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what do u use to activate the reverse solenoid or do you have no brakes on your trailer.

I have brakes on the trailer but the manufacturer of the trailer surge brakes says not to activate the brakes manually. I'm not even sure how you would do that with surge brakes anyway.

The brakes engage from "surge" or reverse pressure. Backing up for example will exert pressure on the brakes, going uphill in reverse will engage the brakes.
There is an electric solenoid that disables the brakes while backing. Normally, this is automatically done from the wiring harness when the trailer is plugged into the tow vehicle. In a perfect world, your dolly would have a connector to connect the trailer wires to disable the brakes.

If you don't go fast in reverse, or don't back uphill, the breaks never get used. However, if the trailer tongue presses back (as in a braking surge) the brakes will lock. I can't back my trailer up a hill without the wiring harness connected to disengage the brakes.

Wow, boy do I have a black eye. I didn't see that one coming. When did Mac announce that? What about parts availability and warranty coverage now?
capncarp,
99

capncarp wrote:Wow, boy do I have a black eye. I didn't see that one coming. When did Mac announce that? What about parts availability and warranty coverage now?
capncarp,
99

Announced earlier this year. Roger retiring, ending production. His daughter is taking the molds to Florida and starting a new brand (Tattoo Yachts) http://tattooyachts.com/

Warranty will be honored by the factory and all parts will continue to be available via Blue Water Yachts in Seattle. http://bwyachts.com/

BOAT wrote:I have brakes on the trailer but the manufacturer of the trailer surge brakes says not to activate the brakes manually. I'm not even sure how you would do that with surge brakes anyway.

I'm guessing, and it's only a guess, that they mean not to activate them with the break-away lever. If you connect one safety chain to the other in a loop, you can use a 2x4 as a lever to compress the coupler, like for bleeding the lines, or testing the brakes (though that's only going to show that it's not out of fluid, and/or the mast cylinder isn't leaking internally).

tkanzler, your always full of great ideas. Now let me get this straight, I can engage the braked mu just pulling on the coupler with a 2 by 4?? I never thought to try that because I thought the brake would be too hard to engage. There are times when I could use a brake because my driveway goes down a little and the boat starts to go faster than the dolly can go an over revs the motor - I would like to slow everything down at that point.

So if I can use a 2 but 4 to slow down how do I release the brakes when I want to go again? Will the brakes stay on or will they disengage after I stop pulling on the 2 by 4??

Conversely, you can manually disengage the surge brakes by sticking the little lockout bracket into the slot to keep it from compressing the plunger. I've done this, but had to tape it in place as it kept falling out.

How do you get that lockout in there if the brake is already compressed?

BOAT wrote:How do you get that lockout in there if the brake is already compressed?

Well, you can't. Gotta pull it back out. Use an electric dolly.

Oh, I get it, reverse.

On the original topic, there's a post on facebook regarding a brand new owner whose got a Mac with deck leaks and a daggerboard cracks and de-lamination so bad that the boat takes on water any time its floated. I'm sure Roger will make it right, but these are problems I've never heard of. Hate to have a great brand tainted because they kept making hulls past when their QA processes shut down.

I have one of the last ten boats and the quality of the build is real good. My decks don't creak, the rudders and rudder ropes don't leak, the chain plates are tight and I'm in rough water all the time. I have totally abused my dagger board so bad that it's out for repairs right now to patch holes I put in it and I have been sanding on that dagger board for the past 3 days and I can tell you the gel coat is THICK and shiny and clean without a single crack or wrinkle.

I find the fiberglass in particular to be very well made as I have ran the boat into docks and crashes already enough times that SHOULD have put gouges in the gel coat - yet I have had not one scratch.

MY complaint is the electrical - I think the fuse panel is crap, I don't like the way the (didn't) secure the romex they used to wire the boat and I had to put a loom in under the aft berth to hold the wire up off the hull. (I don't like wire laying in the ballast).

I'm constantly running and jumping and crawling all over the top of the boat and the decks are solid. The boat is of course a lot thinner than a pac cruiser or a lot of cabin cruiser power boats but that's just the nature of the beast.

Where is this post about de-laminating? How out of the hundreds of boats on this site no one ever mentioned DE-laminating?

PS Mathew, I have a Loose Gauge - if you need to borrow it I can loan it to you.

mastreb wrote:On the original topic, there's a post on facebook regarding a brand new owner whose got a Mac with deck leaks and a daggerboard cracks and de-lamination so bad that the boat takes on water any time its floated....

OK, so I gotta ask... what Facebook site? The only two I know of that are Mac-specific are:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/49681268542

and

https://www.facebook.com/groups/67727517200

And it's certainly not on the MacGregor (fake?) Factory Facebook...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MacGrego ... 3457118677

So... where is it??