I was wrong and all of you were right

[Divecoz]

I had No Idea , Just How Lucky I was , when I bought My 2005 M from Bill at Boats 4 Sail..
I got my with Sail Slugs 2 sets of twin rope clutches The bungee on the boom a couple of SS Pelican hooks..a topping lift.. adjustable shroud tension tool. The list just seems to be added to every couple months here as I realize what all Bill did to insure I have an easy boat to sail single handed from the get go.. Bill Beers @ Boats 4 Sail is an Advertiser on this web site.. he has been sailing among others, Roger MacGregor built boats for almost as long as Roger has been building and selling them..THANKS BILL! You are my Sailing Hero...

[Steve K]

But to me the MAC just acts like a small boat. That's what I am used to, small boats under 30 feet in the ocean - that's all I know.

Yep, the other day when my rudder broke off, my D just spun around like a big ole, out of control dingy

I don't advocate being unsafe. However, if you never sail in some adverse conditions, you never get the idea of the limits of these boats (or your own limits for that matter). And I can tell you this..... both the 26X and the 26D can take a lot more than I can

I've gotten wet from spray (really wet), I've tried to use the side windows as a fish finder, I've dipped the leech of a sail once or twice. I've even hit the dagger board on submerged rocks @ 6knts (not saying any of this was planned or enjoyed). I've never gotten any amount of water in the cockpit of either boat and they have always bounced back up, with the mast and foils pointing in the right direction. Knowing this is one reason I no longer go into panic mode, when something like a rudder breaking happens.

Be careful and be mindful of things that can happen unexpectedly, but don't be afraid to sail sideways once in a while

JMHO

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[seahouse]

Yeah RussMT - I've tried several bungee cords (that I always have at hand for lots of odd uses- ones with the hooks embedded in plastic) a number of times and they work well and quickly; good idea to use the hooks and long cord already there. The compromise for me is making the sail wad tight enough so that I can easily see around it (and I'm not short) for docking manoeuvres, but still loose enough to not randomly crinkle the sail too much. Does the temporary job well and quickly for getting back to the dock in hairy conditions.

[seahouse]

BTW BOAT - It really doesn't matter WHO is "wrong" or "right" anyway. (Assuming that matters at all).

What matters more is finding out WHAT is wrong or right for the situation.

[BOAT]

That brings up a good point - it was ME that was wrong, not the equipment on 'boat'. I need to clarify that the reason the main was jammed was because of a piece of equipment that I MADE, not the factory. As a small boat the MAC handles rough seas just as good as any other small boat I have ridden in rough seas. The boat felt the same to me as the Aquarius 21, or the 23, the Catalina, the Oday, or the Dolphin. When I was in the North American Sailing Assoc. back in the 70's and 80's I got to sail many small trailer boats and I can tell you the MAC handles rough sea just as well as any of them.

If I had used the mod created by seahouse in the first place the problem probably would have never happened. As it is the situation revealed to me what I need to overcome a broken goosneck in a storm.

I just wanted to make sure you all understood that the equipment failures I had on ‘boat’ that made the tack pin fall out in rough water was not because of ‘boat’, it was because of MY MOD that I did to the boom trying to achieve a rolling boom. Here is the post of what happened that day:

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 15#p263106

[Ixneigh]

Beh. In 25_30 knots I'm either off the wind looking for shelter under a tiny jib and reefed main or I'm under power looking for shelter. In 30 k my boat is on her side even with a reduced main and there's no way she's making any distance to weather. My boat is carrying a cruising compliment of supplies plus has 350 pounds of extra ballast. I have single line reefing with extra reef ties added for a neater reef. I have a highcut spitfire jib for strong conditions. The main has slugs and I know how to set and strike it quickly, while alone. I still wouldnt touch 30 knot winds with a 10 foot pole on these boats. Your wife is a lot more forgiving then my dogs are. My dogs would be calling the animal abuse hotline after a jaunt like that. Even in good conditions the boat can't hardly get out of her own way in a steep 4ft chop. Too light and too much freeboard.
20_25 is fun in protected areas.
Re slugs. I leave the sail on the boom and just slide them out the gate when its time to trailer the boat. I frap the still covered main well with light line and lash the boom and sail to the staunchions.
Ps next time you take the boat out in those conditions check out the movement between the hull and bulkheads
Ix

[BOAT]

Well Ixneigh, the plowing under heavy wind is what made us decide the sailing was less than optimal, not the heavy sea. I think reefing the main would have helped a lot but we had another issue:

the only way back was through a following sea.

THAT is what made everyone decide to give in - the further out we went the longer we were going to spend in the following sea getting back home. There isn't a small boat on the planet that isn't a struggle to sail in a following sea when the chop is real big. Many power boats have pitch poled coming into the mouth of the Oceanside Harbor because of the shoals and ground swells. It's just a pain in the butt, but I never felt that we were in danger. The bulkheads are not glued to the hull. Not sure what good it would do because the bulkheads are cardboard anyways.

Here in North County I saw on the news we lost a power boat off La Jolla the same day I was out (that's about 18 miles south in mastrebs area), and when they fished the two guys out of the water after 12 hours of swimming they said they lost steering, then boat swamped in large waves, then capsized. That's the common shipwreck in these parts - loss of control - it's the number one cause of swamping. Usually a broken rudder or helm or prop or the motor is stuck in a left turn.

I'm usually feeling safe until something breaks, then I get worried.

[mastreb]

I'm not going to claim for a second that bolt-ropes are just as easy as sail slugs. Hoisting the main from the cabin is not easy, and hoisting in winds is not easy. But I've also had a 30 year-old Columbia with sail slugs that constantly jammed, and my Bro-in-law's sail slugs on his Hunter 33 are none to easy either.

I'm just tired of fighting with the main on deck when we take it down. Brian's roller furler makes the main so small and tight you can hardly believe it. VERY easy to see past when motoring--night and day compared to a sail bag. The sail bag went from stuffed and hard to get on to so loose we need to hem it in.

Because I too keep my boat on the trailer, I can't get too complicated with the rigging. It's why I've not yet gone to a topping lift (one more cable to secure) and why I'm not going to go to things like single-line reefing or lazy jacks. Even my halyard aft mod is easily removable and can be tossed back into my rig box on a moment's notice.

I keep everything I take off the boat when I make a mod in a plastic box (the rig box) along with things like stay cutters, crimpers, etc. So I've got the original gooseneck in there, I've got about $300 worth of spare hardware for making emergency splices in stays, clevis pins, ring-dings, blocks, eyelets, shackles, and at least one duplicate of every nut and bolt on the ship. Likely I'll never use some of it, but it's already paid for itself in terms of at-sea fixes and replacements for dropped hardware that didn't ruin the trip. I strongly recommend keeping one.

As for raising the main, I say raise it the moment you get out into the water, if not earlier. You can always lift the boom (especially if you have a topping lift, by wrapping it around the end of the boom) and loose the mainsheet to de-power the sail while you're motoring. Or just leave the last foot of tension out of it until you're ready to sail. If you can't get the sail up straight out of your marina's fairway, you certainly won't be able to get it up out in the chop. At least this way, you'll have given up before it gets hairy.

[BOAT]

I'm just tired of fighting with the main on deck when we take it down. Brian's roller furler makes the main so small and tight you can hardly believe it. VERY easy to see past when motoring--

Yes, I totally agree Matt - for the short time that my roller gooseneck worked it was really great. The main wrapped up so neat and tight on the boom and it made the whole handling of the boom and sail so easy. I just wanted to be able to raise the sail from that rolled up condition IN ROUGH SEAS and so far, I have failed.

But I'm still not giving up on the rolling boom - even with slugs I think the rolling boom is a good idea because it makes storage so easy. I have seen slugs jam too, but since my main reason for a bolted main is performance I guess I had to give in. I will just buy another main with a bolt for race day, (I'll get a muscle top rig with a bolted luff tape).

The real lesson here is not that rolling booms or bolts are bad; the real lesson is that I'm just not the right guy to engineer the rolling gooseneck - my idea failed. After my trip to Minnys this weekend (it's like a super bazzar of used sailboat hardware) I will have a better idea if what's needed and decide if I still want to pursue this.

So far the only damage done is to my pride and a really bad stomach ache.

[Steve K]

Bolt rope or slugs....... it also helps to spray it/them with McLube (Sailkote)

I'm not seeing one problem I keep reading here and that is the sail being on the deck or in the way of one's view.
I have a pin in the mast, just above the slot so the slugs don't fall out when lowering, or reefing the sail.
But I just flake the sail on the boom and tie it up. It doesn't seem to be a problem. What am I missing
I do have a very simple topping lift (just a 1/4in rope from the chicken head that ties to a pad eye at the back of the boom).

mastreb, all great advice

BB,
SK.

[vizwhiz]

My dogs would be calling the animal abuse hotline after a jaunt like that.

[Ixneigh]

I have slab reefing what I think people are calling single line reefing. With mine you go to the mast, lower the halyard, hook the cringle, yank the line to pull the boom end up, and tie the reef points on your way back to the cockpit. The boat will mind herself while I do this. Sailshape is excellent. Unlike a roller boom, or at least the oldstyle roller reefing I've used elsewhere. Ofcourse its dangerous being on the cabin top when you want to reduce sail. I'm getting used to the motion of the boat though. That will help. Reefing early is good too. On my old heavy keelboats I'd hang onto sail. On the M I'd rather have too little sail then too much. It takes me a few years to just know about the boat. That's why I'm tired of changing boats and hope this one will be my last.
Ix

[dlandersson]

In fact, I do that - works nicely.

Bolt rope or slugs....... it also helps to spray it/them with McLube (Sailkote)

I'm not seeing one problem I keep reading here and that is the sail being on the deck or in the way of one's view.
I have a pin in the mast, just above the slot so the slugs don't fall out when lowering, or reefing the sail.
But I just flake the sail on the boom and tie it up. It doesn't seem to be a problem. What am I missing
I do have a very simple topping lift (just a 1/4in rope from the chicken head that ties to a pad eye at the back of the boom).

mastreb, all great advice

BB,
SK.

[yukonbob]

The main bungee system looks cool. I've been using bwy cinch it sails ties and can't complain. Sort of the same idea but a half dozen of them on the main takes less than a min to tie the main up. They also work great for tying up halyards and such in wind and just about anything else you can tie down. I order four or six a year, I've watched some float to the bottom of the ocean and others are on other peoples boats . They have a 18 or 24 inch with a solid plastic hook that hooks back onto the bungee. As for the roller main and slugs, what about a plastic or aluminum feed slot that would catch them out to six or eight inches and feed them into the track?

[SKIPPER2C]

I still need to work out the best way to store and secure the sail for trailering.

I just don't know what to do about that part. I guess I could just bag it every time I trailer?

I made 2 bags to put the main and other boat stuff in.









Does not look nice but works very good.