Sailing in Texas, or most other southern states right now is not for the faint of heart. With heat indexes in the 105 to 115 ranges, just the thought of doing any sailing during the day is daunting enough. Through in the fact that the winds seems to die down during the heat of day, most of my sailin...

I just replace the bottom half of my topping lift rig with 3/16 sure-sta line. The previous owner had rigged a block half-way down and the bottom was rigged with 3-strand line. The 3 strand broke on me last weekend when I was trying to pulled the sail down while soloing and gusts picked up to 35 kno...

All, I am looking to replace my Doyle sails with the suggest Kelly-Hanson (KH) sails. I know there is a lot of buzz about the muscle head sail (don't believe they have one for my X yet), but I want to see if someone knows the difference between the C1000, C2000 and C3000 sails? I can see on the webs...

All,

The venture sailing club of Dallas has updated their website:

http://venturesailingclubofdallas.net/index.html

If you live in the North Texas area, do check out the website and the dinners and events are great! The club hosts not only Macregors/Venture, but are open for any sailboats.

Gregg

I have read that 90% of sailing is learned within the first year while the last 10% takes the rest of your life. So, I am half-war to that 90% :D My familiy along with my first ex and kids still live in Jax where I was born and raised. After three hitches in the Navy, i wound up in Dallas, but am a ...

Allan, Here is a good reference book to keep handy for questions like these: http://www.marineengine.com/books/e3.html I got mine from half-price books. A couple things to remember is that batteries in parrallel add amps like volt when batteries are connected in series. 2 12 volt/55 amp batteries co...

I had my first real teaching event yesterday when I thought that I would take my :macx: out for a power cruise around the lake. I looked at the tank, half full (yes, only one) and thought, ah that will be fine to cruise around for a little while. Well, after a few minutes into the cruise, I thought ...

dclark, The quick answer is 10% on the lower and 15-20% on the uppers according to Brian Toss (Tuning your rig DVD, http://www.amazon.com/Tuning-Your-Rig-DVD-version/dp/B0009XCZU6). I followed his suggestion with my 2000 X and it performs much better. Really notice the bend and the rake to the mast ...

I watched Brion Toss's video, "Tuning your rig". He explains that regardless of the boat, the lines themselves should be "tuned" to 10% of the wire breaking strength on lower shrouds and 15-20% on upper and longer lines like the forestay and backstays. Because of the B&R styl...

All, I had my sonar from my Garmin 545S mounted on pole that was tie-strapped to the side of the swim ladder. Worked great for the first few months, but alas, it got knocked off passing over some stumps. So I am real interested in mounting it in a "wet box" in the aft section of the boat. ...

Ken,

Sometimes the most simple solutions are the best! Thanks!

Gregg

I know that there are MANY posts on bilge pumps, but I have read most of them and tried a lot of different suggestions. My biggest problem is small amounts of water in the outboard bidge areas. It only gets there when it rains, but we have finally had enough rain, that it is beyond turkey basters an...

Here is the Venture/Macgregor sailing club of Dallas...the website is undergoing some updates as it appears, but the folks are really nice...I joined two months ago. http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:http://venturesailingclubofdallas.com/index.html The main link broken, but hopefully will be fixed...

Does anyone have any pics of the sliding companionway hatch and what to look for? I get water in the bildge when it rains, but the rest of the boat stays dry. The chainplates look to be in good shape, but will probable run a small bead around them just to make sure. Is 3M 5200 good for this? Thanks,...

Here is a quick link: http://ezinearticles.com/?Whats-in-a-Boat-Name?&id=400573 While not overly superstitious myself and spending 14 years in the Navy, I think it is more tradition and a chance to have a little fun with it. I bought my :macx: used with a second gen name of BAM!, the great folks...