New owner of a Mac 26x. Question on rudder set up.

[Dimamomotok11]

So I have limited to no experience sailing, a coworker got me all into it and after 2 years of saving and planning I bought a 26x in a pretty decent condition. I was hoping it wouldn’t be a project boat and I could take it out immediately, but of course nothing is ever easy. I bought it from a old couple who hadn’t sailed it in years just used it for the outboard.

My coworker came out and showed me how to set up the mast and rigging, and unroll the sales. When we set up the rudder there appeared to be missing parts. And also I can’t find a good picture on what it’s suppose to look like. If someone can post that, I’d be great.

I have the rudders,rudder brackets, and a single piece that looks like it attaches in the same way the OB is currently connected.

Also I contacted the owners and they sent me images of some pictures that tomorrow I’ll drive round trip 10 hours for. But I have no idea where they go.

Lastly I have a piece that looks like it’s part of the boat but not sure where it goes or if it’s part of steering. Any help, links or pictures would be appreciated.


A link but not positive what it connects to.



Pieces from old owners


Unidentified piece

[Jimmyt]

The short rod with the two ball joint sockets looks like the outboard steering arm. It allows you to disconnect the outboard while sailing to make the steering easier. Although, not sure it's right for your boat...

http://shop.bwyachts.com/product-p/5712-1x0.htm

The second image, I'm not sure as I have the M boat. Ditto the third image. Neither looks like a factory piece. You need to shoot some pics of what you have mounted already so we can tell what's missing.

There are X owners on this forum that can set you straight.

[Tomfoolery]

As jimmy said, the first one is the steering quick disconnect to the outboard. It ties the rudder steering cross bar to the outboard. There should be a ball on a small U-shaped pedestal to lock the outboard in the straight ahead position when it’s disconnected from the steering system, which makes steering much lighter when sailing yet sill allows use of the OB if it’s needed in a hurry.

The other two are not standard items on an . I can’t even guess what they are. Maybe home made baby stays for mast raising, but they’re way too small. I wouldn’t even try them if that’s what they’re supposed to be.

[C Buchs]

Is that second picture some kind of bracket that attaches to the railing?

Jeff

[Starscream]

Don't know if this helps, but I just went outside and took a photo of my setup. Which is as stock as possible, I believe. All I know is that I haven't touched it in 10 years and it seems to work fine.



You can see a couple of mods that I really like in this photo. First of all, the new 1-gauge motor wiring that should all but eliminate voltage drop in the wires. Second, I put a second boot over the original boot where the wires come out of the side of the cockpit. That seems to have helped stop some leakage in the rain. You can also see two 10-gauge black wires coming out and heading off to the right of the photo; those go to the bimini-mounted solar panels.

[leefrankpierce]

Your first picture is the steering "upgrade" which allows you to disconnect the steering linkage from the motor... there is a bracket which is added to the rudder cross piece, has a post on it, then there is a post placed on the motor. The Angle bracket is bolted to the deck. When you want to disconnect your steering, you use the quick release to disconnect the rod from the cross piece, and place it on the angle bracket bolted to the deck... the engine then stays still while you steer.
I found disconnecting the motor totally un-needed when I had a 50 ish HP motor, but... once I put a 120 HP, I found when it was in the up position it was so weighted that it would spin my steering all the way to one side or the other. Way dangerous when sailing...
So I added the disconnect... which... can come loose. (ask me how I know, I still got it into the dock by shutting the engine down real fast)
I can say the last time I went out, I did not bother to disconnect and was just careful with the steering and might just put the old system back in.
B.T.W. If you want to pull a skier or tuber with full ballast in, you can put a 120 on, but but sucks fuel and causes the steering issues.
Seems to sail exactly as before.

Lee

[Banner_IV]

#1 answered above
#2 best guess is some sort of rail bracket???
#3 I believe is a homade boomkicker or ridged vang depending on what side of the pond you are on



BTW is there a prize involved for right answers?

[Todd]

#3 I believe is a homade boomkicker or ridged vang depending on what side of the pond

Ditto on this one.
I think it is a homemade strut to hold the boom up when at anchor or in a slip. Appears to use same bracket as the boom kicker bracket mine has.

[Dimamomotok11]

Thank you guys for the responses and pictures. Excuse the long read ahead. Feel free to skip to the last two paragraph.

I went back to the old couple I bought it from got those pieces in the third picture. (4 hour drive)

Since I was already on the opposite side of the state (Washington) I found Blue Water Yachts that service Macgregor and showed them these pictures.

They confirmed what you guys said. First piece is the Quick disconnect, third picture is mast to boom support or something like that. I believe you use it to support the boom when moored.Boom Vang you guys mentioned (thank you for the picture)

And the second picture that I drove hours for is apparently holders for dinghy if I had a much larger boat. So completely unrelated to me.

He sold me what he said I need which was, a steering clamp bracket with ball, a rudder cross bar, and a steering cable holder.

He said my boat was redone to be a power boat only and I’d need that last piece to attach to the rudder.


After all that I came home to found that I already had the rudder cross bar and the steering clamp with a ball so i ordered it for nothing, since I thought I didn’t have it. Hopefully I can. A cdl the order for the rudder bar.


Here are two pictures of my current set up. Since I now have a rudder cross bar. First one is just the rudder bar laying there, but I didn’t have the bolts to connect it. Second picture is if I disconnect the quick disconnect bar from the motor. I can attach it to the bar. And it moves the bar back and fourth.

This just leaves me with more questions on the first picture I posted, do I still need that? And where does it go? What do I connect the two balls for that are on the starboard side of the bar. And what attaches to the two brackets on the side and bottom. Maybe I’ll find out when the pieces he sends me come in.

That’s why I was hoping someone have a picture of a setup. Since the picture of the M model is different then mine.



I disconnected the quick disconnect bar from the OB andit fits onto the ball on the rudder bar and appeared as it would move it, when I turned the wheel


Two Ball points, one on the bar, and one on a clamp bracket

Original set up and the only pieces I thought I had

Does the Quick disconnect bar go to one of the ball points?

[Banner_IV]

Yep you have some problems there. Your steering cable is connected directly to the motor (like a powerboat). It needs to be connected to the crossbar like this.

Then the quick disconnect rod goes from the crossbar to the motor similar to this



This allows you to steer the rudders all the time (for sailing) and disconect the engine from the steering using the QD, attaching the QD to a fixed point so the motor does not flop around . I will say as long as you have a 50hp or less motor the weight of the motor while sailing is not objectionable to most people.