IPA’s are all good, but I believe that after working all day in that space I would go straight to the Laphroaig!

Mine is a daggerboard, so I’m just spitballing. Is it possible that the cable is attached to the wrong place on the center board, so that as it comes up you start to pull at an excessive angle and no longer have a decent mechanical advantage?

I have a 26D, and not a stock rudder. A previous owner installed one of the plastic “improved” ones. The rudder blade is bolted into an aluminum fitting that hangs on the transom. At this point the rudder blade does not come up high enough to point at the sky, but does come up higher than 90*, perha...

I see no problem with bolts, BUT! 1. Definitely use lock nuts, because…… 2. Don’t try to “neaten things up” and make the bolts tight. Those fittings need to be somewhat sloppy and loose so they can flex as the rig loads and unloads. 3. Don,t use “grade 8” or whatever the SS equivalent is. Those bolt...

Don’t trim them until you try them on the water. I trimmed 1/2in. off of mine thinking they were to far out, and now it is alright on the trailer, but on the water it feels like I am climbing upside down. Trying to find an easy way to extend them again!

This happened to me on my old V-25. Looks like about the same keel. I careened it onto a swimming beach and dug enough sand away to run a truckers cargo strap under the keel. It still hung down slightly, but I was able to get it up onto the trailer (original single axle) far enough to winch it the r...

They do make a “nut splitter” that will go around the lug nut and has a hardened sharp wedge that will cut the nut with the application of a very large wrench or socket. Don’t know if it would fit in there or not. Should be available at a good hardware shop or NAPA type auto parts house. When I was ...

Back in the ninety’s we sailed a MAC 25 with two children and two Boxer dogs for weekend camping trips in Arizona (yeah, I was younger then!). We trained both the bitch and the dog to hang their rear ends over the side to pee, and they had done so for years. One day a sudden gust tossed the male ove...

Blue Water Yachts is in Mountlake Terrace, WA. They are the go to source for MAC parts and I’m sure they can get an aluminum tube of the right profile. They can probably even install all the pieces at the right place if you’d rather pay than do it yourself. The trouble with the mast is that it is ou...

Welcome to the forum. First know that I have a 26D, which is a much more traditional “sailboat” than your 19. My boat is pure displacement hull, so never going to get on plane! I think everyone will say, though, that no water ballasted MAC should ever be sailed without ballast. I know that mine, eve...

That sounds about right. It also sounds easier than it probably really is, especially walking the mast up. I did it that way when I was much younger. You will want help keeping an eye on the shrouds as you go up, since you can’t really just stop and clear any fouling that might occur. A second perso...

Don’t forget that somewhere down there on the bottom of that dagger board are holes so that it can fill with water and sink. You don’t want to cover them up or seal them while doing you repair or it will float back up into the trunk

MS is a starting battery and DC is a deep cycle. Both are optimized for different uses (if you are buying quality batteries). Many of the discount batteries such as Wal Mart or auto parts stores don’t seem to be much different no matter what the label says

How about a “beak” of Macs?

Be Free-- I've never really timed the filling. I launch the boat, tie it to the public dock (or a local rock if I'm in the boonies) and go park the truck. It is full when I get back, so maybe ten minutes or less. Emptying it is a pain, however. I open it before I put it on the trailer and it will st...