Steering Alternatives? Anyone?

[beene]

grrrroooooownnnnnnnnn.......

The sound I make whilst suffering from "auto pilot envy"



G

[They Theirs]

It’s difficult to feel any feedback from the push/pull small wheel cable steering for sailing, especially in light air?

[Divecoz]

Not to start trouble and its only IMHO but the Mac looks like a Power Sailor
But that boat looks like a Tug Boat that might sail. . . and doesnt any builder read our post? The ingress egress at the transom still sucks again from what I can see and only in MHO.
But some of it looks nice, so what is the cost and the dry on a trailer weight.
I like looking at pictures and all but you guys need to open with either this is in the ball park $$$$ and weight or its not.
You know BMW makes an SUV that is just about the same size as my Explorer Sport. It will tow the Mac a whole lot better than my truck. Ride a lot better than my truck and on and on and on . But the thing cost 3 times what my Ford cost so . . .nice to look at but relative she isn't . . .

[They Theirs]

Did we miss something?? Was the “Topic”…
Tiller Helm vs. Pedestal Helm?
“Steering Alternatives”?

Post exhibits the ‘Tiller Helm’ on a powersailor
Post displays the ‘Wheel Helm’ on the same powersailor

Were not selling motor vehicles, just offering design potential for Roger’s next.

We cannot diminish your visual acuity or personal preference…from what we can see, but,
you’re a bit off topic and quite uninformed… we’ll not expand at this time.

On another board they have a group of Dullards, blurting out uninformed nastiness, using roughly the same description….
They were referring to the Mac? Were you there?

[Lease]

Bit of thread hijack here.......sorry.

Ever seen a BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes M, Volkswagen Touareg, etc, etc, ever towing??????????

[They Theirs]

We much prefer the “Tiller” for Sailing.

The Cockpit would be much bigger for sailing and crew movement on tacks.
The Wheel at the Bulkhead with controls makes an improved motoring helm,
and avoids the soaking with the pedestal aft.

Classic Boating Stuff


Note the Size of the Rudders and Hardware

[delevi]

Ever seen a BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes M, Volkswagen Touareg, etc, etc, ever towing??????????

Yes. All of the above. X5 4.6 IS tows like a beast.

[Catigale]

In port, its a pretty simple mod to spin the nut off the wheel and stow it below for cockpit space - not really necessary in the cockpit but might be more valuable in the

[eric3a]

..

[They Theirs]

Small Boat Pedestal Obsession

Though we know ‘Wheel’/pedestal steering on a small boat appears more like a Mattel toy option than a marine designers would prefer to be remembered. The wheel power advantage makes steering possible, without a very long tiller on large yachts.

Placing the large pedestal center cockpit offers little for cockpit comfort:
It’s difficult to pass, even if the wheel ‘can be removed’.
(Most steering wheels require a tight fit for safety, and a hub puller for removal)
The larger problem involves the limited foot-room on the cockpit floor, and awkward movement and seating around the helm pedestal.
Normal size adult sailors continually find their feet trapped, forced to move uncomfortably in the region of the pedestal.

eric3a
Interesting name…. German Translation. "Häßliche Ente"=“Ugly Duck”
We observed the Name….”Drag Queen Sailing” or "Sailing Drag Queen"

Divecoz
The size and weight are similar….the price is something else...





We made the statement before:

“The Powersailor is the most Boat for the Best Price”

“The ‘Vi:Ta’ powersailor is the Best Boat for the Most Price”

[Divecoz]

Chill Out T&T I can see the tiller NOW!!!! in the newer/better pictures. I couldn't see it before. However I feel my comments are relevant to cost and size.
BTW Delvie tows with a BMW 5 series SUV and Yes I see here, all around Chicago the others listed above, with hitches and being used all summer long. NOT each and every unit as it seems most come down to the New High End Soccer Mom Mobiles

[Currie]

I don't think the wheel helm is a ridiculous toy or anything. Pretty cool actually. After all it's a powersailor, and it's far superior powering with a forward-facing wheel, IMO. But yeah, if you're going to have a few people in the cockpit, the pedestal's in the way. If I do eventually install another steering, I'll be sad to see it go.

~Bob

[Currie]

Hey Bob...Also, you can read what we did to actually improve the problem of 26M cockpit space on our boat - Mods page in the Cockpit section under author Craig Garlick, Jan 15 and Jan 3 in 2006.

For ref Craig's mod is here...

http://macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin/mod ... record=646

Craig,

That's really great work. You say in the description that the results were pretty good, but it looks like factory quality from what I can see. Just curious - I haven't worked with gelcoat yet - doesn't gelcoat set poorly while exposed to air? I've heard it stays sticky or gummy or something unless it's allowed to dry void of air. Did yours turn out OK? What gelcoat product did you use? Thanks!

Cheers,
~Bob

[edurbin]

Bob,
The gel coat is actually called "Flow coat" in Australia. Now, technically, what the fiberglass supplier sold me was a can of "White Brush Gel Coat". To make the gel coat into what is termed "Flow Coat", the tin was opened and a certain amount of so called "wax" was added. The "wax" is what takes away the gel coat stickiness when dry. As I understand it, the flow coat (=waxed gel coat) is meant to be your non sticky finishing layer. I can say that after 2 years of exposure, my flowcoat finish on the cockpit seat still looks in excellent condition. No special "non air' drying procedures were necessary. But as I said in the mod, a little experimenting with how to get a decent finish with flowcoat is required. While I have some wood working skills, getting the finish on the rounded edge of the seat came by way of luck. A friend just happened to know the trick about using a slice of thin cardboard and dragging it over the flowcoated rounded edge. The result is not factory quality - but it is pretty good.

I still kept my original cockpit seat, in case we changed our mind about it. My wife prefers the original seat - for laying down on. But, I can tell you, that from the viewpoint of this captain who must be often moving past the pedestal, to go forward for sail duties, ballast tank duties, anchor duties etc. I'm very happy with it. If I could buy a custom shaped fuel tank, I would definitely consider modifying both cockpit seats. Also, with a little more imagination, that I can see you have from those brilliant drawings, a person could do a lot with the cockpit seat design. Playing with cockpit seat design is easy to reverse if it doesn't work out. Just screw the originals back on. The steering system on the other hand, thats a serious and not so cheap mod. Good luck with that one !

Craig

[Currie]

Very cool Craig. I'll have to do some searches for similar products. Glad to hear it worked well. Again, great work!

~Bob