Possibly buying a Mac 25 and looking for some advice

[Doug91mac26s]

Inside of the cabin, the ceiling (not sure of nautical terms here ) just looks as though it came painted, under the flakes of paint I can seethe weave of fiberglass throughout the cabin. Someone did try to paint over the fakes though, which is pretty funny. I'll have to take a few pictures, it seems this is just the way they were built. The actual deck on the topside has a gelcoat though. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it all.

My guess is that a PO removed carpet that once covered the ceiling, and painted over the raw fiberglass, possibly remnants of glue and all.

[zoneboy]

Inside of the cabin, the ceiling (not sure of nautical terms here ) just looks as though it came painted, under the flakes of paint I can seethe weave of fiberglass throughout the cabin. Someone did try to paint over the fakes though, which is pretty funny. I'll have to take a few pictures, it seems this is just the way they were built. The actual deck on the topside has a gelcoat though. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it all.

My guess is that a PO removed carpet that once covered the ceiling, and painted over the raw fiberglass, possibly remnants of glue and all.

Probably, but there is still carpet on the very top. I took a few photos today, of the interior I caught a few of the paint chips.



In the above you can see the carpet, and some of the peeling paint.



Out of curiosity, does anyone know if paint stripper will damage the fiberglass. I was thinking of using it, to get rid of all of the paint and then just redoing it with Rustolium topside paint.

This one is a closeup of an area that has had a lot of paint peel off.

I have a bunch more, if you want to take a look.. I went a bit mad with my camera today
http://s1175.photobucket.com/albums/r63 ... er%20pics/

[Steve K]

zoneboy,
OH, okay inside the boat (cabin roof)
A lot of older boats had that speckled, or spiderweb paint finish on the inside. It ALWAYS has been flaking off on every one I've ever seen.
My D boat has gel-coat finish in throughout the cabin, but has this flaky stuff in the cabinet under the sink and back in the rear storage compartment. And yes, it's flaking off in my boat too.

When you get to that point, scrape all the loose stuff off, or sand it. Wipe it down good with acetone and then just repaint it, or cover it with headliner material. I like the different headliner materials. You just use spray glue to install it. I'm in a very dry part of California so I'm not sure if this would be an good option for your area. Ask people in your area if humidity would cause a mildew problem with these materials.

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[zoneboy]

You are an invaluable source of information Steve, thanks again. I read your article regarding gelcoat repair, and probably will use it later on for my pop top. There are several spider cracks on it, and also a few around the mast step. I'm starting to be thankful I went with a smaller sailboat, this is quite a learning experience.

Out of curiosity, if those tiny blisters I was speaking about do ooze in the future, what sort of work would be involved to fix such an issue. I saw a post on this site dated from 2006, in which someone seemed to have a similar problem to mine and he said that he lightly sanded the bottom to where the blisters would open up and let the boat sit for a few months. After he coated the bottom with Interlux Interprotect 2000/2001, and a couple of coats of anti fouling. The thread can be found here: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... f=7&t=6533

[Catigale]

If you are going to trailer sail the boat, you can hold off on the blister repair. Pop them, let them dry, then inspect them periodically. If you wet slip, you should deal with them. Of course, arguably an old boat that has some blisters but has no structural issues in the FG is laid up well .....

[zoneboy]

Thanks Catigale, do you think they would be okay for a few days in the water here and there?

[Catigale]

Absolutely. Pick a couple of spots, take pictures and monitor over time. Ill bet you see little or no progression.

My sailing comrades in France regard blister repair as one the biggest scams in boating. It seems like over there they regard this as something cosmetic you fix when you sell the boat, maybe.

[zoneboy]

Absolutely. Pick a couple of spots, take pictures and monitor over time. Ill bet you see little or no progression.

My sailing comrades in France regard blister repair as one the biggest scams in boating. It seems like over there they regard this as something cosmetic you fix when you sell the boat, maybe.

Thanks Catigale, that is gonna make my life a lot easier.. cause there are thousands of the little suckers under there. One more question for all of you out there, and I apologize for being a pain here.



Those gelcoat cracks, are they gonna kill the fiberglass above them? I think this is where, the boat was resting on the trailer and had a rather large indent (It popped out after we replaced the wooden support trunk). I smacked on it a few times, and it feels as sturdy as any other part of the hull and checking under the settee in the cabin I saw no signs of fiberglass damage.

As a side note, the more I work on the boat, the more I am starting to like her.. I found myself feeling bad for the boat, and not myself while cleaning the underside. That, despite fire ants chewing away at me, my arms being burned up by acid creeping down my gloves, and aching arms from scrubbing what felt like forever. She has not had the attention a boat deserves in years.

[Steve K]

zoneboy,

You're good to go. enjoy her and treat her well. She'll love you for it.

It's a relative thing and it is true that blisters and cracks in gel-coat don't really hurt a thing (unless you're a performance freak, like I am). You can dry sail her for years in her current condition (dry sailed meaning stored on trailer).
Work on things as you get time and $$$ and don't worry too much about the condition of the hull, as long as she doesn't leak Also, no need to fret keeping her in the water multiple days.

Enjoy learning how to sail her.
Actually, the hull looks much better than I expected, since you cleaned it. You have already improved performance by doing this, to some extent also.
Remember too, that I mentioned boat pox on my own boat (areas of hundreds of micro blisters). You may be able to see them if you zoom some of the pics I posted (little dark specs on the gel-coat). This will only by worrisome if the wife opens certain storage areas inside the boat and sees the daylight shining in through them

The only precaution is I will let the boat sit dry for a few weeks, here in the dry, high desert sun, before I actually refinish the bottom. But for now, I'm going sailing

Best Breezes,
Steve K.
Mac 26D "Three Sheets"

[Keel_Hauled]

Zoneboy,

Forgive me for not reading back to get he answer, but what stripper did you finally use on your hull ? I need to strip mine badly and it looks like what you used worked GREAT !!

~K

[zoneboy]

Zoneboy,

Forgive me for not reading back to get he answer, but what stripper did you finally use on your hull ? I need to strip mine badly and it looks like what you used worked GREAT !!

~K

I went the cheap rout and use sno bol toilet bowl cleaner I wouldn't suggest it because all I have to go with is what I have read on the Internet and my own hull experience. Doug91mac26s suggested EZ-ON EZ-OFF and I would have to agree with him, the stuff is used a lot with boats.. toilet bowl cleaner, I don't think so much Whatever you do, if you have a galvanized trailer avoid contact with it with either chemical.. I've read it can cause some damage.

[zoneboy]

zoneboy,

You're good to go. enjoy her and treat her well. She'll love you for it.

It's a relative thing and it is true that blisters and cracks in gel-coat don't really hurt a thing (unless you're a performance freak, like I am). You can dry sail her for years in her current condition (dry sailed meaning stored on trailer).
Work on things as you get time and $$$ and don't worry too much about the condition of the hull, as long as she doesn't leak Also, no need to fret keeping her in the water multiple days.

Enjoy learning how to sail her.
Actually, the hull looks much better than I expected, since you cleaned it. You have already improved performance by doing this, to some extent also.
Remember too, that I mentioned boat pox on my own boat (areas of hundreds of micro blisters). You may be able to see them if you zoom some of the pics I posted (little dark specs on the gel-coat). This will only by worrisome if the wife opens certain storage areas inside the boat and sees the daylight shining in through them

The only precaution is I will let the boat sit dry for a few weeks, here in the dry, high desert sun, before I actually refinish the bottom. But for now, I'm going sailing

Best Breezes,
Steve K.
Mac 26D "Three Sheets"

Thanks Steve, just a few things to do and she will be out on the water The back stay was damaged in the move, and the bow eye needs to be secured in place, and the bowsprit needs to be replaced. Well, that and I need to get an outboard.

[zoneboy]

Just some updates on the sailboat, and a question. I recently patched up a hole the original owner had sawed out on the port cockpit seat.. it doesn't look good, but it is much better than it was. At some point in the future I will probably redo the repair.



I just fiberglassed it from below, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. To prevent water from seeping in I later mixed some resin, and filled the open areas so water will not sit and delaminate the wood.

Now for the question I had, I'm pretty sure my rudder is toast. When I first looked it over, I thought it looked fine.. but it has dry rot in it. Check it out


I dug the hole out with a butter knife, it starts to get a bit firmer at the point that I stopped digging Anyone out there with a familiar rudder, that has had similar problems, and do you think it is salvageable? I'm thinking of just building a new rudder out of a plank of wood, the rudder measures about 1 1/2 inch thick, and about 12 inches wide.. More than likely, I'll just make a test rudder out of yellow pine using the same dimensions (just a bit wider). Nothing spectacular, just rounded edges.


First I have to get a few tools, so putting off the rudder for a little bit and moving on to fixing the Windstar, new inner and outer tierods, a master cylinder, and front right axle.. lol

[vizwhiz]

More than likely, I'll just make a test rudder out of yellow pine using the same dimensions (just a bit wider). Nothing spectacular, just rounded edges.

zoneboy - if you're going to go through the trouble of making a rudder from wood (assuming you'll then cover it with a layer of fiberglass or a thick coating of epoxy), I suggest a two-step process as follows because the rudder is more than just a flat plank, it is actually an airfoil shape...and it could make a big difference to your performance:

1. Go to the Rudder Craft website (Idasailor) and find the rudder that matches your boat...they make excellent replacement rudders for the Mac's, and all those on here who have ever mentioned using one say they're tons better than the stock rudder. You will find that they explain "The blade is our solid HDPE, true NACA 0012 airfoil design, offering maximum lift with minimum drag." Once you find the one that matches your boat, you will find that they show a lot of dimensional detail like how wide the rudder is, which will be very useful for #2.

2. Go to Wikipedia (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACA_airfoil) and read through the first couple paragraphs, down to where you see "symmetrical airfoils" where they refer to "00xx" airfoils. You'll find the explanation of what a NACA 0012 airfoil is (from #1 above) and how to figure out what the shape looks like. It's really not that hard for symmetrical airfoils like this...takes a little thought, but you can work through it and get dimensions (thickness) at about 5 or 6 points from front to back edge and then make a template that you can use to check the shape of your rudder as you go...so many good clues on that page!! (like that the leading edge resembles a cylinder of xyz diameter - think wooden dowel).

I have some ideas about how to build the rudder from wood, preference being to use multiple layers of thin plywood glued together at 90-deg grain angles, but I am sure there are much better wood-working members on here that can give you better advice for building the rudder if you're going to start from wood...but for getting a good quality rudder shape, I'd start with the NACA airfoil design as a template.

[zoneboy]

Thanks Vizwhiz,
I was actually thinking about just buying an Irdasailor rudder until I saw their prices I didn't pay very much attention to their design after that though. NACA 0012 looks pretty straight forward, all of the mathematics on the wiki page caused a sudden overload in my cranium though, which resulted in setting off my fire alarm

The reason I was thinking of lumber, is to save costs. When you figure in transport, marine grade plywood is just too expensive for me, as I am likely to make quite a few mistakes.. then epoxy gets pretty expensive as well. I was thinking with lumber, I could just varnish it.

I'm horrible with wood working, it is just something I have never done in my life. Although, I think with a router a bit of chisel work, and sanding, I may be able to form a basic airfoil from one solid piece of wood.. probably something cheap to begin with. I dunno, I wish I had better skills than I do.. I've spent the better part of my life playing games, watching TV, researching utterly pointless stuff on the Internet and just looking forward to the weekends Now that I actually have an interest in something that doesn't relate to being in front of a tube, I find my skillset to be lacking.