MacGregorSailors.com

After weeks of paper shuffling and cleanup of my new-to-me boat I finally got her wet last weekend.

It was mainly a rig/launch/recover runthrough for myself & The Admiral, it took hours to get everything together having never done it before.

There were the expected things... and a few unexpected ones.

Curious onlookers during rigging asked questions like "how's that thing sail?", "How long does it take to rig"... Like I knew!

It turned wind and by launch time it was blowing 10-20mph gusting to 24.
The ramp was protected from the wind, so that helped, and we managed a clean launch.

The ICW was a sea of whitecaps, where we live it's 5-12', and it churns up when the wind gets going.

Once on the water the boat without ballast, sails stowed, seemed to hunt in long S shaped curves as we piloted into the wind out into the ICW. Not sure if adding ballast would have helped. We motered with the BF50 at about 5-7mph to a protected cove for a fine dinner of tuna sandwiches before heading back before we lost light.

We got better at managing the steering but it was really easy to pull a 360 if you weren't paying attention and anticipating the next swell.

So I still haven't gotten my sails in the air, but at least we got on the water, launched & rigged, recovered, got a feel for heavy wind, anchored & managed to get back in one piece.

Observations:

o "Stay adjusters" stink. They may keep people from overtightening their rig but they've kinked every time I've raised the mast and they appear to be a Micky Mouse item to me. Mine don't even look to be in that great of shape, I didn't see 'em at West Marine, maybe they don't bother stocking them. Also, can replacement stays be found or do they have to be made up?

o The X model mast raising setup also gets a solid "C" from me because it's hard to crank up, and going down you're using your paws instead of a geared winch. It's a creepy feeling being in the kill zone letting that mast down a foot at a time. I like the look of the "M" style ginpole/winch affair.

o Rudders are hard to raise/lower, I think a 2:1 pulley mod like I've seen here it a worthy project.

o Slightly more annoying than kinking stays is how difficult it is getting the furler pinned. Very hard to exert enough force to get the furler pinned, definitely takes two people, one pulling, one pinning. Perhaps different rigging would help here too.

o A clasp in a lifeline would help mast raising greatly. (Pelican hook?)

o The Honda 50 purred like a kitten, almost too quiet. Until it stopped pi$$ when we restarted after dinner. She's at the OB repair shop now, the boat sat unused for a long time, probably an impeller or junk in a tube.
Still, we took it easy and it got us back without overheating. I don't like where the control is, ankle high on the starboard cockpit side. I'd like to put a control on the binnacle.

While I was kind of annoyed at the motoring performance a friend asked us if we were out in all that wind Saturday & said he was bruised all over from being thrashed on his fishing boat by all of the wave action. So I reserve comment until I've had a chance on calmer seas. Even as squirrely as it was, more power (speed) seemed to make steering a straight line easier and a nice groove was about 8-10 mph.

All in all it was still a great afternoon!

Reads a bit like my maiden voyage. Did I read correctly that the Intracoastal Waterway in Central Florida gets 5 - 12 foot seas? Really?

Chip S.

FWIW..

our Honda BF 50 had a bad impeller when it was delivered on our 26M. The dealer paid for the repair.

on the furler. I can do it alone on deck. I take a piece of rope and tie it in a circle, wrap it around the furler drum and step on it and it puts enough tention on it so i can slide the pin.

Have some pics on my site showing how I do it (middle of the page; click to enlarge):
http://home.comcast.net/~26m/mods/mod1/

I have no issue with the stay adjusters. I just make sure when the mast is halfway up that they are in the right position. The M raiser is nice..so you can leave it up at any angle. And you are in front of it so there is no chance it can fall on you.


(search terms: foot loop, foot-loop)

argonaut wrote:We got better at managing the steering but it was really easy to pull a 360 if you weren't paying attention and anticipating the next swell.

Must not have had a rudder and the centerboard down while motoring 5-7mph.

Erik Hardtle's 26M mast raising system on an X worked out really well for me. It ratchets up and down so you can stop the process anywhere. It folds up out of the way against the mast so it never has to be removed. Erik supplied all the part numbers, directions and photos so it is an easy install.

Mast Raising System - look under modifications

Chip wrote:Reads a bit like my maiden voyage. Did I read correctly that the Intracoastal Waterway in Central Florida gets 5 - 12 foot seas? Really?

I had the same thought at first, but I'm not guessing he means 5-12 ft. water (which causes choppier conditions).

--Mike

Chip wrote:Reads a bit like my maiden voyage. Did I read correctly that the Intracoastal Waterway in Central Florida gets 5 - 12 foot seas? Really?

Yea, once you get near the really nice houses on the ICW (like Tierra Verde where I was last weekend), you can easily get a 5 foot wave off of the 50+ foot luxury poweryachts that blast close by you at 30 knots What a bunch of arseholes that lot are...

Argonaut, these boats track horribly at slow speeds without some board down. On the X, you need to put it down at least a few inches to make the boat track straight. I expect it is similar with the M's daggerboard.

One tip about pulling up the rudders....make sure that your arm/hand is way out the back of the boat..as far as you can get it. When you learn to pull the rudders up like that, they actually come up pretty easily.

And put turnbuckle covers over the stay adjusters to keep them lined up. I even have them on the backstay and baby stays.

--
Moe

No, not 5-10' -seas-, (Yikes!). I meant that the water's only 5-10 feet deep in the ICW and a lot more shallow in places, except of course the channel.

The sailing is a bit like Tampa bay, the shallow water seems to have more chop in a given wind than deeper water.
I think wave period's related to depth...

Thanks Moe....
I saw some "turnbuckle covers" at WestMarine... and some clear vinyl tubing for $0.67 /ft at the hardware store.
Think I'm goin' with the vinyl.

I didn't think I could have board/rudders down at >5mph.

So the best motoring through chop trim for doing say 5-10mph, is no ballast, a few inches of board, and one rudder?

I believe the limit for board/rudders up/down is usually considered to be 7mph in smooth water. Though I have run mine down at slightly higher speeds occasionally, I don't believe it's something you'd want to do on a regular basis.

In heavy chop or a seaway, I prefer to run full ballast with no foils down, or at very most, a few inches of centerboard to maintain directional control, no rudders. I suppose each situation has to be taken as a whole, it all depends on period of the waves, whether bow to, stern to, beam or quartering, but I find the boat is easily "tripped" over its own centerboard if you run too much of it, and that will in turn cause it to roll.

The loads on the rudders in this situation are just too high; even if you don't break the rudders themselves you might break the steering gear, and then you forfeit all control.

And certainly, before you consider dumping ballast in a bad seaway, remember the boat is not self righting with empty ballast. I'd much prefer a little pounding to the possibility that, if it rolls, it will stay over.

On a 97 the rudders are easy to raise if you just flip the lifting rope over the aluminum rudder head bracket to improve the lifting angle. It is very easy and becomes automatic after you do it a few times. Might be a good idea to have a chart showing the best configuration of rudders, centerboard and ballast for different weather and speed conditions.

I agree with Chip that if the waves are large enough to really be throwing the boat around like a toy, then raise the rudders or something will break.
Otherwise if it is in a bay and just some steep chop, whitecaps and wind, I tend to motor ballasted with rudders down, maybe a foot of centerboard down and plug along at 6 to 7 mph. Heck, the boat with sail at 7-8 mph, so the rudders have to be able to handle this. In this mode the boat steers very well.

If you are in a shallow bay make sure you have the rudders rigged to kickup if they hit ground. (use heavy bungee in place of the holddown line, or use one of the quikc release cleat ideas people have come up with.) Otherwise you will be buying new or repairing the existing rudders.

Yea, I don't worry about my boards being down until I am at 9-10 mph or so (on the verge of a plane). And for that matter, if the CB is just down a little bit (skeg mode), I've gone full speed before without any ill effects. I wouldn't do this with the rudders down though. I believe the boards have to be nearer to a vertical position before they will start rolling the boat. The same holds true with windsurfers and dinghys.

"Stay adjusters" stink. They may keep people from overtightening their rig but they've kinked every time I've raised the mast and they appear to be a Micky Mouse item to me. Mine don't even look to be in that great of shape, I didn't see 'em at West Marine, maybe they don't bother stocking them. Also, can replacement stays be found or do they have to be made up?

Its important to have all 4 shrouds up on top of the lifelines, forward of the stanchion before you start raising. This way, the vernier adjusters are kept "taught" and upright which virtually eliminates kinking.

o The X model mast raising setup also gets a solid "C" from me because it's hard to crank up, and going down you're using your paws instead of a geared winch. It's a creepy feeling being in the kill zone letting that mast down a foot at a time. I like the look of the "M" style ginpole/winch affair.

Did you put a couple wraps around the winch? I find that it goes up pretty darn easily between the block/tackle and the winch. I have a furler, with genoa/UV cover so it is about as heavy as it gets. On the way down, I tend to go to one wrap otherwise the line gets fouled on itself on the winch. I don't mind the X raising system because it allows me to guide the mast onto the crutch as its coming down.

I agree that the block and tackle on the X seems to take all the effort out of mast raising/lowering. I've only done it three or four times but I was amazed that there seemed to be almost no weight at all at the winch. In fact when lowering, with just one turn on the winch, I let a few inches of line out at a time and needed to wiggle the slack line to encourage it to run back through the block and tackle (even when the mast was half way down). I began to think the line was snagged in the block and tackle but this wasn't the case. Presumably the pulleys plus the friction take all the weight out.

Good point about the crutch. You are able to guide the mast in with the standard setup.

Mast raising seems a 2 person job regardless, though maybe slightly less with the M-type raiser since it's reversible winch permits you to stop anywhere and walk around and clear snags or align the crutch.
It's just creepy with the standard raiser going down, with one loop around the winch, knowing if you slip and let go you're in the "kill zone".

Mike, I think the 4 to 1 block system on the raiser makes the weight "feel" light. Compared to other boats the Mac's mast is light. I was surprised at how little tension there was too.

I still think my forestay's too tight. Well, maybe the backstay... Anyway it take's all 180 lbs of me and another person doing the pinning to get it done.

Since I've found my port shroud adjuster replaced with a turnbuckle and I found a Loos gauge on board, I fear the PO may have experimented with adjusting the rigging making my forestay tighter than you'd ordinarily find.