Pics of Mac 26M without mast (motor Boat)

[technicalman]

I love all those pics. There have been days where I didn't feel like raising the mast and just motoring out in my 26S, but i only have a 6HP motor. It would be fun to do that with a 50+hp motor in the back. Interesting.

[Hamin' X]

I still need without mast...

M Pictures without mast please

Cheers

Jose

Jose, perhaps you missed them, but several pictures of mastless M's were posted.

~Rich

[kitcat]

There is no doubt that the M & X both look good and work well with no mast/sails, but for peace of mind, do all you power boaters have a back up motor somewhere?

If so, how do you mount it and get some drive from it. I guess a 9-12hp would be good enough as a back up?

Paul.
[M with mast up]

[Terry]

a friend is considering buying a Mac 26M for use in waterways.
Tell him to buy a power boat.
I am looking for pictures of 26M being used as a motor (only) boat.
I use mine to motor with many times
Without mast or any sailing gear.
Oh my gosh, how embarrassing
How does it looks like ?
Like she has no clothes on.
Are there any pictures of it ?
I don't think she would like to be seen like that so I did not take pics.
Thanks

Jose

During our second season we had a demasting and had to spend the better part of a month going out without a mast or sails. We only perservered it a few times because we found it too humiliating to be seen that way. I never felt so proud again as the day we got our new replacement mast.
They may claim it is a powersailer hybrid, but to me it is a sloop sail boat.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

I felt somewhat similar on our first few mastless trips. Now that I have the short swept back motoring mast at the step I no longer feel that way. Not only does it provide a place for the required navigation light, but it also completes the look of the boat without the sailing mast. I patterned it after the short masts you see on many of the early ChrisCraft powerboats. I think it makes the boat look complete again. Here's a pic from a distance. Combined with our full canvas, the boat still has a nice profile when out mastless.



Without the sails having some sort of backup power is a concern although there are many many power boats out there with only one propulsion source.

We have our 6hp dinghy motor on a bracket on the starboard transom that can be lowered for backup power. It easily moves the boat at 5-6 knots.

Even better, I also have our electric motor system integrated into the rudders now in place on Allegro. It actually came in handy a number of times during the last 2 weeks we had the boat in the water, even with the sailing mast in place.

On our way across the Puget Sound to the BWY rendezvous in Port Orchard, we had just exited the locks and headed SW at the Shilshole buoy. Somehow the fuel line accidentally got kicked loose from the fuel tank and the engine died. In the course of trying to restart I ended up flooding the motor. Knowing I needed to let it sit for 10 minutes and with the wind blowing us toward the shallows of West Point, I dropped the two rudders and cranked up the electric motors. We cruised quietly along down to the West Point Buoy where we were then able to restart the main motor and resume our 13 knot cruise to Port Orchard.

I found it quite handy throughout the trip when we wanted a little more push with the sails up but didn't want to go to the trouble of lowering and starting the main engine. A week or so later we were out for an afternoon sail with some friends in very light air. There were a number of times I used the electric motors to supplement the sails when we needed to point higher, or in some way maneuver to avoid traffic in a way that would have been difficult under sail alone.

Coming back into the locks with just one of my sons aboard as crew I found the electric motor very useful in supplementing the main motor. Initially we were directed to the right side wall of the small locks. As we got closed the lockmaster decided to squeeze us in the middle between two boats already on the walls. There was only about 8'6" of space between the two boats. We actually had to compress the fenders as we slid in. Rather than try and creep into this small gap with lots of shifting of the main engine I simply used the electric motors to silently guide us cleanly into this tight spot.

Once I get the different props made for the electric system so we get 6 knots instead of 3.5 it is going to be a great addition to the boat.

Here is my blog about the project, http://www.rudderprop.com .

[escape]

Hello All! After wrenching the back both handling the ropes and dealing with the mast - we are thinking about a perma demasting and keeping our Mac X as a powerboat. I have read everyone's comments about their demasted Macs but I have a few more questions. I understand the gas savings, the room, etc. as we have had small cabin cruisers under 26' and they eat gas and require table to bed conversions and all the pains involved with complex systems.

Fishing- how is fishing from it?

What all did you remove? Everything to do with sailing the boat? What did you leave on and why?

Windage and ease of docking: Is the boat less likely to get blown about under windy conditions with the mast gone or did that matter? We've had a heck of a time docking in good winds on the Columbia.

Ballast: Do you fill the ballast at all times? If not, why not? We have some disagreement over this as hubby says we do not need ballast tank filled if we are power boating. I thought the ballast tank being full was required at all time for safety?

Has anybody permanently demasted and regretted it? If so,why? We are going to store our mast but we want to sell all the other stuff (roller furling, extra sails, etc) because we find things rot when stored unless we spend time caring for them which we do not ant to do as we have plenty of other things to do. Thank you! Trying to Escape working at having fun!

A

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Fishing- how is fishing from it?

Fishing is fine from a Mac. On ours we have a lot of stuff mounted on the transom so we generally only fish out the side and off the bow, We have a rod holder mounted on each mid pulpit which work well.

What all did you remove? Everything to do with sailing the boat? What did you leave on and why?

We pull all the sailing stuff. This really amounts to 3 main units.

Once the mast is down for trailering there are really only 5 more connections that need to be disconnected. These are the pins and ringdings that attach the stays to the chainplates and the line to the furler drum. Once those are free the mast is loose. We then bungee the stays and baby stays up to the mast with all the other lines. If storing for a period of time we also pull the bolts and free the spreaders at the mast. They can then also be bungeed to the mast without the need to remove the stays from the spreader tips. When this is done the entire mast with nothing sticking out can now be lifted up and off to the side of the boat. We have some supports I put on the fence beside where we park the boat so we really just set the mast over the side onto these.

The second unit is the boom with the main sail still attached in the cover and the vang / boomkicker.

The final thing we remove is the mast raising pole and tackle.

We keep the main sheet on board as we use it for other hoisting duties on board that we still need to do without the sailing mast.

The final step is to put on board our short motoring mast.

Windage and ease of docking: Is the boat less likely to get blown about under windy conditions with the mast gone or did that matter? We've had a heck of a time docking in good winds on the Columbia.

I find having the mast on or off makes very little difference in the boat handling. It is the hull windage that makes the difference, not the mast.

Ballast: Do you fill the ballast at all times? If not, why not? We have some disagreement over this as hubby says we do not need ballast tank filled if we are power boating. I thought the ballast tank being full was required at all time for safety?

We operate the boat under power (with the mast or without) almost exclusively WITHOUT ballast. I only fill the tank when sailing, or motoring in seas bigger than 4'. When out without the mast ballast is only used for rough seas. In normal conditions we always motor with the tank empty unless the distance we are going to travel is very short. For any longer distance we will dump ballast at the start of the trip if for some reason it is full. We have run the boat thousands of miles over the last 10 years without ballast with no problems at all.

Has anybody permanently demasted and regretted it? If so,why? We are going to store our mast but we want to sell all the other stuff (roller furling, extra sails, etc) because we find things rot when stored unless we spend time caring for them which we do not ant to do as we have plenty of other things to do. Thank you!

I don't see removing the mast as a permanent thing. It takes the same amount of time to take the mast off before the trip at home as it does to rig the mast in the parking lot at the ramp. We go back and forth as needed depending on the length and type of trip we are going to take. There is nothing permanent about removing the mast. You can always spend 45 minutes at a later date and put it back on. If I planned on having it off for years I would perhaps spend an extra 1/2 hour and remove the sails and fold them nicely in a sail bag. I also might pull the halyards and store them in a clean protected place. Beyond that everything else is metal and can just be stored beside the house until you decide you want to sail again.

[Gypsy]

I felt somewhat similar on our first few mastless trips. Now that I have the short swept back motoring mast at the step I no longer feel that way. Not only does it provide a place for the required navigation light, but it also completes the look of the boat without the sailing mast. I patterned it after the short masts you see on many of the early ChrisCraft powerboats. I think it makes the boat look complete again. Here's a pic from a distance. Combined with our full canvas, the boat still has a nice profile when out mastless.


Even better, I also have our electric motor system integrated into the rudders now in place on Allegro. It actually came in handy a number of times during the last 2 weeks we had the boat in the water, even with the sailing mast in place.

On our way across the Puget Sound to the BWY rendezvous in Port Orchard, we had just exited the locks and headed SW at the Shilshole buoy. Somehow the fuel line accidentally got kicked loose from the fuel tank and the engine died. In the course of trying to restart I ended up flooding the motor. Knowing I needed to let it sit for 10 minutes and with the wind blowing us toward the shallows of West Point, I dropped the two rudders and cranked up the electric motors. We cruised quietly along down to the West Point Buoy where we were then able to restart the main motor and resume our 13 knot cruise to Port Orchard.

I found it quite handy throughout the trip when we wanted a little more push with the sails up but didn't want to go to the trouble of lowering and starting the main engine. A week or so later we were out for an afternoon sail with some friends in very light air. There were a number of times I used the electric motors to supplement the sails when we needed to point higher, or in some way maneuver to avoid traffic in a way that would have been difficult under sail alone.

Coming back into the locks with just one of my sons aboard as crew I found the electric motor very useful in supplementing the main motor. Initially we were directed to the right side wall of the small locks. As we got closed the lockmaster decided to squeeze us in the middle between two boats already on the walls. There was only about 8'6" of space between the two boats. We actually had to compress the fenders as we slid in. Rather than try and creep into this small gap with lots of shifting of the main engine I simply used the electric motors to silently guide us cleanly into this tight spot.

Once I get the different props made for the electric system so we get 6 knots instead of 3.5 it is going to be a great addition to the boat.

Here is my blog about the project, http://www.rudderprop.com .

Please explain more about the electric motors and your rudders . Got pictures ?