners
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Bilgemaster
- First Officer
- Posts: 467
- Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:03 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Woodbridge, Virginia--"Breakin' Wind" 2001 26X, Honda BF50A 50hp engine
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Catigale
- Site Admin
- Posts: 10421
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:59 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Admiral .............Catigale 2002X.......Lots of Harpoon Hobie 16 Skiffs....Island 17
- Contact:
Re: Helpful Restoration Book for Venture and Other Mac Owner
Good book and he bares his soul about mistakes he made along the way. There are a few things he is a bit unclear about...and he does rankle one of my pet peeves....cinder blocks as jack stands. No no no.
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Bilgemaster
- First Officer
- Posts: 467
- Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:03 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Woodbridge, Virginia--"Breakin' Wind" 2001 26X, Honda BF50A 50hp engine
Re: Helpful Restoration Book for Venture and Other Mac Owner
Agreed: cinder blocks bad. Harbor Freight jackstands are cheap and go on sale often enough to make such crumbly supports folly. They also have a variety of hydraulic lifts and jacks. I'm also thinking the motorcycle jack might be useful for getting the hull up briefly for subsequent jack support for hard to reach bottom painting nooks and crannies.Catigale wrote:Good book and he bares his soul about mistakes he made along the way. There are a few things he is a bit unclear about...and he does rankle one of my pet peeves....cinder blocks as jack stands. No no no.
Last edited by Bilgemaster on Sat Sep 26, 2015 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ecossebob
- Deckhand
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:03 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Palm Springs
Re: Helpful Restoration Book for Venture and Other Mac Owner
Anyone wanting to lift their Mac to safely remove their trailer paint etc, might be interested in a portable adjustable Gantry Crane sold by Northern Tool and Equipment.
It is adjustable from 8ft 3.5 ins. to 12 ft 8 ins in height.
7ft 10 ins. wide between the uprights.
Rolls on lockable swivel casters.
If the rear of the boat was raised and blocked as others have described here, this Gantry could slip across the boat and using a sling raise the bow lifting the boat off the trailer.
The only possible problem might be if you wanted to remove the trailer completely. The 7 ft 10 ins. width might interfere with the trailer wheels. I can't measure mine at this time to verify this. But I think we are looking probably a couple of ins.
Looking at pictures of the design I think this would easily be fixed with a simple mod. to pick up the missing ins. The gantry is rated to lift 3000 lbs and we are only lifting the bow, I don't think this simple mod would compromise safety.
It costs $669.00, but it is portable and knocks down for transportation. Perhaps a few members, or a club could buy together and share.
Anyway it would be a much safer way to work on our boats than some of the methods I have read.
By the way I'm not affiliated with Northern, Sorry this is so long, but hope this is useful to someone.
Catch you later Bob.
It is adjustable from 8ft 3.5 ins. to 12 ft 8 ins in height.
7ft 10 ins. wide between the uprights.
Rolls on lockable swivel casters.
If the rear of the boat was raised and blocked as others have described here, this Gantry could slip across the boat and using a sling raise the bow lifting the boat off the trailer.
The only possible problem might be if you wanted to remove the trailer completely. The 7 ft 10 ins. width might interfere with the trailer wheels. I can't measure mine at this time to verify this. But I think we are looking probably a couple of ins.
Looking at pictures of the design I think this would easily be fixed with a simple mod. to pick up the missing ins. The gantry is rated to lift 3000 lbs and we are only lifting the bow, I don't think this simple mod would compromise safety.
It costs $669.00, but it is portable and knocks down for transportation. Perhaps a few members, or a club could buy together and share.
Anyway it would be a much safer way to work on our boats than some of the methods I have read.
By the way I'm not affiliated with Northern, Sorry this is so long, but hope this is useful to someone.
Catch you later Bob.
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Bill Reichert
- Deckhand
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:23 pm
- Sailboat: Venture 25
Re: Helpful Restoration Book for Venture and Other Mac Owner
I can wait 3 hours for the download. I have 4 more weeks in a wheelchair for my broken ankle.