We've seen the staged pictures MacGregor provides of their boats floating, but here's a REAL LIFE example of how one floats in 10' of water after a hurricane.
This is the S/V C Opal owned by Don Fitzgerald, who bought our 26X. He got this shot after the hurricane with his cell phone camera.
Don says she was floating free, without support from any of the lines you see. It appears the weight of the 50HP Yamaha has her down by the stern considerably.
Here's what she looked like after being uprighted.
Is there any doubt the water in Lake Ponchatrain was polluted by all that went on?
Moe nice post about MacX not sinking. Don't forget we had a forced evacuation from New Orleans for a miminum of 6 weeks and the boat was uprighted around 8 weeks hence the scuzzz.
Hi to all out there I'm Don the owner of C-Opal I purchased Moes 26X in Dec.,05 Towed it back to New Orleans. I have a slip in Orleans Marina (Lake Pontchatrain). The New Mac will live there after a bottom coat is applied. For the time being it's in my drive way waiting for MARDI GRAS).
tHE 1ST. PARADE WAS LAST NIGHT krew de Veaux in the French Quarter.
I was able to get her in the water on a nice weather day for my 1st. sea trial, Moe I was plesantly pleased The efi suzuki matched with a 4 blade 121/4 by 9 pitch appears to be the perfect match for great peformace and I thank you for that. By the way it was the inline fuze already replaced with spares on board. Be glad when winter is over, fair winds to all........
Hey don do you think with a full ballast tank and an auto bilge pump that the boat would have faired a little better? Did you get a hole in it? or was it just knocked over? I cant tell from the photo. I have seen photos of other boats that didnt do as well as yours did. how did it fill with water? just from the knock down or something else?
Here is how the event occured after the storm surge (probably 12 feet miminum) subsided and the water level returned to normal the BOW of the boat was caught on the pier so the STERN was much lower and thats where all the weight is (motor, gas tanks, batteries) so she began to fill with water until she broke loose from the pier and by then rolled over and layed there for 8 weeks. I think if she could have been up righted sooner les scuzz but engine would be ruined (brackish water) Don't forget many hundreds of heavy displacment boats were tossed about like toys an destroyed, hence ballast not a factor.
One positive note! It looks like the rigging handle the strong winds. Don, do you recall what the wind speeds reached? What type of damage did you find with the rigging?
But with the ballast in place would it have self righted?? Would it have had room to self right? Why did it roll to one side not the other ? What caused it to roll at all? Just wondering is all . .
I wonder if the M would have righted itself with the fixed ballast?
wow this is interesting, If the bow wouldnt have caught or a bilge pump
would have come on by itself I wonder if it would have been ok.
It does look intact, and seems with the ballast tank full it would have come up right then pumped itself out. But I think because of this Im going to install a auto bilge pump in mine. you wont be able to pump all the water out but it would pump it down below the deck. If the batterys didnt short out. Maybe by rolling over on its side it actually saved the boat from being wrecked more. but from the photo it looks like its in pretty good shape. all the rigging looks ok and the water line sure looks like it has no ballast. did you right the boat yourself or did you have to have it done?
then did you pump the water out? its amazing all it went through and it still floats just like new except the scum it looks ok. No wonder you bought another Mac you must be happy that the boat could take that much
and still be floating. I dont want come across as cold I know you lost a lot more then what we see in the photo, hope all is ok now.
Moe...real interesting. Can one imagine the wind and banging that boat underwent before it capsized. One of the main reasons I purchased a Mac-X...its safety. Thanks for the pics
I noticed that the waterline is near the stripe in the uprighted pic of the boat...indicating that apparently the water ballast is full. I cant understand why the boat didnt settle upright --very strange. Maybe the mast became lodged since it only takes about 120 lbs to hold the boat on its side. Appears that the rigging was standing during the storm.
Could all the stuff we usually carry on a boat have shifted to the low side. I doubt that it was anchored as well as in an off shore boat. I know our stuff isnt. Might have to reconsider storage compartment locks so stuff stays where it is put.
