Looks like a Mac capsized in RI

[cmeperform]

Has anyone done a mod on the main hatchway to seal it up better?
Make it water tight?

[Québec 1]

I put a hole in mine for the solar fan so that when the water comes in it is powered by a wee solar propeller.

[ROAD Soldier]

cmemperform wrote

Has anyone done a mod on the main hatchway to seal it up better?
Make it water tight?

Dude if your 26X, 26M, or any other kind of Mac is underwater long enough that the little bit of air gap in the Companion way becomes an issue you are defiantly sailing in condition far beyond the capability of a Mac of any kind including the 65ft one. Also you need air gaps us humans need oxygen to breathe.

[cmeperform]

Well then,I guess you never plan on waves crashing over your boat? I know I didn't.
Happens though.
I moved onto a little calmer waters.Now it's hurricanes.
Just don't matter.A watertight mainhatch would have been
a great idea.Guess Macgregor didn't think it was necessary.
Also,bugs get in while the boat is not being used.

[cmeperform]

I wouldn't call the air gap a "little air gap"Everytime I steam the boat
off afterwards it gets a little wet inside.I'm not saying I want a watertight hatch
so I can go turn over in high seas.I'm saying it would be a good option & has
anyone done a mod like that?I can sit here & think of a hundred reason it
would be a good idea.A person could still have enough air I think.

[ROAD Soldier]

Unless there is rainwater blowing parallel to the ground like this Nor' Easter that is starting to taper off right now and is hitting you from the rear I don’t see how water is going to get in. Waves crashing over the front shouldnt get in unless your front seal on Companion Way hatch is bad. We are talking about the Companion Way right? Not the small hatch at the front in which if that is leaking you defiantly need a new seal. Now as far as keeping bugs out in Florida, where I attended college, good luck with that one.

[cmeperform]

All I can find on the mod tracker is a flap jack sparrow put on his companion way to cover the airgap.
That seems like about the only thing one could do.

[ROAD Soldier]

Oh there it is on page 7 of 8 mod pages for that individual. Those one holds merits give it a try. You still will not keep bugs out while you are not in it unless you duct tape all openings. However while you are in it use bug screens, insect candles, or since you do live in Florida get a generator and Billy A/C mod or something of the like because bugs don’t like dry cold air, unless you are in Alaska where giant Mosquitoes are practically armored plated.

[SkiDeep2001]

Somebody mentioned a few months a go that they used, I think, a windshield rubberset gasket to seal between the hatch and the door. They said it made almost a perfect seal. You might want to look into it. I searched for it in mods but no luck. I think it was mentioned as an aside in another topic. I used to have an auto glass business and the gaskets are about the right size and have a lip that would slide on hatch edge and could be glued on with 5200. Rob

[Russ]

Has anyone done a mod on the main hatchway to seal it up better?
Make it water tight?

This tread has a solution by ALX357 for sealing it.

QUOTE:


This neoprene sheet is folded double, and looped over a handle inside the slider hatch edge .... then trimmed to make it cover the larger holes at the side of the closed hatch, and mostly seal the long gap between the hatchboard and the slider cover.





Neoprene sheet, like used in roofing, or tile shower under pan, flexible but tough. After any shower tile installation, there is some of this stuff left over for trash....

This hatch baffle mod, or whatever you want to call it, has been in place for about three years now, no appreciable wear or problems. It seals the gaps pretty well, and hardly ever needs any attention, just seals up against the hatchbord and those large holes pretty much keeping out wasps etc. when closed. I have three solar fan vents in the boat, and two additonal passive ones, which provide enough ventilation to afford closing this area of the hatch gaps.

The handle you might notice on the inside of the hatch-board is lined up to share the holes for mounting the outside handle, which has two threaded bolts .... The inside handle is slid over those bolts sticking in from the outside, and then held by nyloc nuts, sandwiching the board between the two handles, inside and outside. This makes the hatch board easier to move from either side, and place in this position, and also in the alternate use as a bulkhead in the cockpit at the transom, under the back of the helm seat, to cut down on sound from the motor, keep the coclpit more closed at the stern, and to keep it out of the way when the cabin is opened.

[ROAD Soldier]

Thanks a lot Russ there is another mod I got to add to my list for January.

[MD Dunaway]

I've really enjoyed this thread as it relates to the characteristics of water ballast. I had never really thought about it before. When the boat is in its normal state (sailing and not full of water) water ballast works just fine. I think the discussion stressed the importance of keeping the ballast completely full. This is not rocket science -- it says so in the manual (just RTM). This further elaborates on this--i.e. keeping the ballast tank full of water is no joke. The really good thing about water ballast is that it will not drag you to the bottom like lead (once water ballast is submerged it doesn't even act as ballast anymore. It might even add to buoyancy if the tank material floats or there is any air in the tank. It is important to understand the characteristics of the water ballast and how it is different from fixed ballast like lead. In reality once one has a bit of bad luck and ends up with a boat full of water what real difference does it make if the boat floats right side up or on its side. "six of one half dozen of the other". Mike

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Clearly you don't even need a really big flood to reduce the water ballast's effectiveness. The tops of our tanks aren't even 12" above the bottom. Just a partial flood that brings water up to the exterior water line inside the boat will negate any ballast effect until you start to heel enough to lift the tank above the surface.

That said, of our 2,000+ miles cruising with 5 on board under way over the last 9 years, over 90% of it has been with an empty ballast tank. We have been through many rough passages and the boat has never behaved badly or shown any sign of unpredictable or excessive rolling. Even with an empty tank it stays upright. We don't make any special effort to keep weight low, although all our lockers are full of stuff, and we have all often been up on deck on the cabin top at the same time without any issues. Not even a glimmer of instability has ever come to light. I have no concerns about the stability of our X with an empty tank, and with the extra 150lbs of resin poured around the daggerboard trunk of the M, stability when the tank is empty should be of no concern in that boat either.

In each of the previous "Turtle" events something outside the normal operation of the boat has occurred and I'm sure that we will find this is another such case. When operated normally by a prudent skipper these boats are well behaved and are actually safer than many boats out there as they really have proven their un-sinkability in all these "Turtle" events. Everyone of them has been towed back to the dock still floating.

[opie]

Duane,
While my fear-factor has gone up a notch hearing all this, that fear is a healthy regard for the sea or river or lake. Things do bite sometimes. But, to back up your comments, early this summer I had a senior moment and sailed all pm without ballast, not by design, but by forgetting to fill the ballast which is my sailing rule. It was about 12 kts of wind, the admiral was below with her passle of magazines, and I healed over to 15+ degrees often, having fun as usual. I honestly never realized I had no ballast. I was shocked when we anchored later and found out. So I do not really understand the physics of the Mac. What does it really take to knock it down? I would be willing to pitch in a few bucks for someone with an old stripped Mac that they do not mind getting wet, to take all of our guesses and try to lay the boat down with ballast and without, with load up high and load down low, with heavy weight up high on the mast (like a dingy..... jk...), etc, with a camera rolling. I'd like to know how close I was to capsizing that day by tacking all over the place in the wind like I did. Bottom line so far is that I too feel safe on the Mac. I almost had a knockdown on entering an inlet a couple of months ago and with ballast, the boat slid right back up quickly. After reading all this, I will have my hatches closed next time anyway.

[Don T]

Hello,
I suppose that's one lesson to learn here, don't take on water (applies to all boats, nothing new there). I have felt instability with my mac. Summer of 2008 there was a pretty good wind storm going on 30+ kts and we were stuck at Sucia waiting it out. We were out of time and had to leave. The boat felt "tippy" until I had everyone go below and center. Granted it was really rough confused water with big waves from 2 directions but getting them below made a big difference. The ballast tank was empty so I could throttle up quickly gaining speed to pilot between wave sets. I honestly think the ride would have been rougher, wetter and longer if the tank had been full. One thing for sure I forgot about until I was out there was the bimini. Every time the boat rolled, the wind caught the underside of it and held the boat on a heel for a few nervous seconds. No chance to take it down while we were out there, couldn't take my hand from the wheel. I'll never forget that again. This thread has made me question my decision regarding ballast in those conditions. What if all this time I was just lucky!
Another time I had a friend watching the ballast tank vent while filling in rough water. When he thought it was full he closed the valves. I did not double check and it was only 3/4 full. Scared the pee wahs out of me trying to handle the boat in broaching waves. I ended up piloting straight down wind then scarily coming about and taking the waves angled on the bow then back downwind, essentially tacking my way to get in lee of San Juan Island (Haro Strait crossing from Sydney). I learned that lesson well and it's not been repeated. The skipper is in charge and responsible for everything, no being in a hurry.
Duane, you have your boat pretty loaded with three big batteries secured and what not, I'm wondering how much that contributes to your stability running empty? After all batteries are lead ballast.