Shakedown cruise - Mac newbie

[Idle Time]

LOL....dont think I'll practice that....I can whistle up a few turkeys in the backyard though. They come in twice a day for feed. Not supposed to feed the gators. I think some people do and then wonder why they arnt afraid of them. I'll take extra pins

[Terry]

If you leave the baby stays on all the time, you must be flying a genoa, otherwise the jib sheets would chafe on them. Or if you remove them from the deck straps & lash them to the mast, do they not interfere with the sail lines?

I have an '03M, the later model M's use a short cable from the mast hound to a fairlead ring at the stantion base, but on my M it is a rope that passes through the stantion ring and back to a cleat near the winch, therefore no chafing. I haven't noticed any interference with the jib sheets yet as the jib car blocks and track are midway between the mast & stantion. They do get in the way at times but they also give me something more comfortable to grab hold of when moving fore and aft on the deck. I also use them to hang on to while hoisting the sails.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

This Floridian came very close to losing a mast today. It seems like only a few weeks since I last inspected my shroud ringdings. Took a vacation day today and took all 4 kids out sailing to a bay beach about 11-12 miles away. On the way SE early in the day, had a mild ENE breeze with the genny all the way out. While spending a couple hours at the beach, a strong seabreeze out of the NW picked up to 15-20 mph. Of course, NW was the way to get back home. Beating in strong winds with a Mac26X is a losing proposition but I did it for a few miles. Had to have a little bit of headsail out cause the boat just doesnt like to sail with main alone. In hindsight, my genny sheets got caught on a shroud but I guess I didn't notice my ringding getting ripped off. It was getting late so I decided to motor the last few miles home. While wrestling down the mainsail, I noticed a clanking sound and look over to see my port side lower shroud dancing on the deck. Now, I could swear I just did a couple tacks (both directions) with 30-35 degrees of heel....presumably, the clevis pin must have held on until I brought the main down cause I can't imagine the mast would have stayed up in that kind of wind with one of the shrouds gone! Phew...that was lucky. Tied the loose shroud onto the port stanchion to brace the mast while getting bounced around in the waves.

Tried to train a passing dolphin to retrieve my clevis pin but he said some maniac tried to strap a bomb to his back once so since then, he doesn't work for humans anymore. Guess I'll need to buy another one...or find one off of an old adjuster I cut off the backstay.

My PO, or the original dealer has put the ringdings to the outside of the shrouds. I know I've looked at this a few times over the last couple years and thought this is not a good idea and I need to flip them around...of course, I never did it yet. Sure enough, one of the rings on the starboard side is all stretched out of shape and can work its way loose now too. I think I'll put the mast raising gear on tomorrow and flip all these around to the inside and maybe while I'm at it, I'll slap some electrical tape on the rings too so that they won't get caught on anything. I got lucky today and am not going to tempt fate again!

[Idle Time]

Yup....when you see something you think needs doing or replacing...do it...on our Catalina 22, (prior to Mac X) we had plastic covered shrouds. I had read this wasnt real good on a boat in saltwater since you couldnt see any damage to shrouds.....one day I thought I saw a glint of light on the starboard shroud. We looked it all over...checked the cracked plastic...no shiny stuff....we were planning to sell the boat and didnt want to put more money into it.....you know where I'm going.....a few weeks later we get caught in a microburst and bam....there goes the shroud...sails in the water....mast bent and overboard....same shroud I thought I saw the glint on. We did manage to get the mast welded and were back on the water in 3 days.

[zuma hans 1]

Kamper:

I might suggest learning how to step the mast without the mast-rigger. It's not that hard, I do it by myself and use a kid to insert the pin on the forestay while I hold it up.

Doing it without the rigger is faster and easier, as far as I'm concerned, although it does require more brute strength.

[aya16]

How do you fit the kid in the hole in the forestay?

[Beam's Reach]

Good one, Aya!

[Catigale]

might suggest learning how to step the mast without the mast-rigger.

Without the furler and genoa this isnt too hard - with the genny/furler the flopping of the foresail makes it tougher due to torque on the mast as you are trying to mount/pin/raise it.

A simple trick to alleviate this is to put a bungy through the bottom of the CDI furler and hook it onto the mast mount on the bow pulpit just before you lift the mast.

- keeps the genny from sliding sideways
- Puts a little force helping you lift mast
- easy to implement/remove

[zuma hans 1]

How do you fit the kid in the hole in the forestay?

A mallet usually works.

[K9Kampers]

zuma,

I may try to step the mast without the mast-rigger sometime - just for the sake of trying it. But...there's never a capable kid around when you need one. Nor has the admiral been around for a mast raising either. I could pluck someone off the dock at the ramp, but since I'm a DIYer, the mast-rigging system works just as quick. I do like Catigales bungy idea on the furler tho.

[delevi]

What are baby stays? If you're referring to the stays on the mast raising unit, use them every time. My first time lowering the mast, I tried doing so without the stays and almost lost it going sideways. I caught it in time, cranking it back up and installing the stays. I wouldn't leave them in place permanently though. As for raising/lowering without the mast raiser... for me, this is not possible, due to the tightness of my rig. My forestay has been shortened via turnbuckle to reduce mast rake and my upper shrouds are quite tight to induce some mast bend. Without the power of the mast raising winch, there is no way I would be able to pin my forestay. It is a great rig configuration, however, which I would highly recommend to anyone sailing in heavy winds. I cannot take credit for this. The rig setup was achieved over time, thanks to the great advice I got from the wonderful people on this forum.

Fair Winds,
Leon

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I leave my baby stays on permanently but when the mast is up, they are quite loose. In fact, the way I now adjust them is that they have to be just barely long enough to get the mast attached to the step. (ie, when you are rolling the mast from the trailering position to the stepped position). They can stay on even when the mast is bolted to the bow pulpit (trailering position).

[Chip Hindes]

I wouldn't leave them [baby stays] in place permanently though.

Don't know why not. In six years I've never taken mine off. I'm the only one who goes up on deck or to the mast to do stuff, and I can recall no instance wherin I've thought, "Boy, those suckers are in the way; wish I'd taken them off."

I'm open to the fact that with an M, if they're too tight they could restrict mast rotation.

[Catigale]

I do like Catigales bungy idea on the furler tho.

Chip H - was this another one of your ideas I stole and am now getting credit???