Possibly buying a Mac 25 and looking for some advice

[Steve K]

zoneboy,

The Mac 25 looks very good to me........... better than I expected for the age and asking price.
She looks like she just needs a good scrubbing and a little tlc. The fact that you saw her move off the dock and that the owner is fine with actually taking her out for a sail are also favorable signs.

From what I can see in the pics, I'd have no problem paying 2K for her. Of course, this is So. Cal. and stuff cost more here, the closer to the beach you get

But seriously, she look like a pretty good boat. (just my 2 cents)

Best Breezes,
Steve K

[Catigale]

U haul is fine with towing with a truck...almost all other car rentals expressly forbid towing.

[snotnosetommy]

Good ol' boat.

[zoneboy]

Hey all again, well we have decided on the Venture 23. Things got a bit tough there, as my wife's computer bit the big one and we had to shell out some money to get her a laptop which cut back on our funds but.. The price had come down on the Venture 23 and we were able to compensate for our adjusted boat funds.

I really liked the Macgregor 25, I mean she was just so sturdy feeling and very accommodating. As far as cosmetics go, she was gorgeous. All she really needed from my limited experience with dealing with boats (none) was a bit of a scrub and organizing. But.. there was no trailer, and I couldn't get a look at the underside to see what was going on with the keel. On top of that I would have had to do any repairs in a slip, buying supplies from the marina and paying for haul-outs.

The V23 is in need of a few repairs. The gelcoat under the waterline is shot, as far as I can tell. I'm going to probably need to sand it down and apply a barrier coat. Top sides, I'm not sure yet but they are not shining. I was thinking perhaps a nice green exterior, with red undercoat. The interior is going to need to be completely washed out, and painted. The cushions need to either be replaced or get new covers.The windows are going to need to be resealed. There is no cover, for where the deck pop ups for extra headroom. The original owner, had decided to cut a chunk out of the port cockpit seat out.. which is going to have to be fixed, but on the plus side that chunk he cut out is still sitting in the sailboat so it shouldn't be too bad. The electrical needs to be completely reworked. The trim around the sailboat is going to have to be replaced and so does most of the wood and that is all I can tell so far.

On the plus side, the deck felt sturdy under my feet and it held my weight without any strain. The mast had no dings or bends, and neither did the boom. The three sails all looked to be in better condition than I thought they were, and are not the originals that came with the sailboat. All of the standing rigging besides a few blocks looked good. The trailer doesn't have any rust on it. The keel, has a layer of rust on it but looks fully intact and in fact does retract and detract a bit when I used the wench. The rudder is fine, but the tiller needs to be replaced. Annnnd, she is having it towed to my house for me. The owner is awesome, and went through all of the problems with me.

So, I am now an owner of a sailboat, here are a few pics I have uploaded.. tell me what you think? Please be gentle, this is my first time.
http://s1175.photobucket.com/albums/r639/z_o_n_e/V23/

[zoneboy]

zoneboy,

The Mac 25 looks very good to me........... better than I expected for the age and asking price.
She looks like she just needs a good scrubbing and a little tlc. The fact that you saw her move off the dock and that the owner is fine with actually taking her out for a sail are also favorable signs.

From what I can see in the pics, I'd have no problem paying 2K for her. Of course, this is So. Cal. and stuff cost more here, the closer to the beach you get

But seriously, she look like a pretty good boat. (just my 2 cents)

Best Breezes,
Steve K

She was great, so much so that I don't think the owner wanted to sell her My wife and I think, more than likely he has a wife asking him to sell the boat because he doesn't really seem at all interested in selling her. I don't blame him, she is a great looking boat for such a low price. When my wife and I met up with him, to look at the boat he was more interested in taking her out, than trying to sell her. He hasn't contacted me since we last met up, and don't expect he will, lol. Not saying anything against him, he seems like a good natured guy.

If anyone is interested, he may sell the boat to them. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post craigslists links here or if that violates the rules.

[Steve K]

Zoneboy,

Congrats!

looks like some work, but I assume the price was right? A good cleaning will make a lot of difference and she looks pretty solid.

Listen, when you get to the point where you are going to do some refinishing, Feel free to PM me with questions or opinions about how to do this. Many people are afraid of gel coat refinishing, but it is fairly easy, if the right products are used. This is my refinish method of choice, I guess because I've worked with fiberglass for so many years.
I plan to do the hull on my 26D in a year or so. I like to use Duratec Vinyl Ester primer as a base coat and Duratec High Gloss additive in the gel coat. This makes the Gelcoat sprayable with regular spray equipment and provides a high gloss finish, much like paint. This process will, pretty much, guarantee you'll never see any blisters on the hull ever again.

Here's a couple links to some pics. I just stripped the bottom of the 26D and these show the boat going back on the trailer.
The other link shows my 26X getting stripped and my old Catalina 22 getting turned completely over, stripped and then a pic or two of her all done.

http://www.box.com/s/1570f72f9af4c1a1fbbb
http://www.box.com/s/24e664a9c5574914851c

Not sure which link is which.
Also, I'll look for some others from the Catalina project. One thing I was really happy with was when I had the swing keel sand blasted. (it was cast iron) Then I encased it in fiberglass, with a nice shiny white gel coat finish. That whole boat came out quite beautiful and I should have kept her a little longer. She was a little too small inside though.
BTW, I paid $1800 for the Catalina, spent another grand on her (not counting my labor) and sold her for $4200.

Anyway, I rambled on enough here...... Congrats again

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[Steve K]

Zoneboy,

I forgot to give you this link too.

http://www.duratec1.com/index.html

click on "marine applications" and you can read all about the various products.

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[vizwhiz]

Yeah, good deal!
That interior probably won't need repainting unless you just want it to be another color...actually, most of the boat will come clean and almost shiny again if you scrub her down right!
That would be the very first thing I would do - empty every last thing off the boat you can get off of it and start by cleaning her up, in the bilges, in the storage areas...everywhere. It makes working on the boat a LOT better (and a lot more enticing for the Admiral!)...

Electrical rewiring...plan on it...even if it is just for the sake of knowing what you have in there...an old project boat - no telling what wiring is in there and what they "tried".

Congrats again...you have a relatively unique boat too, you don't see very many of the 23's!

[Steve K]

Yep, concur with Vis.
My D boat sits out all winter in the So. Cal. high desert. (big wind, some rain, some snow, lots of dirt from blowing dust) When time comes for spring cleaning she often looks horrible inside.I should invest in a $30 blue tarp to keep some of the dirt and rain from blowing in. Anyway, I'm always surprised at how nice she cleans up inside. Looks brand new after a couple of hours of TLC. This is good, as the Admiral is, kind of a clean freak.
Inside;
Soft Scrub works wonders (the industrial strength kind from Home Depot is best). Rinse well and follow up with regular old spray Pledge. (if she looks good after using the Soft Scrub). She'll look great inside.

Outside;
You can do the same........... or do the whole high speed polish thing........ depends on how much work you want to do and what result you except. Sometimes, just a really good cleaning will do wonders. Then wipe the whole exterior with Marine Penetrol. Actually, I've used regular Penetrol, 'cause you can get it at Home Depot. The oils in it feed life back into the gel-coat. Then polish her out next year. She'll end up with a nice glow, but not that boat show mirror finish shine.

WARNING............ don't use Pledge on any surface where you may be walking or stepping. It will become very slippery, particularly when wet. You can use the Penetrol in these areas, If you wipe it down very well the next day, AND it can sit in the sun for a week or two, before going sailing.

Gel-coat in interesting stuff and can, sometimes, be made to look brand new by wet sanding followed by polishing. We're talking very fine sanding, like #1000 followed by #1200 to #1500. It's a ton of work though. (why I keep putting off doing it to my own boat) Well, I am pushing 60, after all.

Best Breezes,
SK

[zoneboy]

Here's a couple links to some pics. I just stripped the bottom of the 26D and these show the boat going back on the trailer.
The other link shows my 26X getting stripped and my old Catalina 22 getting turned completely over, stripped and then a pic or two of her all done.

http://www.box.com/s/1570f72f9af4c1a1fbbb
http://www.box.com/s/24e664a9c5574914851c

That is really impressive, thanks for the links it gives me a ton of ideas. When the boat gets here, I'm gonna start scrubbing right away to see if any of that stuff underneath comes off. I won't have the same rig you have, as I have zero experience with welding though. I thought gelcoat repair was extremely expensive, you make it look pretty easy I'll have to give it a try in the future.

[zoneboy]

Yeah, good deal!
That interior probably won't need repainting unless you just want it to be another color...actually, most of the boat will come clean and almost shiny again if you scrub her down right!
That would be the very first thing I would do - empty every last thing off the boat you can get off of it and start by cleaning her up, in the bilges, in the storage areas...everywhere. It makes working on the boat a LOT better (and a lot more enticing for the Admiral!)...

Electrical rewiring...plan on it...even if it is just for the sake of knowing what you have in there...an old project boat - no telling what wiring is in there and what they "tried".

Congrats again...you have a relatively unique boat too, you don't see very many of the 23's!

It looks for the deck mold (not sure if that is what it is called) they may have actually been painted. There is a bunch of paint peeling in there. The hull mold looks good though, I just uploaded a few pics that display what I am talking about. They were originally photographed by the previous owner that she had on her site. It looks like they just gelcoated the cabin area, anything aft of the keel wench is black. It doesn't look like very much work though, I was thinking perhaps using rustolium topside paint after stripping what has been painted in there. I'll have to wait till the boat gets here, to get a really good look at it and see what is going on. Perhaps another owner at one time painted up there.

Her pictures are a lot more clear than mine, and show a few details that my camera doesn't display. Electrical wiring is going to be a lot of fun, I'm going to have to pick up a few books and do a bunch of research before I take that on. I think, I will leave that to one of the last things I do.

[zoneboy]

Inside;
Soft Scrub works wonders (the industrial strength kind from Home Depot is best). Rinse well and follow up with regular old spray Pledge. (if she looks good after using the Soft Scrub). She'll look great inside.

Outside;
You can do the same........... or do the whole high speed polish thing........ depends on how much work you want to do and what result you except. Sometimes, just a really good cleaning will do wonders. Then wipe the whole exterior with Marine Penetrol. Actually, I've used regular Penetrol, 'cause you can get it at Home Depot. The oils in it feed life back into the gel-coat. Then polish her out next year. She'll end up with a nice glow, but not that boat show mirror finish shine.


SK

Thanks again Steve, I was wondering what I was going to use to clean off the hull. Didn't have a clue about pledge, I'll have to give it a try and post pictures after.

[Doug91mac26s]

You might want to give Star Brite, EZ-ON EZ-OFF a try on the bottom, before you take sand paper to it. When I first got my boat the bottom looked a little like yours. I tried several products, and thought I'd have to sand it off. Then I tried this stuff. Like magic, the hull cleaned up, to a nice shiny gel coat finish. Stuff came right off, amazingly with very little scrubbing. I applied wax and she looks great.

Before


After




http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=50270

[vizwhiz]

**Officially jealous of Doug's white bottom!**

(boat bottom, that is!)

My S has an ugly black flaky bottom and also one side of the boat has been painted - cheaply - so a refinish will take a complete stripping/sanding job, and probably a re-paint because the re-paint is hiding some damage done by one of the PO's... That's not on the schedule for a long time...

[Doug91mac26s]

Why thank you vizwhiz My bottom is white, but black is beautiful, as long as it's not a flaky bottom