MacGregorSailors.com

hey Erik, Victor hasn't shown me the video of you rigging you yet, but i am hopping to get some good pointers from it. Lorrie says hi and we need to come down there to do some sailing!!!!
Patrick

Also, there are several (or at least a few) levels of "how completely" your boat has to be "put away" for trailering and this can factor in to the time it takes to get ready.

If I am going to make a long trailer trip or keep my boat in storage for a long time (which I have unfortunately had to do a few times) then my boat is very "put away" and it probably takes 90+ minutes to get everything ready to sail.

If lowering the mast but I know I don't plan on taking a long trip and plan to be back at the boat sooner rather than later then I have less things "put away" and I can probably be rigged and launched in less than an hour.

Just for thoughts:

Sail left on the boom or removed?
Spreaders left on or off?
Shrouds left connected to chainplate or removed and bungeed to the mast?
Halyards left rigged on the mast or removed?
Lazy Jack lines rigged on the mast/spreaders or removed?

Also, in all of these other fine sailors estimates of time...is EVERYTHING done before launching or leaving the dock or are some things done after getting on the water?

I normally don't leave the dock at the ramp until EVERYTHING is ready to go which means all lines rigged and all sail covers off. All electronics on and running (I remove my S1 Control Head and Chartplotter when out of the water).

However, I am a big fan of "mast-up" storage which is what I have here at Ft. Belvoir Marina on the Potomac. I can hook up and have König in the water in less than 10 minutes. I keep two dock lines and two fenders in my vehicle. However, once in the water I have to do some cover removing, rigging, electronics hook-up, etc... and I can be motoring away in another 20 minutes (probably less if I really hurried). And I could do some of those things on the water away from the dock/ramp if necessary to get out of someone's way.

And I do all of this single-handed.

And the more you do this the quicker you will get, the easier it will get, and the less that you will forget.

But despite all this and whatever needs to be done and however long it takes...it is all part of the "fun" of owning and operating a Macgregor IMHO so just enjoy it.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König

I dont launch and retrieve a lot.. Most often I have her in a slip ..But I have trailered her a few times. Your set up and break down time is reduced considerably IF as others have stated ... That's all your doing .... Takes me about 40 minutes ..In or out.. What adds a LOT of time for me ...
Friends wanting to help... Walk By's wanting to see and talk about a Great Looking Boat..
If its taking you more than about 45 minutes? I suggest you just practice a little more when your at home... Look and assess where your having troubles and correct that portion of the procedure.
If .. and its often because you find the need to carry "stuff" in the truck and not in the boat... you may have to relinquish the fact that its going to take a hour or so... Its often the difference of .. Are You Ready and Prepared or Are You at the last Minute Fumbling and Stumbling with this and that..
I have set my boat up as watched others struggle..
For me.......
Get all but a couple wraps of the rope OFF the winch right away..
Make sure I have Let loose all sail lines to travel freely as the mast goes up.
Have the shrouds ready and watch them as it goes up .. if they catch on anything it can not only be lost time but damaged rigging / kinked shrouds
On The M its quick and easy and a child has the strength to raise the mast
The moment the mast slows down or gets to be difficult .. KNOW without looking .. something has caught or snagged ..
I have in my 50 years of launching and retrieving seen small power boaters take an hour.. Opps where are the keys ooppss we forgot to unstrap it from the trailer oppss ooppss ooppss
I have gotten in other peoples Tow vehicles and backed it in for them after they tried numerous times and failed .. Go somewhere on the weekend in an Industrial park and practice in one of their big lots if necessary..
My first launch with this boat was at a Nightmare of a Launch and Bil was a bit concerned for me.. It was a Long approach( backing that boat down a step hill) then 3 or 4 turns till you were at the actual ramp.. First attempt Zing right in... Bill Commented .. Wow... You've done this before,..I laughed and said Yes I said Hundreds of times, for many years.. Only difference is this one is bigger..Thats often what it comes down to Practice..

It takes my wife and I 1 hour to drive the 2 miles to the marina, put a little gas in tanks, rig, ballast and get underway. The first time I did it, it was 3 hours. It takes us 30 minutes to de-rig. The shorter time to de-rig is because we wrap the jib lines and take the sail off the mast but leave the boom on the mast while we motor the last mile to the marina. Rigging and de-rigging time is also dependent upon how many people walk up and strike up a conversation about the boat.

Bob

It takes my wife and I 1 hour to drive the 2 miles to the marina...

I once had a car like that!

Hello,

I just took delivery of my M last month. I sailed it from a broker's marina three times and yesterday was the first day of towing.

We arrived at the marina at 9:02. At 9:56 we were leaving the dock.
Rigging the boat took about 1/2 hr. I did it on the trailer. I had all the shrouds attached so all I needed to do was to hook the mast up, raise it, attach the jib, clear all the lines and put the boom on (with the main already on it).

After that we backed the boat into the water and loaded it.

It certainly takes more than 10minutes, but if you trailer all the time you will find a way to launch in about 1hr.
I will be putting together a little kit made up of bungees and supports that should allow things to go either faster or smoother.

BTW, I live in Miami and, after only 4 outings, I am absolutely blown away by how great of a fit the MAC is for this area:
1) the Florida keys are SHALLOW. The "traditional" sailboats are stuck 3/4 of a mile away from all the beautiful spots, not to mention that they must get grounded all the time. Take a look at what the other sailboats where missing out on http://www.panoramio.com/user/5202019
2) There are some long haul crossings. I sail with 3 kids so the 60Hp E-Tec can get us back to the marina quickly if "needed". If want to go to Bimini, Grand Bahama or the Dry Tortugas with three kids on board it is reassuring to know that I have the option of going full bore at any time. If you are getting a big engine GET THE E-TEC!! Hands down!
3) Florida is great for overnight trips and with the Mac we will be comfy. The space inside is great! What a comfortable boat.
4) FLorida has a lot to offer, but the state is huge. I can quickly move my boat 100s of miles depending on where I want to go. Other "traditional" boats are stuck sailing the same waters over and over.
5) The owning and operating costs are very low, so I don't feel smothered by the cost of owning the boat.
6) It sails great!!! I was concerned that all the compromised would have yielded a mediocre sailboat, but I am truly positively surprised at how well, easy and quickly it sails.

To each their boat ... for me, right now, it's a MAC and no other.

Cheers,

Fred

To summarise for those trying to get a handle on this....

Fastest verifiable report - 15 minutes
Slowest (not counting mishaps) 120 minutes

So I report the middle as roughly 70 minutes with a fast rigger taking perhaps 35 minutes, and a slow one 100 minutes.

I Know I know
and I hate you for it...
Richard "in Illinois..".

Fred Rio wrote:Hello,

3) Florida is great for overnight trips and with the Mac we will be comfy. The space inside is great! What a comfortable boat.
4) Florida has a lot to offer, but the state is huge. I can quickly move my boat 100s of miles depending on where I want to go. Other "traditional" boats are stuck sailing the same waters over and over.
Fred

Catigale wrote:To summarise for those trying to get a handle on this....

Fastest verifiable report - 15 minutes
Slowest (not counting mishaps) 120 minutes

So I report the middle as roughly 70 minutes with a fast rigger taking perhaps 35 minutes, and a slow one 100 minutes.

Let me see if I got this right...

Blue hull - 15 minutes
White hull - 120 minutes

15 min. from time I arrive at boat ramp to underway with my girlfriends help.We don't rush,talk and each one has there specific jobs.Takes same time to derig.
Dave

Rafael wrote:I've probably watched that Mac Factory (55min) videos more than 15 times already and like the boat more an more every time.

I was wondering what you guys that actually trailer the boat often think about it. How easy and time consuming it is to set up everything ans start sailing. Am I looking at 30 min or 2 hours from when I pull to the ramp till I am out in the water?

The video makes it look super fast and easy. But I also see race cars having the 4 tires changed and the tank filled up in less than 10 secs and it sill takes me a lot longer just to change a single flat.

Thanks

Allow 90 minutes to rig the boat solo with a furling until you are ready to depart the dock - you'll start to knock off the odd minute here and there with experience or help. I know some claim super fast times but I believe they have to remove the batteries from their watches for at least 75 minutes

Towed in mast down took me 1 hr by my lonesome.

With the wife assisting it takes less than 45 min. We have been sailing together for a long while though and she is a good little worker bee. She aint the boss till were on the water you know!

Set up in dry store about 10 minutes from hook to splash.

Actually Erik can rig his boat in 10 min. When he says 15 min that includes launching (watch the unedited video time, I slowed him down with documentation questions).

I would still prefer to use the factory spreaders and just drop the lifeline using fast pins like we do now (sec of time spent).

Sorry about the video quality. I inadvertently change a setting that caused the picture to be blurry that day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5i0nLon1aA

Victor

Come up with $100 and I will show you how to set up and underway in less than 15 min. on a video. We keep the boom with mainsail attached in cabin, tho we have a UV sail strip sewn in the 105 jib we also use a 1/2 cover that covers the complete roller furler.
We have a quick release bracket on our back stay that allows 2-1/2 inch slack. All standing rigging is in place when we trailer.
Arrive at boat ramp, Both of us undo the bungee cords holding roller furler and standing wires (4 min.) we than pull mast aft and secure the bolt to mast base and raise mast (2-3 min.) Teresa gets the boom out of main cabin while I run jib sheet lines aft and bolt in the boom,put in Mainsail slides and tie up topping lift along with main sheet attachment to boom. (3 min.) We than pull out mast support and attach Bimini and put dock lines on (2 Min.) we launch (2 min.)
I park trailer while Teresa puts cockpit cushions and lowers centerboard 10 inches and rudders. (2 min.)
This is very close to what we do tho times are faster if everything goes smoother with no tangles raiseing mast.
Two people is a snap as you don't have to use the Gin pole (I have a Mac. M pole I don't use).
By myself would take me twice the time useing the Gin pole.
I am 60 years young with back problems and still grunt rigging the boat.
Dave

40Toes wrote:Allow 90 minutes to rig the boat solo with a furling until you are ready to depart the dock - you'll start to knock off the odd minute here and there with experience or help. I know some claim super fast times but I believe they have to remove the batteries from their watches for at least 75 minutes

Come up with $100 and I will show you how to set up and underway in less than 15 min. on a video. We keep the boom with mainsail attached in cabin, tho we have a UV sail strip sewn in the 105 jib we also use a 1/2 cover that covers the complete roller furler.
We have a quick release bracket on our back stay that allows 2-1/2 inch slack. All standing rigging is in place when we trailer.
Arrive at boat ramp, Both of us undo the bungee cords holding roller furler and standing wires (4 min.) we than pull mast aft and secure the bolt to mast base and raise mast (2-3 min.) Teresa gets the boom out of main cabin while I run jib sheet lines aft and bolt in the boom,put in Mainsail slides and tie up topping lift along with main sheet attachment to boom. (3 min.) We than pull out mast support and attach Bimini and put dock lines on (2 Min.) we launch (2 min.)
I park trailer while Teresa puts cockpit cushions and lowers centerboard 10 inches and rudders. (2 min.)
This is very close to what we do tho times are faster if everything goes smoother with no tangles raiseing mast.
Two people is a snap as you don't have to use the Gin pole (I have a Mac. M pole I don't use).
By myself would take me twice the time useing the Gin pole.
I am 60 years young with back problems and still grunt rigging the boat.
Dave

Dave,
Didn't mean to offend or doubt you could do it, I just think people who ask should know the boat takes more then 15 minutes for most of us mortals. You have a system and teamwork effort happening that apparantly allows you to be the exception rather than the rule. I don't plan on coming up with a $100 but feel free to post to youtube; you are a "MacGregor Olympian". If you can get the 15 min video down to 3 mins that would be great I have my boat setup similar to yours - my times are: (add 10% for my repeative stupidity)

Position the truck and trailer (2 mins)
Unhooked the brake Lights, take the safety chains off, walk around untie safety lines, take QR safety pins out of rudders (5 mins)
Get the stool place behind boat (1 min)
Get onboard, open cabin, store hatchway boards (2 mins)
Get tools from tool box and unstrap boom with sails attached in cabin (2 mins)
Unbolt mast and remove support straps in cockpit (1 min)
Remove bungees holding standing rigging (2 mins)
Remove support for roller furling and store in vehicle (1 min)
Unbolt mast and move back (5 mins)
Go below and get mast raising kit and rig (5 mins)
Raising mast and put forestay pin in (5 mins)
Remove mast raising kit and stow (3 mins)
Run the sheets (3 mins)
Get the boom and hook to mast, topping lift, main halyard, vang, sheet, etc. (5 mins)
Remove mast support and stow (1 min)
Put out the cockpit cushions (3 mins)
Raise the dodger (2 mins)
Place fenders and prepare docking lines (2 mins)
Open ballast, place key ignition, pump the ball, check battery gauges, put out the chartplotter (3 mins)
Walk forward on the boat for one last check get in vehicle and start to back down ramp (2 mins)
Stop when loud crashing sound is heard (1 min)
Get out of vehicle to find out ran over stool (1 min)
Get in vehicle move forward and remove crushed stool (2 mins)
Launch boat tending own lines (10 mins)
Go park vehicle (5 mins)
Lower boards, start engine, check ballast (1 min)
Leave dock and then return to get cooler left in truck (10 mins)

Rod