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I forgot to mention, if you click on the thumbnail pic that appears you'll see a different view showing a good close-up.

thanks chris, and i just browsed all your other mods too- very cool ideas mister!!

Bow thrusters are a complicated mod that I considered myself when I was new to the boat. After three years however, I can move the boat around in the marina like nobody's business. Here are my tricks:

1) Whatever you can draft, draft it with the the daggerboard. The farther it is down the more pivot point you have.

2) Come in backwards. Rudders or just the motor skeg, you have far more control pulling the boat behind its CLR than you have pushing it. Now I personally come in forwards on the Mac because I don't mind using a lot of thrust to pull the boat around, but if you've got to come in precisely and gently in the shallows, come in backwards. Keep your hand on the wheel and stand behind the helm facing aft (facing the direction of movement) because both the steering wheel and the throttle are correct for your movement. I would certainly try this before I put money into a mod.

3) Rig a 50' fore-to-aft single dockline. This is cleated at the aft cleat and the bow cleats, and then tied off at a gunnels track sliding cleat to eliminate slack. When you come in, uncleat it from the gunnels track cleat and hop off. This way a single person can control the boat fore and aft and get it cleated off. Learned this at the MUCK-about from Billy, Vic, Pedro, Robert, or Eric. Don't quite remember whom.

3) A long boat hook solves all problems. Use it to grab a cleat. Although I do use a fore-to-aft dockline, I've never tried the technique above combining it with a boathook but it sounds brilliant to me.

Honestly I don't think there's anything bow thrusters will give you that coming in backwards won't do better.

I hear you Matt- good points and ideas,
gonna try the long dockline thing this weekend.
and yup, the moving around in reverse sure is a lot more "easily accurate"
but been really struggling with the trailer loading with this boat- our ramps are very exposed, and are really geared around motor boaters here, not whining- just want a workable solution to make it easier- and less damaging to the boat- . the bow thruster was an idea- but really pricey- so going to persevere with fine tuning my lining techniques for trailering.
and will continue to line into my slip when the wind makes it impossible.
i agree more practice- less mod- keep the boat bucks for another project
cheers

Hy Wayne
Well to slip on the trailer you cannot go in reverse

When the boat has no ballast and all boards up is it very very hard to steer. I had this last time when I wantet to go on the trailer.

So I managed very easy finally this way: Just put the centerboard down very little. Keep the line in one hand and just a few seconds befor you get onto the trailer pull the board up.

I really like that 50 foot dock line idea. I already have a pair of 50 foot lines rigged on our boat, for use as downwind sailing gybe preventers. I tie one end of the line to a rear stanchion and then run the line forward and through a block which is attached to the bow pulpit. The line is brought back to the aft cleat. I have a small snap hook on the end of the line. When I am sailing downwind, I simply reach over, uncleat the end of the line with the hook on it, clip it onto a pad eye on the aft end of the boom, and then pull the line tight. The block up front makes it easy to pull on the line. I cleat the tail of the line off, and the boom is securely held. With lines always rigged thusly, I can rig a preventer with minimum effort and without having to go forward.

I can easily see the benefits of using one of those 50 foot preventer lines for docking as described. On approach to the dock, I would just have to uncleat the end of the line, bring it forward and tie it off on the bow cleat, and then would have the loose 50 foot line tied on both ends and ready for docking. I will still keep it routinely set up as a preventer, but it will be easy to change it over for docking.

For trailering, I extended the goalposts and screwed a tennis ball to the top of each. I also ran a line down each side to make a bridle to the pipe vee at the bow. The lines have large carabiners at each end, with one end looped through and back, terminated with a rolling hitch for quick adjustment so it's easy to clip that end while loose, then tighten.

Centerboard halfway down, one rudder down but NOT cleated in case it drags the bottom. With the X, it's a swing CB, so if I don't pull it up before it hits the trailer, it doesn't matter, but that's only happened once. That I'm aware of (or admit to ). The rudder that's down is the one furthest from the dock, as in many places I boat it shallows and is even rocky against the dock.

If the ramp is shielded against current and wind, with long dock space before the trailer, than I can just walk it onto the trailer, but in the Erie Canal, the trailer sticks waaay out into the main current, so I have no choice but to drive it on. If I can get the bow into the goalposts, allowing for a sometimes brisk current (when the lock upstream empties, for instance), I'm golden, even if it gets a bit crooked. Use the directed thrust of the OB to push the stern upstream with a burp of power, spin the wheel the other way and 'pull' the stern upstream again so I don't get too far in crooked, spin the wheel and another little burp to get it far enough in that the CLR is forward of the goalposts.

Takes practice, but once I figured out how to use the directed thrust of the OB to my advantage, which keel boats with inboards don't have, everything got much easier. It's something you can even practice out in the open, driving around or next to something floating in the water, though it will move with the current. But learning how to do close order drills with little bits of OB power, while taking advantage of the Mac's ability to turn on a dime with some CB exposed, is worth the effort.

This is what the canal ramp looks like in the winter, with the water level at its minimum. Normal water level is just under those parapets, so there isn't much room under the boat before touching rock. Even too much CB will hit bottom there. I know what it looks like under the water there, but not at many other places, so that's why I only use the rudder farthest from the wall as a general rule.

Oh yeah - here's the bridle. Lots of folks have done something like this, by the way.

I only clip it on for loading the boat. Otherwise, it stays in a plastic carry box with other launch/haul bits, like water shoes, stern strap, and a pin the mechanically lock out the brakes if the solenoid doesn't work.

Tomfoolery's bridle and goalposts are the way to go if you don't have docks to linehandle the boat onto the ramp.

I've always had docks, and for that reason I actually removed (i.e. broke off accidentally and never replaced) the port-side goal post, which makes it far easier to line-handle the boat onto the trailer from an aside dock. Walking the boat onto the trailer from a side dock is easy as pie without the goalpost in place.

BUT I am the guy who has never once been able to successfully power-load the boat onto the trailer without line handling. Every time I attempt it, the boat just never lines up into the v-block on the trailer. I've nearly hit the back of my SUV attempting it, and because I have docks beside the boat, I've always wound up giving up and line handling. So I don't have any real advice for power loading.

I have been working on an idea for a trailer that would be much easier to load the boat into though...

Matt

yup, did the bunk upgrade, and keel roller


in this pic, the boards still need all their carpeting



big help for sure- but doesnt help get the boat lined up in a cross wind.
going to line a lot more in the future- the bows sure like to blow off down wind

Wayne, does the boat rest on the bow roller, the bow bunks or both?

I am planning to do something very similar to the horizontal side-boards you have on the goalposts...I was a bit worried about what would happen on a big-time missed approach, with the nose up between the boards and the stern being blown off hard by wind and current. Is that an issue?

i have the bow roller supporting the boat, and use the' V' to guide the bow onto the roller. but they are only about 1/4" lower than the roller. i can take some more detailed pics if you would like.

for the goalposts, i welded them to the trailer- some said i should have bolted- i still think i got a more rigid structure with the welding and the gussets, i did put an additional cross brace under the trailer- otherwise the front posts wobbled real bad.
i made the back posts very high, for two reasons
1.posts to support and guide me in,
2. i will put the lights up on the posts, so that they stay out of the water.
few things i might do different.
but it has helped the trailer loading immensly . we always seem to be loading in windy conditions- loading our power off shore fishing boats is a lot easier- we dont have "line on" docks alongside- nose up the beach- drop the driver off, they back down the ramp, then load- and get out of there!
so we become reasonably profficient at loading under power- however the mac is a different kettle of fish!!!
let me know if you need extra info star scream- learn by my mistakes- dont make the same ones i did
i make more than my fair share of them!!

Wayne, great side bunks! Sure does seem like adding rope bridles from those bunks to the V would solve any bow blow off problems one could possibly have. At that point all you have to do is get the bow between the goalposts and then throttle up, letting the trailer do all the guidance no?

Matt

mastreb wrote:Sure does seem like adding rope bridles from those bunks to the V would solve any bow blow off problems one could possibly have. At that point all you have to do is get the bow between the goalposts and then throttle up, letting the trailer do all the guidance no?

Not totally, in my experience, but still a great improvement. The goal posts and lines are flexible enough that you can still get a bit out of sorts, but not as badly as without them. But with directed thrust from the engine, little bursts of power with the wheel at one extreme or the other is all it takes to move the stern as needed. The lines are mostly useful once the CLR is beyond the goal post, with wind or current pushing the bow against the line. A little reverse with the wheel swung to the downwind side can pull the bow out of the bridle, if needed. Then back to forward to get it moving again.

I put the trailer in so the small forward vee bunks are just under the water. Winch it the rest of the way, with the engine idling in forward so it doesn't try to slip back out on its own. I virtually always do all this alone, but with help standing in shallow water to hook and crank, the whole process would take half the time or less, but even by myself it only takes a couple of minutes, and that's in the unprotected slip I posted above, where the trailer wheels are out in the open area where the ramp gets steeper. Lotta practice helps, of course.

Protected ramps are even easier, and I don't even both power loading there. Just walk it on with two lines, but again, the bridle helps there as me (or me and a helper) are on the dock, so the bridle keeps it in the groove.

Others have use chain covered in PVC pipe. I suppose wire rope would also work. I use yacht braid because I had it laying around (old reefing lines from another boat), and because I can tighten and loosen in seconds with a knot. But stiffer would definitely be better.

Wayne, for leaving a slip forward out in a blow, I rig a dockline from a sliding center cleat I have rigged on the cabin-top tracks to the forward most cleat on the slip on the side I'm turning to (i.e., if I'm going to port out of the slip, I rig the dockline to port) and just put a single wrape around the base with no cleat knot over it.

I bring the bitter end of the line back to the cockpit. When I start the motor and begin easing out, I just pull this dockline and it eases the boat forward without letting it go sideways in the wind. By bringing in this dockline as you move forward in the slip, the boat is held a specific amount away from the slip. As the CLR moves past the dock cleat, hold the dockline fast and the boat will swing around with the cleat as the pivot point, no matter what the wind is doing the boat will make it's proper turn.

Then just released the dockline and let it slip away from the dock cleat as you pull out. I use a polyethylene dockline that floats in the water so it can't foul the prop if I'm unable to grab it, and then haul it in at your convenience.

Easy peasy lemon breezy. If the wind is from the other side (i.e., pushing the boat into the dock), then you can rig the dockline to the far side of the slip and accomplish the same thing to pull yourself away from the dock, except you let slip as you begin your turn, which will be aided by the wind not by the dockline.

I've also done this with a long boathook, but the dockline is easier to manage single-handed.