Doesn't the X have an adjustable tie bar? The M is fixed and needs to be manually bent to align rudders.
Steering one handed
- Russ
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Re: Steering one handed
--Russ
- Tomfoolery
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Re: Steering one handed
4. Balance the sails.DaveC426913 wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 8:27 am Agree with all above.
1. Run all lines aft.
2. Buy EZ cleats.
3. Bungie cord on wheel.
I don't bungie the wheel as when the sails are balanced, I can just sit on the windward side and steer with one hand. Also do that when they're not balanced, but it's more work.
Tom
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- dlandersson
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Re: Steering one handed
Ditto
DaveC426913 wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 8:27 am Agree with all above.
1. Run all lines aft.
2. Buy EZ cleats.
3. Bungie cord on wheel.
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Re: Steering one handed
This only works for me in specific conditions - wind velocity, point of sail.
Even at that, I would never trust it. The motor attached to the steering means the wheel is always in danger of flopping hard-over - esp. if I'm shifting my weight around, tending lines. If the wheel went off while I were away from it, I'd end up in the soup.
MacX 2000 Honda BF50A 'SeaSaw'
- Tomfoolery
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Re: Steering one handed
Ah, but I have the disconnect from BWY. And if I leave the helm, it's only for a second or two to do what needs doing.DaveC426913 wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 7:42 amThis only works for me in specific conditions - wind velocity, point of sail.
Even at that, I would never trust it. The motor attached to the steering means the wheel is always in danger of flopping hard-over - esp. if I'm shifting my weight around, tending lines. If the wheel went off while I were away from it, I'd end up in the soup.
Tom
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- opie
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Re: Steering one handed
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.video on YouTube
Here is my take on this topic's question
.
I realize that many of you do not have time for a ten minute video, so here is a summary.
The MacGregor (in this case a 26X) will track exactly straight on three points of the wind when only using a bungee cord to lock the wheel.
With main only or main with jib, no difference.
And that straight track is over land! My Garmin GPS was set for breadcrumbs every 50 feet. The ocean has currents that aren't always the same as the winds. I thought that a bungee-cord steered Mac would create a track that would show a curve that identified the current underneath, but the gps tracks were straight as an arrow, WHEN on proper leg into wind as shown by triangle drawn by gps on 2nd test at 2/3 of the video. If you throw the Mac into a random direction, it will find one of those pointings if bungeed.
ps - Who can forget the famous sailor, Joshua Slocum, and his sailboat the Spray, who was quoted: "But see the run the Spray made from Thursday Island to the Keeling Cocos Islands, twenty-seven hundred miles distant, in twenty-three days, with no one at the helm in that time, save for about one hour, from land to land."
ref: Sailing Alone Around the World (free book at Projectgutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317)
.
.video on YouTube
Here is my take on this topic's question
.
I realize that many of you do not have time for a ten minute video, so here is a summary.
The MacGregor (in this case a 26X) will track exactly straight on three points of the wind when only using a bungee cord to lock the wheel.
With main only or main with jib, no difference.
And that straight track is over land! My Garmin GPS was set for breadcrumbs every 50 feet. The ocean has currents that aren't always the same as the winds. I thought that a bungee-cord steered Mac would create a track that would show a curve that identified the current underneath, but the gps tracks were straight as an arrow, WHEN on proper leg into wind as shown by triangle drawn by gps on 2nd test at 2/3 of the video. If you throw the Mac into a random direction, it will find one of those pointings if bungeed.
ps - Who can forget the famous sailor, Joshua Slocum, and his sailboat the Spray, who was quoted: "But see the run the Spray made from Thursday Island to the Keeling Cocos Islands, twenty-seven hundred miles distant, in twenty-three days, with no one at the helm in that time, save for about one hour, from land to land."
ref: Sailing Alone Around the World (free book at Projectgutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6317)