MacGregorSailors.com

The BWY custom steering is a good system, we have not had ours ever come off on personal boats or on our demo boats, or had problems with customers boats. It is solid and is a custom built item for us. For those of you sailing with your motors attached to the steering I really would recommend not doing that! If you kick up the motor while it is attached so that you can sail without a sea anchor, you will have a lot of load on the wheel making steering very difficult. Also, if you heel a lot going upwind and that motor flops to the low side it will take the steering with it. This can potentially be putting you in a fairly dangerous situation, close hauled but 90 degrees or more to the wind! The custom steering is easy to use, and fairly easy to install. And, you can now actually feel the boat sailing! Cheryl

The boats respond much better to kicking the motor up than the boats imhe....Im sure it has to do with a better transom release on the

But that blue gel coat will slow you to a virtual crawl every time....

Have it installed on my M. There is an E-clip retaining ring the holds the slide lock on the shaft. Popped mine off once while switching from motor to sail. No problems since. Turning radius to starboard not as tight as to port.

I have built something similar in 2006. Essentially it uses 2 rod end bearings mounted on an aluminum tube (see mod). BWY solution is simpler to remove and insert. My mod however can be adjusted as one rod end bearing can be screwed in/out aligning the engine with the rudders. Also, the end will not come off as I use a clip to hold it in place. When sailing, the link is attached to a fix point and it is adjusted to be straight. This way, if I suddenly need power, I can quickly lower the engine and use it.

I thought the BWY system also had a ball that mounted on the deck to terminate the engine link quick disconnect rod end onto when sailing, but I could be wrong. Having the engine secured straight ahead when sailing would be important to me, since you can just drop the engine and go after someone in the water (for instance), as you said.

I was planning on adding that upgrade this season. Maybe I should find out from BWY before spending the cash.

It does have the fix ball to allow the engine to be secured in a straight position. I think I've seen 2 complains it pops out when the engine is raised. I have only seen it in pictures so I can't see how its length can be adjusted. This is important to align the rudders with the engine. The push to lock, sounds like a good idea.
Overall I like BWY system but I also like saving some money. The one I've built is ~ 30$.

It does have a fixed ball mounted in the well. The length is adjustable at both ends. It's important to make sure that the joints are aligned so that it doesn't bind when up or down.

MacGregor should have made the BWY linkage standard. It simply works. Best money you can spend on a Mac.

Here's a great discussion on it. Jim has a great video demoing how easy it is to use.
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... &hilit=bwy


Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToUB-ox3 ... AAAAAAAAAA

the motor requires very little force to keep it centered as it is balanced (can do with one finger once centered). Once off to the side the mass of the engine asserts itself. So unless the stationary mount was installed improperly MAYBE just maybe it could fail. The only way I could see and issue is if the locking slip wasn't engaged properly and it slipped off. I always rotate until it is properly seated.

I have a 26M with the etech 60 and am considering the quick disconnect from BWY. Does anyone have a picture they can post for this set up?

Check their website. They have a picture there
Also there are videos on this thread

Here's my set-up on my M
Front eng. brkt
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010075.jpg

Front eng. brkt with connecting rod
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010074.jpg

Brkt with ball stud for disconnecting the eng.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010007.jpg

steering disconnected for sailing
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010009.jpg

steering quick disconnect rod connected for power steering
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010006.jpg

Remember this set-up is for the 26M I had to shorten the quick disconnect rod quite a bit for this set up on my merc 75HP 4 stroke the length of the rod will be deteminded by the size & type of eng. u have
hope this helps

J

I have installed this two years ago and it works fine. Until I installed autopilot I used it every time, it makes for a better feel of the helm when sailing. After I had autopilot installed last year I frequently forget to disconnect the motor, it really doe not make much difference for the autopilot.

I just use the factory disconnect with no problems. It's simple and cheap.

I did modify it to use a "quick disconnect pin" instead of a bolt and nut for the engine attach. It's really quick and it will not fail. It takes less than a minute to attach or detach.

Song "boats & h's, boats and H'sss", my fellow Americans you are all having a ball taking about yours macs, it is great to get modifications like a taller mast or more power and ask here on these blogs, your opinion before the investment, that's actually very smart and I am pretty sure that Macgregor, Evinrude, Mercury and Suzuki are happy among other good brands.
Remember the reason why you bought a Mac instead of other boats, you go out on the water and have fun, lots of it, because other folks are spending 400 dollars or even 1000 every 6 hours topping off the fuel tanks, on boats that are only 28 foot to 35 on size. I see allot of boats collecting baricles and paying for an insurance on a boat that is sitting down not sailing. You can go fishing, water skiing , scuba diving and sailing.
Be proud of the freedom your little boat gives you. Cheers!!!