MacGregorSailors.com

Pretty unlikely with these boats. I did have a keel boat which was 50 years old that had issues with that. But she haven’t been dried out in years. Not like a trailer boat.

Ix

Can’t wait for the performance assessment.it looks really nice! My suspicion is the square version will be better at the slower speed of these boats, relatively speaking. Re fiberglass, it’s like any other skill. You’ll get better at it. The job appears nicely finished. Avoid bondo for anything but ...

Gah and I though the underside of my hatch was bad. Imagine in some other universe where Roger took just a *bit* more concern with the details of these boats. And use better gel coat.

Ix

You could make a fiberglass enclosure by making a temp. Mold. Do all the finishing outside the boat.

Ix

Someone took these few days ago.

So what goes in that little space where the dinette table was? I might consider reversing your layout to move the head into that spot and leave open the seat where you show the head now. Reason being that that spot is kind of nice to have open for putting stuff prior to storing, sitting on anchor wa...

It may have lasted 40 years but it’s still low grade. Not like the mahogany we have local in the keys. With the repair outlined and sealing the water leaks, it could last 40 more though.
Ix

You can cut off the rot if it’s only a few inches. Glue on a replacement block of PT wood. Wrap the new wood and a few inches down onto the old wood with epoxy and fiberglass. Four wraps with mid weight cloth should do it. Sand and paint just the fiberglass. Or, any like size straight grain wood, if...

Yes. All my other boats were tiller steered. I sail as much by feel as anything else. Rudder feel, boat heel, speed, sound, all factor in of course. And then there is the cockpit space. And the lessened complexity. My intention is to leave the motor connection as is for now, just like with the wheel...

Cool. I guess the EV revolution will benefit us on sailing vessels also. At least those of us on small solar or wind systems. Maybe a solar panel battery combination will become more economical in a few years.
Ix

Since I can’t stop messing with my boat, and by now she is thoroughly modded, my next thought is to really actually replace the wheel with a tiller. As to why: more cockpit space, much simpler and better feel. My thought on it at this point would be to have the base of the tiller right under the hel...

Interesting concept. I do not like having to fold something down / up or shuffle foam bedding to go to bed or to get clothing, so it’s something that I might do. Good to know about the bulk heard not being structural. Those bolts look impressive.
Ix

In the Fl Keys if you don’t paint the boat every year the barnacles will straight up raise the anchor, turn on the tunes, raid the icebox and sail the bloody boat away.

Ix

So last year the thermostat in my dometic cooler seemed to stop working. It would just run all the time and freeze or drain the battery. I went online and located a replacement thermostat board. It’s a little circuit and it was not terribly expensive at 35 dollars. However, replacing it did not solv...

The idea of making ones own battery is interesting to me. I would like to eventually go to a lithium system. It’s lighter. I could make the batter in a different shape perhaps. I could locate them elsewhere than in a damp hard to access compartment. No venting needed. I’ll be following this thread f...