Soon to be a new Macgregor owner

[Tomfoolery]

Is there any advantage of LEDs over incandescents?

They're sealed. Repeated dunking doesn't seem to bother them. Mine are still working fine since I put them on a few years ago, which is better so far than any incandescents I've ever had on a boat trailer. The Harbor Freight submersible 'over 80' style.

I will also be caulking over all electrical connections. That prolongs life.

I solder mine, with a shrink tube that's then slid into place and shrunk, then liquid electrical tape generously slobbered on. If/when they corrode, I'll just cut them back and do it again, but so far, so good.

I'm also going to replace old drain hoses and hose clamps, and inspect the through hole pipes very well, perhaps even reinforce them. Even though they are above the water line, they wouldn't be if we took on water. Good sinking prevention measures. Old cracked hoses or bad hose clamps often sink boats.

The through-hulls are pretty, well, light-duty. If you want security, use a real metal through-hull and a ball valve. For through-hulls below the water line, that's the only way to do it. Above the water line, your call, but if they're not cracked (sink drains), it wouldn't be a priority. Close to the water line, and at the very least, I'd inspect the hose (no cheap ribbed thin stuff) and be sure it's properly secured with two hose clamps on each end. I almost lost my Aquarius when the cockpit drain hose cracked and very slowly admitted water - much more, and it would have been below the water line, and it would have been game-over. My fault for not inspecting and replacing that cheap white thin stuff the PO used.

I also have an old through hull knot meter and depth sounder I will likely remove and glass over. I need to add a depth sounder of sorts. Any recommendations out there for something cheap, simple and not requiring a through hull?

Many folks bond a depth meter to the inside of the hull. Properly done, they work very well, and no risk of water penetration. Mine is mounted to the stern, outside the hull, and many folks on this forum have that style.

I also need to add a compass.

An inexpensive bulkhead compass with a light is the way I'd go. Mount it to whichever side has the power panel, or is easiest to get a pair of wires to.

Man I have a lot of stuff to buy and a lot of work to do. I need to stop thinking about this.

I wouldn't put too much into it at first, aside from obvious safety related improvements. The more you sail it, the more the priorities will come into focus. I'd start with USCG-required equipment (plus VHF, which isn't actually required), standing rigging (inspect at the crimps and thimbles for broken wires), rudder and centerboard, then running rigging (not a huge priority unless it's badly frayed), then cosmetics, though that leaves a giant pile of stuff unsaid. It's your boat, so you're in the best position to know.

[Russ]

The guy we bought the boat from must have been the nicest man in the world. He cooked a big pot of shrimp creole which was awesome, and then he help us quite a bit to get going. He even offered to let us spend the night. His wife was equally hospitable. You can't substitute for southern hospitality. I've never been deep down in the southern Bayou before, but I may return some day.

I've been to that part of the country and agree, those are some of the nicest folks around.

Interesting problem with your trailer lights. I had a 2004 Sienna AWD SE. Sounds like the same car. Had the hitch and wiring installed at U-Haul and it worked perfectly with my LED wiring on my boat. There was no converter box that I knew of. The wiring went directly into the harness somehow.
BTW, the AWD Sienna has no spare tire. It uses run flat tires instead. I burned up 2 sets of those in less than 25k miles. The first set was replaced by Toyota for free as a recall. Truth seems to be that the run flats are softer rubber on the treads or something and just don't last. After researching others with similar experiences, I decided against another set at $250 each and put standard tires on the car. Softer sidewalls made for a smoother ride. 2 cans of fix a flat, a AAA card and crossed fingers got me by. BTW, the low tire pressure light on the dash is not really measuring tire pressure but revolutions of the wheels. If one is turning less, it assumes you have an inflation problem. Rotating tires sometimes trips this logic up.

(side note on U-Haul: I had them install a hitch on my Highlander. Got home and found lots of weird parts in the backseat so I looked underneath and found they snapped a bolt off one of the attachment points and left it that way. This really scared me. I replace the bolt and should have given them junk about the crappy job they did.)

I will tell you that the first time I towed with it, we just turned onto the Interstate when a light on the dash came on. VSC and ABS lights came on. The car was driving fine, but I pulled off the next exit to investigate. After putting the shift in park, it got stuck in park. Oh great, now we can't even move the rig. Admiral looked up the VSC light in the manual which stated "Bring your vehicle to an authorized dealer immediately." No help there. So as I was searching for the AAA phone number and wondering how much they would charge to tow the van AND boat, the admiral found something in the manual about emergency park release. If you pop this little plastic cover off the shifter and press this button, it came out of park. Woot, we can drive again and headed back home via back roads to sort it out.
At home I found a blown fuse. Could it be that simple? So we tried again for the lake. This time we go 60 miles down the road and made another turn and the lights came back on. I sure wasn't going to put it in park. We got to the marina and I found the fuse blown again. Replaced and VSC warning light went out. What was blowing fuses and how much is this gonna cost to fix at the dealer? Surely they will blame it on towing a boat without the official "Toyota towing package" which is just a tranny cooler.

The trailer lights were old and beat up so I decided to replace them with LEDs and a new harness. Pulling the old harness out revealed the issue. The wires were worn and frayed and had rubbed against the trailer and when I would make a turn shorting them out and BLOWING THE FUSE in the van.

So what I learned was Toyota wires the brake lights to the same fuse used for VSC and ABS computers. Toyota engineers feel that when these systems are not functioning, you shouldn't be driving and lock your gear shifter in park when you shift it into park.
Keep this in mind when trailering with that van and keep some spare fuses. I think there are some spares on the cover. The brake light (and VSC) fuse is at the base of the steering column and one of those micro blade fuses.

Probably too late, but you shouldn't operate that van with Overdrive on. I can't remember if there is a button to turn it off or just a shifter position. I never used cruise control. Just freaked me out when it started downshifing and revving up on its own.


That is a great boat and you will love it. These boats are easy to work on.
If you want a resource for mods, Sumner has done a fantastic job of documenting all of his here
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... index.html

I have used his site and mods many times for reference and information. I also bought the 12v fridge he has. Works great.

Now go enjoy sailing!

--Russ

[Russ]

Tom has provided some excellent advise.
I would point out the advantage of sealed LEDs is that the terminals don't corrode and theoretically last a long long time. Another advantage is heat. When you back a hot glass bulb into the water, it tends to break. Folks with standard bulbs should allow them to cool before launching.
EVERYONE should unplug the trailer wiring before dunking wires into the drink. That's another way to blow fuses in the tow vehicle.

Okay, time for my standard new boater sales pitch. I'm a strong advocate for education. I don't remember if you mentioned your boating experience, but if you are a newbie then get some education. Many states mandate it before you can operate a boat.
USPS is an organization I belong to and their volunteers offer boating courses for the cost of materials only.
http://www.usps.org/cgi-bin-nat/eddept/cfind.cgi
Check it out.

--Russ

[mrron_tx]

Congrats to both new to You Mac owners John...Sounds like You and Your Dad were entertained by some real live Cajuns.... If it were the right season You could have had some alligator tail...that's good too. I agree with all repliers about the led lights..they are brighter , tougher and will outlast the old style. I just added a second axle to My trailer and installed the aluminum diamond pleated fenders with a few more led lights than required...I'm an old truck driver and I love running lights I even have them on the spreaders (white )...someone told Me I looked like a floating casino..LOL. Anyway , take Y'alls time and fix Your boats the way You want them Ron. Dauntless.

[Tomfoolery]

. . . with a few more led lights than required...I'm an old truck driver and I love running lights

Same here. But my worry is that folks on the highway, at night, in driving rain, with road spray all over the place, don't expect to see a long trailer behind a Highlander as they would with a Class 8 tractor, and sometimes you can't help coming up on the right when the middle lane slows down. I made sure mine has ALL the DOT required lights for over 30 ft trailer length and over 80" width. Plus stop/turn/tail/side marker lights on the outboard, since it and the mast hang very far past the rear of the trailer.

Here it is behind the admiral's Honda Odyssey. The white light in the middle is a street light in the background, and the one in the car is the map light. All the others are tow beast or trailer or light group on the outboard lower unit. The white ones in the middle are actually amber, but the camera lied.

Oh, and I wanted the stop lights in the faces of the ninnies tailgating me because I'm going to slow to suit them.

[Rick62]

Hi Again.
I do have one very unusual question?
I am finding a lot of ants. Then a horrible thought came to me….Termites! Has anyone had a similar problem. Best way to treat them if so.
Just concerned that if they are termites they might slowly be eating at the timber between the fibreglass .I can see every now and then fine trails of timber shavings where they have been. I bought the boat in a heavily wooded suburb where kangaroos do jump down your drive way.

[JohnWood]

Hi Again.
I do have one very unusual question?
I am finding a lot of ants. Then a horrible thought came to me….Termites! Has anyone had a similar problem. Best way to treat them if so.
Just concerned that if they are termites they might slowly be eating at the timber between the fibreglass .I can see every now and then fine trails of timber shavings where they have been. I bought the boat in a heavily wooded suburb where kangaroos do jump down your drive way.

Termites usually leave wings, I think, but I'm no pest control guy. You might want to have a pest control pro look at it. My brother is one, so I'm going to ask him to take a look. I did find some odd sawdust as well, but it's probably nothing. If worse comes to worse a boat should be a lot cheaper to tent than a house. In fact, you can probably just close all the hatches and bomb it without the tent.

[Catigale]

If you see chewed wood bits in our neck of the woods, its carpenter ants. No wood and holes, termites. I don't think there is enough wood in the boat to get either species excited though, and. more importantly our ants don't nest unless there is wet wood - which needs attention if you have that of course.

Down under, the ant are probably as big as helicopters and carry off your pets of course.

[Russ]

My understanding is termites primarily live underground where it is damp. When they come above ground, they do so via mud tunnels because they don't like sun or fresh air. Termite inspectors look for a path from the ground into your house. Generally the basement walls etc. Houses built on slabs provide a direct route to timber for them.
Therefore I highly doubt termites would ever find a boat (that is not directly touching the Earth) as an adequate nesting area.

Carpenter ants like damp, soft wood. If you have carpenter ants, I would be concerned about rotting wood.

It's true about Aussie ants. I have heard stories of them carrying off cats and small dogs so munching on a boat wouldn't be unusual.

And now fiberglass boat owners we have to worry about those pesky polyestermites.

--Russ

[mastreb]

Last time I was downunder, and ant took my baby

A warning with runflats and fix-a-flat--The TPS monitor on mine broke when I used fix a flat once and had to be replaced. Fortunately it wasn't that expensive. The gunk gunks up the pressure sensor.

Runflats suck. the GL Diesel replaced the spare with the DEF system and put on these runflats that are (1) never in stock anywhere (2) frequently backordered nationwide, and (3) cost $500 per corner. Not kidding. Last time we had the tires replaced I kept the one in best condition as a spare, and we'll go to standard tires on the next round.

[Russ]

Last time I was downunder, and ant took my baby

A warning with runflats and fix-a-flat--The TPS monitor on mine broke when I used fix a flat once and had to be replaced. Fortunately it wasn't that expensive. The gunk gunks up the pressure sensor.

Runflats suck. the GL Diesel replaced the spare with the DEF system and put on these runflats that are (1) never in stock anywhere (2) frequently backordered nationwide, and (3) cost $500 per corner. Not kidding. Last time we had the tires replaced I kept the one in best condition as a spare, and we'll go to standard tires on the next round.

Run flats are a scam. They will fail if you have a major sidewall failure. Then you have to replace them in sets because they don't like to be mismatched. As you mentioned, nobody stocks them and they take days to order. Meanwhile, you are stuck someplace.

My Sienna didn't use actual air pressure sensors. I have heard that most newer cars these days do use actual air pressure sensors that will clog nasty with fix-a-flat. Fix-a-flat is also some kind of extremely flammable stuff.

Replace your run flats with real tires. They last longer, ride smoother and are 1/4 the price. Get a AAA card and enjoy discounts on hotels as well.

[Tomfoolery]

My Sienna didn't use actual air pressure sensors. I have heard that most newer cars these days do use actual air pressure sensors . . .

PSA - Toyota's TPI sensors run $200-300 per, and a local tire shop found one of my son's leaking when they were looking for a slow leak. They were going to replace it, for hundreds, depending on which style it had. I told them to put a rubber valve in, and we'll live with the light staying on.

We pick up the tire, and they had put a washer 'rebuild' kit into the existing TPS stem for $6, plus dismount, mount, and balance.

Moral of the story is, they (at least the ones on my son's car) can be 'rebuilt' with a couple of gaskets and/or o-rings, where it meets the wheel, and a little cleaning of the steel wheel where the valve stem pokes through. Now that I know that, I won't be fooled again, and maybe someone else on this here forum won't, either.

Just letting everyone know.

[yukonbob]

I have not yet owned or seen a car here in the north where the TPS doesn't fail within the first season with the light remaining on. If it were an option I'd opt not to have the system altogether. Also here in the shoulder seasons we can get temperature differences in access of 40 degrees celsius and the expansion / contraction over the course of the day can result in huge pressure swings, which really you can't do anything about other than ignore it , wait or inflate then deflate at intervals during the day. New truck actually has nitrogen in the tires to reduce the pressure swings…we’ll see.

[JohnWood]

Disappointing to learn that I don't have a spare on my Sieena. Good to know though.
Although I'm sure it was equipped with run-flats when new, it isn't now. I do, however, always carry a plug kit and a little compressor. That should take care of 90% of the flats in an emergency.

If we are pulling the boat and a van tire goes flat, I might be able to use the spare tire I have for the trailer. They're both 5 lug, but I need to measure the lug spacing to know for sure. The tire does say "for trailer use only," but I'm sure it would work in an emergency to drive slowly to the closest place where I can buy a new tire.

BTW, I really wish Macgregor would have included a way to mount a spare. Right now, the spare sits on the cabin floor, but I want to mount it to the trailer. I've seen one really fancy mod that is out of my league. Any good ideas on a simple, cheap method to mount the spare?

[taime1]

Any good ideas on a simple, cheap method to mount the spare?

Something like this would work:

http://www.princessauto.com/pal/en/Acce ... /8112575.p