MacGregorSailors.com

LOL - looks a lot like my crew

Barnacle Jim wrote:Ahoy,

In the meantime, here is a photo of my faithful and motley crew. As you see, the crew is quite anxious to launch out into the deep. The little one we call Miss Sheba.

Barnacle Jim

Ahoy,

We were away for awhile, but now once again, I am able to work on the boat. Indeed, a couple of friends came by early this morning just to help out. If I keep using friends like this, I'll soon not have any friends left. It was hot, Arizona hot. Yes, we worked early in the morning, but even that did not seem to help. At least, though, we got a start on the mast-raising system. We're almost there, but some things are not quite right yet; maybe some of the salts and ne-er-do-wells on this site can take a look, laugh, and offer some hardy advice.

We were able to get the mast down by using our new block and tackle. Everything worked fine; there were no casualties, no one abandoned crew and ship. We did abandon the becket, though and secured the line to a cleat on the foredeck. To be able to use the becket on the block, we would need a swivel as well. Otherwise, the lines will not stay parallel.






Does this set-up look right? Is there any advantage in using the becket over using the cleat? Here is another photo, just to show that we did not exaggerate when we said the mast is now down. I secured the gin pole to the mast by using the jib halyard. I suppose this is how the system works. No need to worry about the power lines in the distant background. We're a long way from Tipperary.





The problem were are having at the moment are the baby stays. At first, we attached the stays to the gin pole, and that kept the gin pole from swaying, but the mast began to follow Fleetwood Mac, and go its own way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ul-cZyuYq4

We next attached the baby stays to the mast instead, but even that did not keep the mast from swaying. Are we suppose to use the cleats on the mast to secure the two baby stays, or must we add an eye to the mast?

Oops, looks as if I may have found my answer. It's amazing how clear something can get once you read the directions and give it a try. Yes, of course, I had read this, but once on the boat, and under the Arizona sun, you forget what you may have read. Having made and used the block and tackle, everything makes much more sense now. Looks like I need to get some S hooks. All of this reminds me of another song by none other than Dr. Hook: "When you're in love with a beautiful woman . . ." Well, shiver me timbers here's young Jim Hawkins!

Using a bowline, tie an S hook on the end of each of the 2
ten foot long lines. Hook the hooks into the metal eyes on
the deck beside the mast, and secure the other ends to the
cleats on the mast (located 5 feet above the bottom of the
mast. Pull these lines tight and secure them really well. If
they get loose, the mast will fall sideways as it goes up

Here is a photo of Miss Pat, standing near the winch. She, too, seems rather anxious to launch. She's the beautiful woman I have been in love with for a number of years.




Neither Miss Pat nor I know much about sailing, but the few times we've sailed with others, we really liked it. I've gone out a few times with a friend or two, always a disaster with that bunch. They either capsize the small day-sailer, or knock me overboard with a boom. I don't mind getting wet, but somehow, capsizing or getting hit with a boom for most of us is something we would rather avoid. That's why I enrolled in a ASA 101 class with real sailors. Maybe I can learn something. One capsize with the MacGregor and Miss Pat would be done with sailing forever, and I and the MacGregor would be dry-docked.


Adventure begins,

Barnacle Jim

Ahoy,

Tomorrow adventure on the high seas begins. I go sailing in the first of the ASA 101 classes. Actually, the class is on a large desert lake, not the high seas, but high seas makes everything sound a bit more respectable. There will be lectures, tests, knots to tie, and maneuvers to follow. Sailing away from the dock and returning under sail, figure-8 exercises, some tacking, some jibing. Learning to control the speed of the boat. I am thrilled. You might say I have been jive talkn' all day. The temperature will be a respectable 111 degrees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W42rMjYWlk

One of the ASA instructors is a MacGregor 26S man; sailed his boat for decades. Tomorrow will be the first step on the way to full certification. Tomorrow we sail away under the invisible forces of wind and water.



Hopefully, by sunset tomorrow, I will be singing another Bee Gee ditty, Staying Alive—

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcam97qgvbA


Arrg, maties!

With regard to the mast raising system, have you first tried raising the mast without it. You simply leave the backstay and shrouds attached, but not the forestay. You walk the mast back and rest it on the post. Bolt it onto the maststep. Stand on the cabin hatch and lift up the mast. The mast is surprisingly light to lift up and I found it so easy, I'm not going to bother with the mast raising system on a regular basis. The raising system just doesn't seem worth the hassle. I think I will probably try the system out however, and make sure everything works properly because it might be handy if I go somewhere where I have to motor under a low bridge.

JohnWood wrote:The mast is surprisingly light to lift up and I found it so easy, I'm not going to bother with the mast raising system on a regular basis. The raising system just doesn't seem worth the hassle. I think I will probably try the system out however, and make sure everything works properly because it might be handy if I go somewhere where I have to motor under a low bridge.

Not so easy with a genoa on a roller furler, and when doing that alone, as the admiral can't really help. The MRS allows you to stop anywhere, too, and to pin the forestay without help. Getting a few years under your belt doesn't make it any easier, either.

But if you don't need it, there's no real reason to bother with it. Ah, to be young again.

Tomfoolery wrote:

JohnWood wrote:The mast is surprisingly light to lift up and I found it so easy, I'm not going to bother with the mast raising system on a regular basis. The raising system just doesn't seem worth the hassle. I think I will probably try the system out however, and make sure everything works properly because it might be handy if I go somewhere where I have to motor under a low bridge.

Not so easy with a genoa on a roller furler, and when doing that alone, as the admiral can't really help. The MRS allows you to stop anywhere, too, and to pin the forestay without help. Getting a few years under your belt doesn't make it any easier, either.

But if you don't need it, there's no real reason to bother with it. Ah, to be young again.

Yes, with the roller furler, I see the problem. Mine had a roller furler when I bought it. The previous owner had trailered it with the big heavy drum hanging off of the bow unsupported, bending the track up and down with every bounce. The track had a big crack as a result. The track was also all bent up from not being stored in a straight line, making it difficult to pull it straight enough to insert the forestay clevis pin. After all of that hassle, you need to route the furlur line back to the cockpit. It was just a huge pain in the neck. For an in-the water boat, the furler makes sense to me, but for a trailer sailer, I don't think it's worth the hassle nor extra weight of the track up high.
I just said, "screw it." I ripped off the furler and track, leaving a nice bare forestay, easy to deal with. I put hanks on the jib the other night. They were very cheap nylon ones, very easy to install, but they seem plenty strong for this small jib. I haven't yet rigged it with the hanks, but I'm hopeful that it will go well this way.
http://duckworksbbs.com/sailmaking/jibhanks/index.htm

I've been told that the Hobie cats have a much more simple, lightweight furling system that may be applied to the Mac. I might look it that in the future.

Yeah - and the MRS has the edge when the deck is slippery and wet, too. I think the MRS becomes less of a hassle after you work a familiar routine with it (storing/ retrieving it out of sight below being a big part of the routine). I raise/ lower the mast once or twice a year - not enough to have a routine, so I do have to think about it each time, which makes it slower.
- Brian.

I have those nylon hanks on a smaller sailboat. What a pain. One of them just seams to get twisted as you raise the sail and it jams the sail only partway up. If you are lucky you notice right away, but usually I notice when I get into the wind and the sail just does not look right and then I have to release the halyard and go forward to fix it. Not always fun. I like the piston hanks.

As for the mast raising system, I find it makes putting the mast up a longer task. I keep it onboard but usually only lift the mast into place. But I have no furling system on my boat. I do use the MRS if I am working on the boat and expect to raise and lower the mast a few times.

OK either the mast for the 26S boats is SIGNIFIGANTLY lighter than my M25 or you guys are really, really fit!

I can't raise my mast by myself. I'm 6' 240 and in decent shape. The mast is just too heavy to lift while walking from the cockpit up to the top of the deck. Not to mention there's really not an easy way to get from the cockpit to the deck. I've got to have one of my boys either pulling on a line forward of the mast while I walk it or I'm pulling on the line while they walk it.

NavySailor wrote:OK either the mast for the 26S boats is SIGNIFIGANTLY lighter than my M25 or you guys are really, really fit!

I can't raise my mast by myself. I'm 6' 240 and in decent shape. The mast is just too heavy to lift while walking from the cockpit up to the top of the deck. Not to mention there's really not an easy way to get from the cockpit to the deck. I've got to have one of my boys either pulling on a line forward of the mast while I walk it or I'm pulling on the line while they walk it.

You don't start lifting the mast from the cockpit. You stand on the top of the closed companionway hatch. You start by setting mast down on that aft wood support crutch. The you bolt the bottom of the mast to the base. It helps if another person is there is steady the mast and align it. When I did it, I fastened the jib halyard to the foredeck cleat so that when I got the mast up, I could just tie than other end down at the mast cleat to steady the mast while I sorted out the forestay. With the mast base bolted, you can just lift straight up. Lifting from the top of the companionway hatch may require two people, or just a second for spotting, but I'd bet you'd find it isn't too hard to do it by yourself. Alternately, you could use the mast raising pole without the pulleys. One person lifts the mast and hold it steady. The other person pulls the raising pole forward and down.

Here's a great video of a guy lifting the mast on a 26X, which probably has the about the same weight of mast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A5QXWAFGFM
With a furled jib you lift 125 lbs. With just a forestay, it's 107 lbs. I don't raise it with a furled jib, but I admit, 107 lbs sounds like a bit more weight than I remember.

One thing I plan to do is to put a roller on my aft wooden mast crutch so make lining up the mast to the base easier. Currently without the roller, lining it up by myself is very difficult.

Ahoy,

Thanks for the comments everyone. I am not sure how ship-shape I'm in, or out of shape, but I can raise the mast by myself. Having done so, I would rather not. I suppose it may be a lot like when you were 5 years old and your brother was 10 years old. You might could almost whip him in a friendly fight, but you could never enjoy doing it. I like mast-raising systems almost as much as I like halyards. I suppose I could just grab the mainsail and shimmy up the mast, and attach everything. I suppose I could do that, but the halyard sure makes everything a whole lot easier especially when you're pushing 70 years like I am.

The sailing lesson were good; the temperature was hot, only 109 degrees or so. We sailed maneuver after maneuver after maneuver. Besides the skipper, there were two other ne'er-do-wells aboard and in the class. One had a splitting headache before the afternoon was over; the other, nearly collapsed from fatigue. It was a good day; all of us enjoyed ourselves in spite of ourselves. No sooner had you made a tack that you had to make another tack, and then a jibe, and then another, followed by a heave to. Eventually all of learned how to make the jib snap on a tack, and how to let the wind help you make that snap.

My two shipmates finished up this morning; i had to teach a couple of classes at a local college. Tomorrow, though, I am to set sail in the morning. This time on a MacGregor 26S; the other boat was a Catalina 25. I know I will be tying sheep bends, and bowlines on a bight in my sleep tonight. There are a couple of written exams tomorrow as well. Arrgh. Here, I had been thinking that sailing would be like the life of Riley, and in many ways it is, but for now, what a revolting situation this is.






Fair winds and sometimes unfair winds,

Barnacle Jim

Jim, the baby stays should attach to the deck and make an A-frame of sorts with the mast in between. Depending on how tightly you adjust them, they will still allow a little side-to-side movement of the mast as you raise it, but not enough to go anywhere. That slack will (should) go away as the mast gets more vertical and the shrouds start to get tight.

The boat looks super great by the way! Good find, and good buy!

Ahoy,

Thanks so much for the comments on the baby stays. I had reached such a conclusion myself, largely based on trial and error. I tend to be very good at making errors.

Yesterday, I successfully completed the ASA 101 course and am now certified. It was a brutal day of sailing and exams. We began at 0800 and finished at 1500 hrs. The temperature was a modest 109 degrees. On the first day of the course, we sailed a Catalina 25; today it was just me and the skipper aboard a Mac26 S. I chose that over the Erickson; I do not have a diesel but I do have a Mac26 S. We tacked, we jibed, we drilled docking, we practiced man overboard. We anchored. Not once during the day did I have to use the winch (handle) to bring in the jib. At last, I think I am beginning to get the feel of how to use the wind to advantage.

The exam had 100 questions, some simple; some more like high winds on the high seas. I managed to miss three, all of which had to do with port tacking and starboard tacking. I really get those confused. Is the wind coming from port and therefore, the tack is a port tack, or is that starboard tacking? I know how to move the boat, but the vocabulary here escapes me.

The skipper's MacGregor was fully equipped. He had a hawser for his rode and anchor line. There was a boom vang, a top lift, and a traveler. He had moved the pulleys for the jib further aft than the stock layout. What I really liked was what he had done with his gas tank. I'm not sure I'm using the right words here, but the tank was similar to what you might find on a powerboat. By that I mean it is a permanent tank in the lazarette with a fill from the deck: no fumes whatsoever. The lazarette was well ventilated. Yes, one of those modified rudders as well. I think I may try building one of those. Has anyone done that? Would encapsulating lead near the end of the rudder help?

Well, such as it is for now. I doubt that I will be sailing anymore until the temperatures begin to break. From June onward, the temperatures really get hot. I have some work to do on the house, and some work to do on the boat. But if the temperature breaks, I may be bold enough to launch out into the deep. There is always Catalina Island, I suppose, but I'm not ready for that yet. I need to practice what little i know before I encounter dolphins, whales, seals, stowaways and perhaps, a pirate or two. Usually, tourists are bad and obnoxious enough.



Well, shiver me timbers; it's young Jim Hawkins!

Someone on this very board has an external tank, complete with photos, ground and guage. I probably had seen this fine entry before, but at the time, I had not noticed what this sailor had done. I really like this modification. I suppose you can drain the gas rather than keeping it there during the long winter months. A lot of good information on this board.

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ?view=1730


Fair winds from a novice


Barnacle Jim

Ahoy Mateys!

The long hot summer in Arizona makes it a bit difficult to sail; sometimes the weather breaks, allowing you to sail with someone who already has a boat at the marina.
So, for the summer months, I am a leech (and maybe a luff as well) sailing with whoever might be ready to venture forth on the open waves.
When that does not afford itself, I work on the boat as much as I can afford, researching one project and working on another, I suppose.

Single Line Reefing
Harken has a kit, and so does Blue Water Yachts.
Harken is expensive. Has anyone used either set-up?
Does anyone have an opinion?


Boom / Mast Setup
My boat uses a bolt from the hardware store.
What should be the connector?
Has anyone used a clevis pin?

Steve, a fellow Mac 26 S sailor, just wrote to me a moment ago and described the connector as a "J" bolt. The curve in the "J" bolt apparently allowed a place for the main to reef. That makes sense to me, so I searched the manuals again, and discovered what seemed to be a photo of the original set up. After enhancing the photo, maybe the image will be a bit clearer for all of us. I hope so. Perhaps, the image will help someone else who may have been just as confused as was I.






Fair Sailing,


Barnacle Jim

Ahoy,

A package arrived today, a package from the rogues at Blue Water Yacht.
Miss Pat could not quite understand how her husband could be excited about a few pieces of rope and a pulley or two.
Indeed, when she placed the package on a chair, a dog leaped up and barked at the package and its contents.
You know you are in bad seas when even your loyal dog seems to align himself with your wife.

Now, I must tell you that Miss Pat was happy that I received the package even though she could not quite understand why I was so pleased.



The Blue Water Yacht people had sent me a vang, a backstay that can bend the mast, and a few other much needed items, including a decal or two.
They're good people up that way, and I would recommend them to any salt worth his salt.

Now, if I can just get everything installed on the boat . . .
It's a good week; it's a good day; its a good stay.

I almost forgot about the out-haul. That, too, was in the box.
That sail will soon be as flat as my wallet.


Fair winds,

Barnacle Jim