MacGregorSailors.com

I want the tiller for sailing further out in the ocean - right now I limit myself to stay within 80 miles of the coastline but I would like to venture out to more like 400 miles off the coast but the waves out there are 30 feet tall and I need to make sure I can control the boat;

These are the things out there that keep me up at night:



Captain Currie did an interesting study on the M boat:



His comments are in the post: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 05#p171071

There is a lot of survivability to the M hull if you can manage to keep the rigging in one piece. I know the rudders are weak but the answer to that is to just attach a rudder to the outboard instead of using the stock rudders in a storm - easy fix.

I think the hull can be made waterproof pretty easy - and the whole point is to be able to turn turtle with no damage. If you can accomplish that, then the only thing left to do is figure out a way to control the boat - a tiller from inside the boat. I think a storm can be a survivable event if all these things are covered. As the picture shows above being in the cockpit makes you really exposed. Great for everyday sailing but not practical in a bad storm.

Boat
is this what u r looking for
http://www.ezyglide.com/mechanical-stee ... l-steering


J

Boat, why do you want to go 400 miles offshore in a Mac?

Personally, no way would I go that far! 30 foot waves? I have not seen 10 meter waves in a lot of years, but I do remember them being quite (read very) scary. I'm just picturing 10 meter waves in my head now with breaking crests of a few meters and imagining being in a Mac with the occasional tons of water crashing down on me - Bugger that @##!

With lots of buckling and flexing, the hull might survive it . The cockpit hatch probably would and possibly the front hatch with a few much better latches, but I doubt the windows would survive a rogue wave crashing down from "way" above. Yes, the rudders would certainly snap away if you had them on there. The outboard would probably spend a fair bit of time totally under water in real bad weather at sea. I know much stronger masts, booms, and rigging than what we have on the Mac, have bent, buckled and snapped on bigger yachts being knocked down in those kind of seas.

Coastal hopping okay, but I just dont know why you would want to go that far offshore in a boat like this. They are certainly not made to do it, and even if you did, and conditions were reasonable, it will be horribly uncomfortable and mentally/physically draining at sea even in fairly mild bad weather

Then again, I dont know what the seas are like in your area so thats Just my 2 cents based on my experiences of being at sea in much bigger boats in the Pacific in bad weather. So if you do any 400 mile offshore trips, make sure to post some videos

Some nice bad weather images (yes a few at the start are on bars and not at sea)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrtOyvRdkfk

I have added a tube tread to the orginal tube connected with a through bolt in the boat and the tiller connected to the new tube. Easy and direct steering!
I have moved the throttle and gear to the leeboard wall in the cockpit. Works good.

I have added a tube tread to the orginal tube connected with a through bolt in the boat and the tiller connected to the new tube. Easy and direct steering!
I have moved the throttle and gear to the leeboard wall in the cockpit. Works good. You can see the top on the throttle /gear arm on my picture.
I have also taken away the hingable seat as you see.
I am now adding an autopilot inside the boat type Garmin type Class A.It is not connected to the tiller arm but to to the rudder axis and manouvered from an instrument in the cockpit.

at Bertil:

What is your normal use? Motoring or sailing?

Nothing short of a zombie apocalypse would convince me to take the boat off shore like that. Not with out serious mods. Ones that the average sailor might not need or even want. (Resale value destroyed) Nor is the boat design appropriate.
The layout below is wrong. The rig is intended for a compromise between ease of setup, and strength.
How come those vintage skipjacks never get guff about not being offshore boats. No one blasts a black skimmer sharpie about not being offshore capable. The Macs are just high-tech sharpies. Nothing more. Made for shallow protected waters. Good keelboat are getting scrapped they are so plentiful. Buy one cheap or even get one free and take it deepwater sailing. When you return sell it Or scrap it and resume using the mac
Ix

Sorry guys, I'm heading out there - I have already been that far out on boats much worse than the MAC so I am not worried. I just need to make a few slight changes - nothing major needed. And in all my past travels offshore I have NEVER had the luxury of a 20 MPH powerboat under my sailboat. That right there takes 100 miles off any offshore passage in 6 hours. I think I can last 5 days out at sea.

The Pacific has been pretty friendly to me for many years - I would indeed be scared if I were talking about The Keys, or Atlantic Ocean or Pacific North West or even the Bay Area but down hereI the sea is more predictable.

I'm not worried - I will be heading out but I have plenty of time to prepare - retirement is still a few years away.

What is 400 miles out in the Pacific other than gnarly surfing waves atop a seamount?

For when things get realy rolly ou there, you prolly wanna get a 5-point harness fer the head. From there you can steer the autopilot by iPhone via Bluetooth and watch Capt. Ron on the flatscreen!

Well, we regularly take a launch 100 miles out to get to Cortes Bank to watch the surfers and that offshore break is 50 miles behind San Clemente Island. Now, San Clemente Island is an island only 50 miles away directly offshore of Oceanside Harbor (where I am) and on a clear day you can see the island quite well from your breakfast table at any restaurant in downtown Oceanside, So, that's only 100 miles out and as I write this today the seas are 8 feet around Cortes Bank and Cortes Bank is a tiny red spot of 15 foot swell. Not bad at all.




On this Saturday however, that same passage to Cortes Bank will mean sailing 20 foot seas and Cortes Bank will show a tiny spot of purple 30 foot breakers.



In the South Pacific there are lots of islands you can duck behind to get a shelter from a big swell, and the big swells seldom last more than a few days (unless your out in March, April, or May.)

I remember Cortez Bank! I had done some SCUBA diving out there 30 years ago, dive instructors college. We were on a multi-day dive trip, aboard either the m/v Sand Dollar or the m/v Bottom Scratcher, out of San Diego. It was awesome to be so far out watching breakers so big and not see land anywhere. When we weren't doing rescue board training, a couple of the dive boat crew took the rescue boards to surf the seamount. On the journey out there, were stopped at San Clemente Island for a night dive in the cove at China Point.

K9Kampers wrote:I remember Cortez Bank! I had done some SCUBA diving out there 30 years ago, dive instructors college. We were on a multi-day dive trip, aboard either the m/v Sand Dollar or the m/v Bottom Scratcher, out of San Diego. It was awesome to be so far out watching breakers so big and not see land anywhere. When we weren't doing rescue board training, a couple of the dive boat crew took the rescue boards to surf the seamount. On the journey out there, were stopped at San Clemente Island for a night dive in the cove at China Point.

Yeah, there is great anchorage on the south end but the north end usually is restricted for military exercise. Much calmer seas than Smugglers Cove up in the Channel Islands - with these swell charts it so easy to navigate the Southern Cal chains a child could do it. One or two buoy readings out past the 250 mile mark and you can calculate the nearshore conditions with extreme reliability because this area is all deep water and not prone to the currents and gyres that are so common on the east coast.

Mostly only locals know about the Bank, but we have been running the Cortes Bank for 40 years! It's fun in a sailboat because you can loiter at a nice slow pace and get some really good surfing pictures.

I sailed a 21 foot Aquarius with a buddy to Cortes Bank when I was 17 years old - we had a blast. It's the passage further south through the Coronado's that kills people - lot of race boats lost there trying to get to Ensenada from Newport. We passed through one year on our way from San Clemente to Mexico back in 1978 - I had the motor down the whole way through the pass because I was afraid the wind would shift on me and drive me into the rocks. I wanted to be ready.

@ Boat: Does google has a wave forecast? Where you can find these wave/wind pics with google earth???

kurz wrote:@ Boat: Does google has a wave forecast? Where you can find these wave/wind pics with google earth???

I use "Swellwatch" - it's a site created by surfers over here in Carlsbad. They get the SoCal reports dead on every time probably because they are right here next door but I'm sure there must be similar services near Australia and Canada and other countries too.

ok thanks. They have no data for me (mediteranean see).