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Wow !!!! Mastreb.... You made that sound soooooo easy....LOL I look forward to seeing some photo's of His progress too.

mastreb wrote:Keep us posted with your plans!

Here's what I'd do...

1) Remove rudders, pedestal, and helm entirely and plate over the cockpit hole. Then put teak decking over the cockpit. Leave all the fiddly bits so they can be replaced when you sell.

2) Go to Baystar hydraulic system on the o/b, with the helm moved to either the port or starboard forward cockpit beside the companionway hatch. Make sure the hole you drill is small enough and in the correct location to be replaced by a compass for the next owner.

3) Raymarine EV-100 for hydraulic with the p70r head. Put the p70r inside the cabin so you can "power steer" with the dial. Put the chartplotter inside the cabin as well.

4) BWY full enclosure, cockpit cushions.

5) Snap-in canvas panel to close the engine well to cockpit throughway.

Done!

Lets see now:-

1, Rudders already gone, agree with the rest.
2, Have been thinking about hydraulic, but having just replaced the Teleflex cable I might have problems sneaking that out of the purse.
3, Will need to be Garmin for me, as that's what my plotter and sounder are.
4, sadly the cost of getting the enclosure to the Falklands is as much as the purchase price, think I will need a homemade solution, and I am better with Fibreglass than a sewing machine!!
5, again I think this will wind up as a fibreglass panel, perhaps hinged.

No rush yet gat all summer to plot and plan.....

JohnCFI wrote:

mastreb wrote:Keep us posted with your plans!....

.... I think this will wind up as a fibreglass panel, perhaps hinged......

I like the simplicity and revesibility of Mastreb's plan; but I have had some experience with a full canvas/plastic-window enclosure on a Mac, and it was too unstable and fiddly for my taste. I would prefer a solid fibreglass structure that you could grab hold of to haul yourself over-or-around in accessing the deck; and a flat hard windshield. Yet as Mastreb suggests, it would be ideal to be able to convert back to standard design in case a future buyer hated your mod. One wonders whether something designed like the fibreglass aftermarket tops widely available for pickup-truck beds would be feasible. It would have to be tailored to the shape of the Mac cabin top, but could theoretically be lowered onto the boat and clipped in place. There would not have to be a watertight seal between the new fibreglass structure and the original boat hull. Built-in grabrails would be highly desirable. And for me, the aft half of the cockpit could be left entirely open.
Kittiwake

Before putting the Gypsy on her trailer , I made some runs to empty the ballast . With empty ballast it made a huge difference in top end and top RPMs

Before it was 5100 rpm and about 8 mph
With ballast empty it was 5500 rpm and 10.2 mph

All other conditions were the same , dirty bottom and fully loaded boat , including about 40 gallons of fresh water (300 lbs approx. )

When we demast I plan to run with the ballast empty so it will make a little difference in my trawler speed and fuel efficiency .

JohnCFI wrote: 3, Will need to be Garmin for me, as that's what my plotter and sounder are.

Why? I have a garmin chartplotter/sounder and the Raymarine autopilot. It all works perfectly fine together with no loss of function at all. You just have to chop the Raymarine connectors and replace them with field-installable NMEA 2000 connectors on two cables.

Let me know what chartplotter you have and I'll let you know if there will be any problems. If you've to anything modern with NMEA 2000, It'll work just fine.

Kittiwake wrote:One wonders whether something designed like the fibreglass aftermarket tops widely available for pickup-truck beds would be feasible. It would have to be tailored to the shape of the Mac cabin top, but could theoretically be lowered onto the boat and clipped in place. There would not have to be a watertight seal between the new fibreglass structure and the original boat hull. Built-in grabrails would be highly desirable. And for me, the aft half of the cockpit could be left entirely open.
Kittiwake

To accommodate something like this, I'd do an aft arch out of SS tubing, and then build a fiberglass canopy that could bolt to this and to the cabin forward stanchions. That way everything is sturdy and remains removable. Of course, this presumes I have some magical fiberglass skill that I don't have.

mastreb wrote:

JohnCFI wrote: 3, Will need to be Garmin for me, as that's what my plotter and sounder are.

Why? I have a garmin chartplotter/sounder and the Raymarine autopilot. It all works perfectly fine together with no loss of function at all. You just have to chop the Raymarine connectors and replace them with field-installable NMEA 2000 connectors on two cables.

Let me know what chartplotter you have and I'll let you know if there will be any problems. If you've to anything modern with NMEA 2000, It'll work just fine.

I have a Garmin 451S, coupled to a In Hull Sounder and connected also (via) NMEA 0183 to a Standard Horizon G2100E VHF/AIS....

Garmin 451s will work just fine with Raymarine EV-100 autopilot. Since you don't already use NMEA-2000, you can just use the Raymarine proprietary cables that come with the EV-100 and chop the one cable going to the chartplotter to put on the Garmin field-installable NMEA-2000 connector.

Ready through my post on the EV-100. All the info is there, and if you need help with the install I'm happy to help.

So could I still connect to the Standard Horizon VHF as it only has NMEA 0183, and still use the NMEA 2000??

Correct. Both 0183 and 2000 can work at the same time, no conflicts. Just leave it connected as is, then add an NMEA-2000 cable to the Garmin, bring it down through the helm pedestal through the existing cable clam and along the steering cable, then down through the stern cableway to the bilge raceway, and back forward to where-ever you're going to have your autopilot control head.

I recommend using a standard NMEA-2000 cable attached to the garmin and bring it inside the boat and connect it to the field-installable connector inside the skin of the boat rather than having the field-installable cable outside in the weather. A stock cable will definitely be more waterproof.

Search my EV-100 install, you'll see how I laid mine out. If you have any questions, just ask and I'll walk you through it.

Thanks for all of that, its now firmly on my wish list and a bit more affordable that what I was considering.....

Fair warning you need to stay out of my admirals path (she still reckons I spend too much on Stirling).....