Hi Herschel! How goes it? The temperatures up here in South Carolina have been tough as of late in the 90s with equal measure of humidity! I can only image what you’re contending with where you are at! I copied your idea of the pop up shade for working on the trailer refurbishment. It makes a diffe...

Hi Herschel! I’ve used polypropylene sheeting, like the mid/heavy drop cloth type. It worked well for fiberglass work area protection too as ‘generally’ the fiberglass doesn’t stick to it …. Has stood up to the heat generally well. I’ve gotten it at Home Depot, Lowe’s and paint stores. Hope this he...

Status report on floatation foam removal from Dinghy: I have 99% removed. :D I managed to break my hot knife in the process, but it was useful while it lasted. I bent it so much that the leads bent and connected shorting it out. Finished the job with the pruning saw and chesils. Just have some corne...

Thank you guys for your continued interest in my little "warm up" project with my O'Day dinghy. I was so pumped up, i hit the foam again today with saw and hot knife. Got about half of it removed. slowly learning the techniques that are most efficient. https://i.postimg.cc/8J1rSL4w/2025061...

Don't know if anyone is following my little project on my O'Day Sprite any longer, but I thought I would post a status report in any event. I have been hacking away at the old floatation foam to get it completely purged from the cavity under the stern seat. I determined it was compromised by moistur...

I used NewGlass for several years. It holds up for 6mos. on the white gelcoat but 3-4 mos. on the black stripe. Several years ago I stripped the NewGlass and switched to Glidecoat. Glidecoat is a marine specific ceramic product. Well, this brings us all back to the reality that this is a Mac forum ...

Thanks for finding the 2-part foam designed for marine use at a reasonable price . Ordered same along with another tube of life calk. Really appreciate your experience in this area. 8) Report to follow as I begin to prep area. One issue that is puzzling. How to get the foam into small crevices and c...

overeasy reported: West Marine and other places have the two part expanding marine flotation closed cell foam the is designed to last longer than some of the 8) older stuff. It’s weird stuff…. It works best if allowed to expand un-constrained. I once tried to fill a box with the stuff and tried to r...

Well, I found a product called Evercoat Fiberglass Spray Foam in 12 oz can. $40 at a marine supply store. WM was out of it. Then I found Great Stuff Big Gaps Ivory Polyurethane Insulating Foam Sealant 12 oz at Ace for about $6. It is suppose to seal areas up to 3 inches. The 2-part Versi-Foam polyur...

I know this is only tangentially related to Mac mods and repairs, but to complete the story of my "practice" work with a repaint on portions of my 1959 O'Day Sprite, here is a pic of the spray flotation foam applied to the stern void/seat when the boat was rehabbed for the second or third ...

Herschel Its hard to believe that we visited you 10 years ago to look at a MacGregor in real life instead of a picture. Thanks so much for encouraging us to buy one. Planning to visit Canada and Lake Champlain in our Mac this summer. For those that do not know we use our Mac as a power trawler beca...

Stickinthemud57 reported: While I don't kid myself that sailing is a substitute for my exercise classes, I place it in the "worthwhile physical activity" category. That is what I am curious about. Yes, I endeavor to get in bicycling and swimming on a regular basis, but, honestly, I fall f...

Well, my repainting of the interior and gunwhales of my O'Day Sprite continues. As to be expected there is some mission creep. I discovered that the stern seat void was seeping some water, so I have decided to recalk the seems, but since they are both King Starboard, I had to do some research on the...

Hi Herschel! Wow! A boathouse AND a boat port! You treat your O’Day pretty nicely! :) :) :wink: It will make it that much nicer to work on for sure!!! I’ll follow your lead and get our pop up out to work on the boat trailer refurbishments….I’ll have to move it around but it beats gettting rained on...

Well, folks, I did it again. Close to aerobic boating. Took the Admiral and one of her lady friends cruising down the St. Johns River. Anchored in a secluded bend off the main channel where I have often stopped for a picnic. While we were on the hook, what to my surprise came "steaming" ar...