MacGregorSailors.com

We all cope with a miserable spring in our own way. I made this Advent Calendar, counting down to Launch Day. It brings me a little bit of chocolatey happiness each day until SeaSaw goes in the water.

Nice.

Anything that doesn't look like snow.


--Russ

cool Can I add severe weather and tornados as well Ron

In the water for a week now

yukonbob wrote:In the water for a week now

Took my cover off. Gonna go check the marina tomorrow.

Sorry, been in twice...and gonna be a thrid time this weekend as I have to haul it out again to do some more OB adjustments.

Hello,
We've had a few good days so I un-bagged the boat and started on my spring prep. This year is "trailer time" a complete refurbish with new brakes, bunks, paint, wiring, winch strap and adding another step to the bow ladder. I may narrow the axle 1" so it fits in the spot /slot better too.

Made cradles and slid the trailer out from under the Mac.


Flipped it over, de-rusted the bottom surfaces using a sander and power wire brush then treated them with Ospho (phosphoric & dichromate acid) and replaced the center X-member


1st coat of paint

It's not official until Bozeman MT checks in....Russ??

HEY! how did you get the boat of the trailer like that ...

(no really , I have to do some trailer work and really would like to know...)

Don T wrote:Hello,
We've had a few good days so I un-bagged the boat and started on my spring prep. This year is "trailer time" a complete refurbish with new brakes, bunks, paint, wiring, winch strap and adding another step to the bow ladder. I may narrow the axle 1" so it fits in the spot /slot better too.

Made cradles and slid the trailer out from under the Mac.


Flipped it over, de-rusted the bottom surfaces then treated them with Phospho (phosphoric & chromic acid) and replaced the center X-member


1st coat of paint

Don nice work on the trailer. I'm thinking of replacing the bunk carpets and maybe the wood also. Well, after spending some time over the last couple of weeks getting the boat ready, I decided to launch it at Humber Bay, Toronto early yesterday just to see that everything was working well. It was either that or polish the black stripes . I had to change out the primer bulb on Saturday as I noticed it was leaking when I started the outboard in the driveway. Had it for 6 seasons, probably should change it out every 2-3 years. Beene was able to join me for a bit, light wind, to bad I didn't have a spinnaker. Maybe Highlander will let me use/sell me his at MMOR

I think my biggest project this spring will be adding disc brakes to the other axle. I put discs on just one axle when I got the boat, as the drum brakes fried just bringing it home.

I can actually lock up the working brakes when doing the Mac Bump, as those tires only have half the load, but the coupler sees the full inertial load when stopping. Makes me think it might not be so good in a panic stop in the rain at highway speed, for instance.

Lots of little projects, but the brakes have been bothering me since I did the original work.

NY doesn't require them on all axles, by the way, though some other States do. So I'm legal as far as yearly inspections go, but regardless of the law in any State, I'll feel better towing with a marginal tow vehicle if I have full braking.

kevinnem wrote:HEY! how did you get the boat of the trailer like that ...

(no really , I have to do some trailer work and really would like to know...)

Basically I dropped the tongue all the way down and measured how tall I could build the rear cradle to slide under the aft but not too tall so the boat would clear the eves on the garage. (11-1/2 degree "v") It has gussets to prevent "racking" on all axis. It would have been a lot easier without the vertical limitation.
The front cradle (20 deg "V") is just tall enough to allow the unloaded trailer out from under (just barely). I used my 2 ton floor jack.
So the process is
1. Lower tongue as far as possible (no wheel etc.) - place rear cradle under the aft.
2. Jack up the trailer tongue and place the forward cradle aft of the first bunk, lower trailer
3. Slide trailer forward until it hit the cradle.
4. Jack up the trailer again and place the cradle behind the axle, lower trailer.
5. Slide trailer forward until the rear bunk hit the cradle
6. Jack up trailer and move the cradle forward, lower trailer
7. Slide trailer forward until it hit the cradle.
8. Jack up the boat via a jacking block, place cradle just forward of the centerboard trunk, lower boat.
9. Pull trailer out from under.

After the cradles are built it's just 1/2 hour and it's off the trailer.

Don T

Here is a view of the OTTER on its cradles.


Closeup of the badly rusted center X member (50% of the metal thickness was rusted away at the weld).
This pic was taken before I hit it with a slag hammer and a huge chunk of rust popped out.


Here is a pic of the aft cradle sans the carpet.


Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this thread…………..

Don T wrote: Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this thread…………..

No, it is a way of coping with spring. Thanks for sharing all this info, I am going to use it soon. You did a fantastic parking job there.

Thanks for the info, I was thinking for a while you might be able to "twist " it out sideways, but with goal posts I jsut couldn't come up with anything.

I really like your idea, I was off thinking that I would nee to build a some sort of lift out of 6x6 but it was making be rather nervous, I am sure I can build components like you have.

cheers.

Hello,
Well now, We are headed into the 70's with a possible 80 degree day next week.........WOOHOO