MacGregorSailors.com

I found Ziggy's comments rather profound.
Can't improve on them, but thought they deserved reflection ...

MAC ZIGGY wrote: ... The boat is an option or an opportunity. You've made a lot of progress in a short time. There'll probably be a lot of unexpected expenses when you move to the new house.

If you sell your boat to help your family - you're a good dad. If you keep your boat to help your family through a rough time - you're a good dad. What's best for your family is important.

As an empty nester.......

a few thoughts about getting rid of the boat...

In the late 80's I had too many jobs and too many hobbies....and chose to sell my planes and give up one business in an attempt to save my family life.

it was a partial fix at best, and it gave me some of the most truly memorable times of my life. As I shifted resources to activities that could be shared, several aspects of my family life improved, while a few others merely were put on hold, and in the end did not improve. We cant force another to have fun with us, but we can guide children into activities which stand a pretty good chance of develping thought patterns that are conducive to makeing family time important. While I am 100% pro family time, I am somewhat un-enamoured with the child develpment of Sports camps, premier,select teams, team building camps, etc that seem to be the rage with suburban america. Having an entire family split to run around catering to the children doesnt seem to result in children that have a better attitude in life, or are kinder, wiser, or harder workers, or even more satisfied for that matter.

When I found myself giving up family time so one child or the other or a spouse could continually go do "their thing" I did not find children or spouse that were appreciative of the sacrifice of others... in fact I frequently found that more demands,requirements etc... came to light to support their greater ........"needs".

Now I am all for everyone pursuing their dreams....as young adults. But I would suggest that children especially need to be exposed to family quality time vs. family maintenance time. Let them pursue their dreams as they can afford and develop them.

Just some insight from someone who had frequently paid the price of indulgence of others.

Few individuals become better people by the sacrifice of others.

We now return to our regularly scheduled show.....

Good luck,
Enjoy!!!!

LITDS

(Life is too damn short)

WW is exactly on the money, while I spend a great deal of time sacrificing, (I have 4 Kids, 2 grown 1 in college and 1 is 13 going on 20) when a sacrifice is made around here it is made by all or none.

I do spend a fair amount of time chasing kids, even the grown ones but we've limited our kids to one activity at a time. Choose wisely. I notice that the kids that are shuttled around from personal devcelopement activity to activity are somewhat stressed and dont seem to be able to perform at peak in anything.

They also have a tendancy to lose or never develope a sence of value for their time or money. When you arent denied anything it is hard to appreciate anything.

This is the part where bill tells us about walking uphill both ways to school in the summer while it was snowing.

Well, that was easy.

My wife just got home from Memphis, and I immediately began my sales pitch for keeping the 26X. As I mentioned before, she seemed to have been warming up to the idea of getting a 26M (both for the "shiny new boat" factor and the bigger rear berth). In addition, the destruction of the coast and the islands had a bigger effect on her... at one point (in the first month or two after the hurricane), she was essentially saying "what's the point in ever going boating again?" I insisted that, although our favorite spots and now cherished traditions may be gone, we'd find new favorite places. But lately she seems to be showing more signs of optimism.

Anyway, back to today. I even had a spreadsheet prepared, comparing the cost of keeping the 26X and repairing the motor plus doing some other fixups that are needed vs. selling it and applying that money to a 26M later ($3,700 vs. $24,000). But before I even finished the first sentence, she said, "fine, let's keep the boat." Turns out she had essentially the same thoughts on this as me while she was out of town. When I told her my goal was to get back to boating by next summer, her face lit up... she misses it as much as I do, and realizes the kids won't be little forever.

So, if at all possible, we will be keeping the boat. We just need to work out the storage details.

My only real fear with storing it on my neighbor's land is the motor, which I realize is an attractive target to thieves. I wonder if hanging a sign on it that read "note to potential thieves: this motor is busted" would be enough of a deterrent? I'd consider removing it and storing it at home, but I'm not sure where I could put it (the garage is very small... but maybe I could put it in the shed in the backyard).

As a side note, I did run the motor for a little while today. It was a bit rough at first (hasn't been run in 7 months), but smoothed out nicely after a few moments.

--Mike

GREAT NEWS MIKE....I can sleep easy now for ya!

Rich..

Get a sawhorse and clamp the motor on it and place it right next to your bed. This will remind you to get it ready to go back in the water.

Joking

Glad to hear you and the wife are on the same page. Makes these decisions a lot easier to make in life.

I am somewhat un-enamoured with the child develpment of Sports camps, premier,select teams, team building camps, etc that seem to be the rage with suburban america

I agree, WW, totally out of control. Sports camp for us meant we got 5 kids from the area together, put two shirts down for goals, and played soccer all day. The second saddest thing is all these folks who think their kids are going to college on sports scholarships...Ive learned not to tell them the numbers since its not a tale they want to hear.

This is getting a little angled towards the Pub I guess...

I'll save everyone else the details, other eloquently did that already. Trust me, years after you've made them do family stuff they hated at the time those will be their fond memories. That age is golden. The 13-17 period is when they start flapping their own wings. Our family train trip up the east coast (from hull) is legendary to the same two girls that complained bitterly the entire trip... "this is boring, when are we gonna get there, we -hate- museums... etc".
Keep the boat. Remove the lower unit & take it wih you. Five bolts and a nut on the threaded tranny rod, takes like ten minutes to get off. Then tape plastic over the opening to keep out moisture & critters.
Anyone stupid enough to steal a boat with a missing lower unit deserves what he gets when someone sees and reports it. "Look for a stolen boat, engine half gone..." Besides you need to get the lower unit serviced. Then whenever you get the notion pin it back together and sail. If they do steal the boat you still have half of an outboard!

Smooth sailing.

In some storage area in the boat, out of sight, scribe the hull number and the State ID number. In several places. If it does get stollen and somebody has it survyed, it will be seen.

As mentioned before, Lock the ball, take off the tires, lock up the boat and take off the plate, do not put on a new sticker until you are ready to sail. Take EVERYTHING out of the boat. Consult your insurance agent.

With the HIGH humidity and the high chance of mold growth. You would really need to store it somewhere where there is electricity and use one of the Air Dryer with Fan

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... 380/379/12

I have heard that they work well.

James V wrote:In some storage area in the boat, out of sight, scribe the hull number and the State ID number.

Just last weekend I noticed that Macgregor Yachts placed two hull no. ID tags on my 2000 Mac.
The most familiar one is at the starboard aft rubrail, but there's another one riveted atop the aft-galley seat, under which they place the battery.

Frank C wrote:Just last weekend I noticed that Macgregor Yachts placed two hull no. ID tags on my 2000 Mac.
The most familiar one is at the starboard aft rubrail, but there's another one riveted atop the aft-galley seat, under which they place the battery.

that's standard fare...

MIKE...I'd make the choice you made after looking at that spread sheet. Tinkering with your Mac-X, getting it in "ship shape" will be a lot of the fun. The Mac is so well suited for a small family, and for empty nesters. Considering all this, you could still have the Mac-X many years down the road and be glad for it...
I hope you and the family have many years of "good family fun" and many more good memories on your Mac X ...

I'm really glad to see that you are keeping the boat to build new memories on top of the wonderful memories you already have.

Here's what we use to secure the trailer:

http://www.trailerlock.com/

And here's a link I found some time back when considering security for our Mac:

Marine Theft Prevention
http://www.mswp.dps.mo.gov/Safety/TheftPrevPrint.htm

Looking forward to reading about your new adventures this summer

Jackie M