Finally in my Yard...all the way from the US-of-A

[Phillip]

Got the boat delivered today.
Finally 95% of dramas are over.
Last is getting the trailer to meet Australian Standards, then a Saftey Certiifcate for it, then registered for road use.
I can see a couple of major problems looming with US trailers already, and it is not going to be either easy or cheap, but "we will overcome".

Fortunatey my gateway is a very wide 'double' as I have large trucks in and out all the time, plus have 6" thick concrete.






I have always kept an area 'free' for my toys, maybe 25m x 60m, so that is where it went.
It dosn't have "goal posts", and from what I saw on that video, they seem an important piece of equipment.
Am I correct in this assumption?

Next question.....it does not have a 'drivers seat'.
I see there is an indent in the 'glass' in that area (both sides) so is that where the seat fits in?
What does an origonal look like.
Won't take the chippy long to make something, so long as he has an idea of size etc to follow, and any quirks re fitting.




Couldn't believe how this truck 'worked'. Very interesting to watch.
Driver had the boss of the container yard volunteer to load it for him with a container fork lift. Took all of 2 minutes.
Gave this guy a case of beer when we went out to put the axels on etc, and the assistance then and since has probably saved me a big K.

(See the old F100 in the back....it turned up from painters a week back, and am I'm deep skippy droppings with the wife at the moment......she wanting a new patio....which she has to wait for)




This is the mess. Keep in mind, we had to clear a lot away to be able to get in.
I am told it is Quarantine.....just took everything apart, and left it. Probably taken and hour to sort it out.
I am guessing that methyl-bromide has left a sort of fine soot over everything.
Will put the casuals on to cleaning it next week. Will be all over in under 2 hrs.
Outside is not pretty. The plastic protective layer they wrapped it in has left as lot of 'sticky' patches, but that will come off quickly.
The black paint (not bottom coat) is dull.
If I just put one of the workers on it wth boat polish and the buffer on the end of the power drill - will that fix it?
I know that has bought up the fibre-glass on past boats.
Just wondered about the faded black.
Will shoot a coat of bottom coat over it too. That's too easy.

I was surprized to see blue vynal-type material on the swabs, and white on the dinette seas and other seat opposite.
Is this normal, or has it been replaced?
Personally I prefer this material to the 'cloth' ones, so no issue, just curious.




Now for the table.
It has a sort of rough surface, and as you can see, although functional, could be made to look a lot nicer.
Looks a bit tired and worn actually.
Anyone had this problem-situation before, and how did they approach it.
Outside of toilet door is the same.
Front of galley is same, bit rough, seems like a piece of 5 ply. Pretty obvious it is a replacement 'front' which has an electric fridge and a microwave set in to it.
First thoughts tell me to paint with a high-gloss enamel.
The carpentry has been done very well.
Any opinions?



OK...we have 2 pipes here.
Havn't had a real close inspection, but small pipe goes to a nice fitting on outside saying water.
Is the other for pumping out the porta-potti, and if it does, just how do you do that.



And this one is just to prove it is not an Okker-job.


Also noticed, it has a 12v pressure pump with pipes to basins and shower from what appears to be a defated blue water bladder under one dinette seat.
Is this standard for a Mac or an addition?

To summarise
The best bucks I spent, were those on the 'Surveyor'. He got it right all the way thru.
I am perfectly happy with the dollars I spend and what I got.
The extras are invaluable.
jib, genoa and all the sailors extras.
Radar, Chart Plotter, Depth Sounder, new VHS and Radio/CD, new Bimini (jeez, better check the colour).
May sell off the marine BBQ.
I feel if i put the staff on to it, (4 plus me) by the time 4hrs is up, it will look pretty good.
The glass on the inside is perfect, and the 'bungs' throughout are obviously for ecectrical fittings.
Seems to have 3, if not more, batteries. Will sort that out later.
The paperwork in the boat is interesting. There are 2 Bills of Sale, one from Millenium as new, then one in 2004. Everything is there, invoices, warranties, booklets.
That Roger MacGregor makes a Blxxdy good boat for the bucks he charges.
Will be back to you over the trailer - big issue looming there.
Thanks for taking the time to read, sorry about the length of this.
Cheers
Phillip

[Catigale]

Your two hoses on the potty are pumpout 1 1/2 inch diam and vent (red/white) respectively

You put a fitting on top of the deck and suck the goodies up the 1 1/2 inch pipe while the red/white admits air back to the tank

[Phillip]

OK OK, so is that what the plastic (blue) hand pump with the black flexi hose is for.
If you don't recognise my description, I will send you a photo of it tomorrow.
It is in the boat...wondered what the goodness it was for.
Cheers
Phillip

[Craig LaForce]

Congrats.

The driver's seat missing is a good thing. You can do what I did, Just get a nice plank and cut it to fit in between the insert ledges. I just drilled a hole in each end through the ledge and drop a bolt through there. The plank can be cut a couple inches short of the forward part of the ledge, making it easier to stand while steering.

Also, the plank can easily be removed to work on the motor, or use the ladder. The old hinged seat was a pain and would hit the bimini shade if the shade was up.

I cut my original seat and just use the back rest part, without the hinge. If that part is missing, I gues you need to figure something for a back rest also.

Boat pics look nice.

Also, the original galley insert, table and head door were pretty useless, anything else is better. I removed or replaced these parts on mine.

Just my opinions of course.

[Craig LaForce]

That pump is probably the bilge water pump.

A lot o macs have a rainwater leak through the aft fuel lockers ( inner edge is not sealed right)

[kmclemore]

"I am guessing that methyl-bromide has left a sort of fine soot over everything."

Actually, no, methyl-bromide evaporates *completely* at room temperature, so it should not have left residue anywhere. That's probably just dirt!

The table does not look original - it's shaped like the original, but the stock table is smooth and made of *black* glassfibre with a map insert. I suspect somebody may have made a reproduction or something... that doesn't look like anything I've seen.

The galley front has indeed been replaced - the original is a simple smoked lexan affair with two bins and a door. Like your boat, I have a wood front with a fridge on the left side, but on mine I have two drawers added on the right and not a microwave.

As for the interior cushions, I've never seen a stock Mac X with anything except cloth-covered cushions, apart from the later "M" models where they had a sort of soft 'pleather' covering. Your vinyl ones are undoubtably replacements.

The pressure water system is also an upgrade. The factory never offered it - the original was simply a mechanical hand pump on each of the sinks.

As for buffing out the black bits, yes, a standard automotive mild polishing compound will do fine to bring it right back. Go light on the pressure and keep it wet with polish... works great. Wax when done. (There's a thread somewhere here on the forum about polishing with *lots* of info.. use the search, above).

Don't sell the marine BBQ until you've used it once or twice.. we love ours! Makes nice dinners.

As for the trailer, what will you need to do to make it OZ legal? Can't see why it wouldn't go as-is... especially as yours is a dual axle (also not a factory item - they only ever came with one axle!).

Of course, the only thing I can think of is you'll want to convert that trailer to right-hand-drive.

[Cammo23]

Phillip,
Jelous, very jelous. You must be like an 6 year old on Christmas morning. Where on the Sunny Coast are you wanting to sail? Are you planning to take it out in the ocean? There are a few 26x for sail down here (around 60K) so it will be interesting to see your bottom line- although you still would have close to 25K up your sleeve to break even. Its amazing the price they are holding as a new 26M is a tad above 70K!

Congratulations and i hope to do the same in 6 months- using a broker to do all of the work though- started planning for it about 10 months ago. What mods do you need to make to the trailer? Surely Aussie transport wouldn't ask for much more than the U.S?

Cammo

[golfbrucey]

Phillip
I am also jealous , but l am looking very seriously at doing the same thing in the next month or two , any chance of getting details of your shipping , company ? costs? time? etc

[Phillip]

Kmclemore and others.
1. Re the trailer:
I am doing my study to get my facts strait re Aust Design Rules and Specifications.
Have approached the local Trailer Business and they are not the most positive guys to deal with when it comes to something they have not delt with before.
overhere I have to:
a.) comply with Australian Design Rules (which I have a copy of)
b.) get the Trailer Business to make changes etc, and issue a Saftey Certificate
c.) take Saftey Certificate to Main Roads Dept where they physically check everything is correct, then issue me with a Registration Certificate so I can take it on the road.

One rule is, the trailer can not exceed 2.5m in width.
This trailer has:
2 tyres that are 215/75D14 and
2 tyres that are 205/75D14.


I have a 215 on each side, on the same axel, giving measurement 2.480m
this allows each guard an overhang of 10mm

I have a 205 on each side, on the same axel, giving measurement 2.460m
this allows each guard an overhang of 20mm


I am confused by the 2 different tryre sizes.
The 2x205 are brand new, so is there a reason why he would mix them?
Have you a minimum width....meaning has he gone this way to fall within your legal requirements?

It is going to work out in the end.
I just don't want to make changes if there is an obvious solution I am missing.

Now for the 2nd part of this issue.
The trailer is exceedingly heavy at the coupling.
2 of us can not lift it, and suspect this down weight may be too much.
It is amost as tho the axels are 2 far back on the trailer, but there are welded brackets on the trailer that the axels are bolted thru, so it can not be shifted.

Something's not right.

This is the photo of the Port side.
The 205 tyre is the one with the white paper on it
Note the 'connector' between the 2 springs.
It is off centre at the moment.
Remember, we put the axels on.
It has been forked on to the truck, and rolled no more than 10m to get it off, so it has not been towed which could? straghten these 'connectors' to be horrizontal.
Is that an issue?



This is the Starboard side
Once again the 'connector' is not horrizontal
White paper denotes the new 205 tyre.



This is a photo of it in the USA.
Thank goodness he has the 'dirty' wheel and the 'new' wheel on the same side. Has given me a means of identifying his set up.


My worker John is an ex mechanic.
His Dad died last week, so getting the axels and wheels on were a rush job, and he has been off since then.
In the time we had, we have not been able to work out why it is so heavy in the front.
Are we missing something?
Are all Macs on tandems really heavy on the 'Ball'?
Shouldn't they sit just off horrizontal on a tandem, and not need the jockey wheel to hold the nose off the ground?

Thanks for all the other assistance you chaps.
Very much appreciated.
Will get back to you when time permits
Cheers
Phillip

[kmclemore]

Well, rule of thumb for "tongue weight" (what you called the weight at the ball) is around 10% of the total load... so, with a fully loaded Mac X (which you clearly have with fridge, equipment, extra batteries, etc.) and the trailer itself, you're talking around 4,000 pounds... so, that tongue weight should be around 400 pounds. Pretty dang heavy, but that's as it should be. If it were any lighter you could start getting some serious swaying problems (rapidly drifting back and forth, side-to-side) as you towed it.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Remember the factory trailer has always been a single axle. The previous owner or a mechanic he hired made their own choices when he switched to the tandem axles. They may have errored and placed the assembly to far aft leading to too much tounge weight. There is no factory tandem to compare this to, every tandem conversion is custom work.

I think some here have posted the dimensions they used when converting to 2 axles. Chip in particular might be able to help. You could PM him.

I'd bet the tire differences are simply because of what he found available when he added the second axle. A direct match would have been better but this seems pretty close.

[Catigale]

Does anyone know the downside of too heavy a tongue weight??

1 Obviously at some point you overload the hitch, which usually has a rating for tongue weight
2 Over load rear suspension of car
3 On FWD, start losing weight and traction up front

I would be interested to hear from your experienced trailer people out there who could say what happens to the handling of the car/truck with too much rear weight..

[Divecoz]

Too much rear = not enough tongue caused mine to dance behind the Explorer Sport I own. As the boat went, so did my truck btw.
The Trailer also HAS to be level as possible, when its sitting on the truck.
The longer the wheelbase the better it tows as well. Hopefully we will hear from several on this board who own tandem axle trailers.
I have towed trailers of all sorts for years but none that has caused me the concerns my Mac does. The weight, the length, the height sure play the devil with my under length Explorer. I can pick up the tongue but why would I want to ? By all means, Use the jack, The tongue on mine weighs in around 300#.

[Dave X2000 Jac]

Phillip,
I also have a dual-axle trailer. Once, I backed up onto a dirt mound to store it out of the way. A week later, when I pulled back to level ground, the pivot between the wheels looked just like yours, but only my front wheel was touching the ground. It was an easy fix. I jacked up that side of the trailer until the front wheel was also off the ground. (Yes, when I am trailering the Mac, I carry an 8 ton hydraulic jack, a spare tire, and a bunch of blocks of wood in my van. You just never know.) I borrowed a 6 pound hammer (2.73kg for Oz and the rest of the civilized world) and "tapped" the pivot a few times. All quickly jumped back into place. A little grease to that metal, and it hasn't happened again (... of course I haven't backed up onto any more dirt piles, either). With any luck, yours will be that easy to allign.
I retire in 3 more years. When I come over to enjoy your Gold Coast Indy, I'll look you up to bum a ride on that good looking Mac.
Dave "Jac"

[kmclemore]

Does anyone know the downside of too heavy a tongue weight??

1 Obviously at some point you overload the hitch, which usually has a rating for tongue weight
2 Over load rear suspension of car
3 On FWD, start losing weight and traction up front

I would be interested to hear from your experienced trailer people out there who could say what happens to the handling of the car/truck with too much rear weight..

Downside on too-heavy a tongue weight, apart from those you listed, is that it will reduce the weight on your front (steering) wheels and cause your handling to get really flakey - mushy in the back and twitchy up front. And, as you noted, if it's FWD you start having even more trouble. Plus, your braking will be really a mess, as you won't have enough weight on the most powerful brakes - the front - and you'll skid all over the place.

Essentially, the tow vehicle should be level after the load is applied to the hitch. If it is not, you should either (1) get a weight-distributing hitch or (2) use a load-levelling suspension. In my case, I use Air-Lift springs on the rear of my Toyota Sienna and this levels the van right out. Not very expensive, either - only around $76 to upgrade (including shipping!). Put in 35# of air and you're good to go... also nice if you're carrying a load of passengers or cargo in the van, as it does the same job when you're not towing, but just have a heavy load.

(Oh, and just for you, Chip.... "She drives like the trailer isn't even there!" )


Air-Lift Spring Kit installed on 2004 Toyota Sienna