Purchasing an X??????????????????????

[GaryMayo]

With my wife, she is meeting me at work, and we are going to see the

Five hour drive. We will also go feed our favorite ducks / geese at a city park. Hundreds of loaves of bread. Great fun.

Will get there about the time John has his first cup of coffee.

What should I look for, before I hand over the money?

Pretty tuff to see the bottom, with new bottom paint.

I want to talk to the guys that did the work, and ask them what they saw, if possible.

I want to add a Johnson quick connect for both the forestay and backstay. I also want the largest SS size cable I can get and not mess up other rigging or tuning of the boat.

I want to sail alone, order an autopilot?

Does any company sell a swim deck to cover the controls to the engine and rudders, or do I have to make that?

It has the original trailer, upgrade ( I will be going max size in an engine, move over Billy, two stroke 150, who needs house siding? ? ) ?

I am so new at this, not sure what to ask of you guys or John.

I will have fun just petting the

[captronr]

How much do you plan to trailer? Adding that much weight on the back and using the X trailer might be an issue if you trail much. How fast do you need to go under power????? With my 50HP Tohatshu, I can go 18mph with no ballast at WOT and smooth water.

I think I've read that if you oversize the motor, you might need to reinforce the transom.

John can advise you well. Remember the customer is always right, so he'd let you do almost everything you ask him to do.

Have a great trip.

Ron

[Mac26Mpaul]

If you are just going to pull a skier around for a few hours, these huge motors you keep mentioning will fit the bill, (personally I would buy another boat ) but if you are intending to use the boat to go cruising at all, I would honestly not jump into one of these huge motors, as you might end up regretting it...

Its not just that these boats were not designed for these huge motors, its also the fact that they simply dont need them and will cost you a FORTUNE to run at high speeds, even with your super cheap fuel in the US

Its just not going to be a very efficent boat to be blurting around in at WOT with a huge outboard and you will not be doing that if you go cruising unless you have VERY deep pockets and are not going anywhere remote as you will need plenty of places to refill fuel every few hours (I still dont understand why anyone would want to go cruising at speed - Cruising, whether under sail or power, is about enjoying being on the water and watching the world go by as much, if not more, than the destination).
Anyway you know what you want from this boat so, best of luck with which way you do go, and looking forward to hearing how it all works out

[bscott]

With my wife, she is meeting me at work, and we are going to see the

Five hour drive. We will also go feed our favorite ducks / geese at a city park. Hundreds of loaves of bread. Great fun.

Will get there about the time John has his first cup of coffee.

What should I look for, before I hand over the money?

Pretty tuff to see the bottom, with new bottom paint.

I want to talk to the guys that did the work, and ask them what they saw, if possible.

I want to add a Johnson quick connect for both the forestay and backstay. I also want the largest SS size cable I can get and not mess up other rigging or tuning of the boat.

I want to sail alone, order an autopilot?

Does any company sell a swim deck to cover the controls to the engine and rudders, or do I have to make that?

It has the original trailer, upgrade ( I will be going max size in an engine, move over Billy, two stroke 150, who needs house siding? ? ) ?

I am so new at this, not sure what to ask of you guys or John.

I will have fun just petting the

Gary,
I bought my from John At Super Sport in 07--great guy to deal with but I have a few observations:
1) Have him rig the boat
2) Lay the sails out on the grass and check for dry rot--my jib was junk. I still have the main in the bag in very good condition--I believe most of his customers lightly use their boats.
3) They bottom painted only the water line on mine with a brush I had to sand the drips and brush marks out for a smooth finish. I was concerned that the paint was hiding blisters but everything was OK. I think there was a very hard to remove lake crap encrusted into the paint which probably had to be sanded off--thus "new" paint.
4) Trailer tires were sun baked and dry rotted--replaced them before I drove home to Denver area.
5) Battery needed to be replaced
6) I had him switch out the 40hp Tohatsu for an E-tec 60--the E-rude dealer guy did an excellent install job but I had to raise the engine up to the bottom hole as it sat too low on the transom--found this out on the lake at home.
I gave him a security deposit on my first trip, came back 2 weeks later to pick up the boat and completed the deal. After I reinspected the boat, I negotiated the cost of new tires, battery, and jib from the original negotiated deal price. John is very good at negotiating any defects with his consignors.

The trailer is probably in very good condition--no salt in Nebraska--put tandems on mine at home for insurance and driveability reasons--65 mph and complete confidence in the twisties in the mountains.

Good luck

Bob

[GaryMayo]

John was closed today. So I drove there just to sit in the cockpit.

Went to other boat dealers as well looking for engines but everyone was closed.

Season is over it would seem

[Dennis]

John's is a great one! Any time I've ever called 1-800-234-3315 I got a prompt response. When we bought our he exceeded our expectations.

[Jamie79]

Gary you are a lucky man to have found your boat, and be able to afford it.

You are with the boat now?

Sitting on a trailor? Has to be a good feeling? Am I right?
Enjoy it! I would, you have a boat many of us dream of, who cares if it has a 8 HP if your on a small lake or a big one. Enjoy the boat for what it is its a big boat. With a lot of room. I don't own. Boat but I want an x I like the I'dea of going fast, I think all red blooded Americans do, I think time on the water should be relaxing, if you can get away with the small motor do it I envy you. If you want a big motor get a champion 175 with a 150 yamaha 2 smoke like I use to run, it was my grandfathers boat and would do about 68 mph about 2 gallons per mile fun scary and fast, I use to race jet skis on top speed and I won a few times, it was fun but 240 bucks in gas to cruise the lake, no more. Enjoy cruising slowly if you wanna go faster buy a bass boat or a bow rider, just my two cents,.Jamie

[GaryMayo]

Really wanted to sit in the cabin and get a feeling of the space again. Rather than go back to work and work all evening and into the morning, I went home and went to bed. Twelve hours sleep.

Had I given John the money for the boat I would feel different than I do now. I feel a little up in the air.

[GaryMayo]

After a lot of thinking over the weekend, decided to bail on the

A with an 8 HP engine is not what I need. Looking at the engine, it did not have full controls to the helm. The tilt function was all manual. Manual tilt on the X was going to be a lot harder to deal with than the way my Mac 25 puts an engine in the water. I doubt my wife and I could do it in the boat. Hard enough on land.

The seat showing signs of rot is what got me to stop and think. Maybe the seat is no big deal, but it did give me pause.

Sunday we worked about eight hours cleaning up the interior of the Mac 25, and putting a tarp over her, before placing it in a barn. Looks almost as good as new. Took out one head wall and attached door. That really opens up the boat interior and lets a lot of light to the bow berth. The other head wall, the seat back, looks to be doing structural integrity for important things like the keel, and the mast. That one stays.

I will continue on, in my idea of steering to ditch the rudder. That I can do pretty easily, I think. I have the biggest part I need, the steering hub assembly. Need a ships wheel (all over eBay) and a few pulleys.

[Sumner]

...I will continue on, in my idea of steering to ditch the rudder. That I can do pretty easily, I think. I have the biggest part I need, the steering hub assembly. Need a ships wheel (all over eBay) and a few pulleys.

I'd mock all of that up with cardboard or something. The tiller will take up way less room in the cockpit vs. a pedestal and a wheel that not only takes up room, but is harder to get around in a small cockpit.

We also much prefer the feel of the tiller on the water vs. the wheel. Just more feel as to what is going on. Also much less to go wrong and maintain. There are some older pre-X and M boats out there that have been retrofitted with wheels. You might want to look for pictures of those.

It's your boat though, so good luck,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

[bscott]

I'd like a tiller on my but it would kill the resale value

Bob

[Sumner]

I'd like a tiller on my but it would kill the resale value

Bob

Yep, that wouldn't make much sense. If we had an X or M we would be keeping the wheel.

The Endeavour has a place below the wheel to hook a tiller just in case the steering system went bad. The previous owner spent a fair amount to have a custom tiller made to attach to the fitting. He also completely redid the steering system just a year or so ago. I do like the idea of the backup tiller on-board though,

Sum

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Our MacGregor S Pages

Mac-Venture Links

[Catigale]

In Sail Mag this month is the story of someone rigging an emergency rudder (not just tiller) offshore - good reading..

For most of us, though, we sail in places where you would call it in, get a tow, and beat a land retreat for repairs...

[mastreb]

I'd like a tiller on my but it would kill the resale value

Bob

I HATE the wheel and helm, and have considered replacing it with a wireless remote autopilot (tiller style mounted below) and bringing dual tillers up directly from the rudders that hinge back over the transom out of the way so I can entirely remove the helm. The GPS and gauges would then be run to the bulkhead next to the companionway. I don't know where the throttle would go.

What's got me stopped is that most autopilots want to work with the wheel, and anything else I do will be some kind of hack.

I'd try to do it such that the helm can be re-installed for resale, replacing the hole in the deck with a custom plate that's sealed in place with 5200.

[bscott]

It looks like the Raymarine ST1000/2000 tiller unit could easily mount on the main control arm of the Somebody did this a few yeas ago--can't remember who

Would have to get the remote to operate it--would do that anyway.

Bob