Great Loop on a 26X?

[billder99]

Hi Billder99
For what it’s worth…( probably not much compared to others who have actually undertaken doing the Loop like Ris and others )
Over Easy

Holy Moly, it's worth a LOT! Thanks so much for your thoughtful and detailled comments. I've started an organized file with comments from this MacGregor Forum, and also Sailboat Owners Forum... you just provided a lot of great ideas for boat prep and upgrades. Thank you!

[billder99]

The loop can easily be completed in 12 months. Almost everyone spends winter in Florida. If you live in Florida 8 to 9 months is average.

More great info, thanks Ris. Our planned itinerary is a bit different... not interested in Florida, we will spend time on Chesapeke Bay, Great Lakes, and the rivers heading south to the Gulf. We'll definitely spend time in cold weather... looking forward to it! Also researching the idea of adding St Lawrence, so that the "Loop" becomes a "Figure 8"... so many variables and challenges... very exciting to be getting serious, finally!!

[dlandersson]

Don't forget Michigan City, the jewel of the midwest.

The loop can easily be completed in 12 months. Almost everyone spends winter in Florida. If you live in Florida 8 to 9 months is average.

More great info, thanks Ris. Our planned itinerary is a bit different... not interested in Florida, we will spend time on Chesapeke Bay, Great Lakes, and the rivers heading south to the Gulf. We'll definitely spend time in cold weather... looking forward to it! Also researching the idea of adding St Lawrence, so that the "Loop" becomes a "Figure 8"... so many variables and challenges... very exciting to be getting serious, finally!!

[billder99]

You're evidently pretty smart. A guy, pre-pandemic, was taking X's and converting them to "trailer-cruisers" specifically for lopps, etc.

1. The X is fine for coastal sailing less than 25 knoys.
2. You can add water tank, several have
4. Can't address
5. Yes, mine was an OP custom job
6. Can't address

Hi DL, after purchase, I am planning on 3-4 months for upgrade projects on whatever boat I buy. However, I'm curious as to cost for a converted boat... can you post contact info (username or company name) for the guy who does these conversions? Thanks!
BD

[ris]

As far as I know no one up does upgrades as a business. PO = Previous Owner of the boat. If you buy a boat that is in new condition or one who had a PO that was good at MOD's you count yourself fortunate. Some folks just plain do terrible things to MACs or are just not good with their hands. If you find a boat that is hacked up by terrible workmanship you will most likely pay less as you have to work to bring it back to a decent boat, before doing upgrades or MOD's.
Richard

[Chinook]

I'm joining this discussion late. Everything RIS says is great. As far as I know, the Texas guy, Richard and Jill, and Sandy and I were the first to do the loop in a Mac. It's obviously very doable in a Mac, however, a 26 foot/8 foot beam boat is extremely small to be used as a live aboard for a year. Both Richard/Jill and we worked very hard to prepare/modify our boats so that they could be lived in for that long a period. Cruising range extension for consumables such as water, gas, and stove is critical. Food refrigeration is a challenge, and I wouldn't recommend trying it with just an ice chest. Composting toilet is strongly advised. Menu planning, food organization, and accessible storage is a topic all of its own. Clothing needs to cover a wide range of weather conditions, and so becomes its own storage bulk issue. We sewed up pockets, attached to the sides of the vee berth for everyday clothing, and made sunbrella pockets under the table for shoes. Electronic charts for the entire route are essential, but so are a complete set of paper charts for the entire route. A full new set will cost around $2000, but used charts through the AGLCA are usually available for a lot less. Same goes with a good set of cruising guides. It's nice to know about facilities, including phone numbers, ahead of getting there. Going down long river segments using just a Garmin screen is very limiting. Paper charts enable route planning at the flip of a sheet in a chartbook. My chart set probably weighed 40 pounds or so, and filled a large plastic storage tub. I also built several chart storage racks into the boat (above the chines on the dinette seat ends and above the port side cushion). We brought a pair of folding bicycles which we stored in the king berth, and they were useful on a number of occasions. I had our route pretty well planned out, including distances per day, so that I could be sure that we were on track and more or less on schedule. It wasn't followed rigidly, but did give feedback that we could meet key milestones at the right time. We timed our August departure at Grand Haven so as to follow the fall season heading south. We wanted to arrive at Mobile at the end of hurricane season (Nov. 1) but not so late that we'd be hitting bad northers when crossing the Gulf from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee. I checked weather records, and found some Decembers with only 3 or 4 days suitable for a Mac all month. We got lucky and only had to wait one day before crossing, but could have been just as easily been stuck for weeks. We wintered in the Bahamas, and again got lucky with our crossing of the Gulf Stream to Bimini. The Gulf Stream can be shut down by northers for weeks. We wanted to reach Norfolk VA by May 1, and ended up hitting extremely cold weather and strong winds in North Carolina in April, on our way north. Just how it worked out. Getting north to New York and Canada by June seems advisable for temperature comfort, and to have enough time to enjoy that area. Getting there too early in some years exposes you to problems with flooding and locks that are unusable. To sum up, I'm big on planning and prep. We spent about 2 years seriously working on it, before taking off. The loop is a great trip, but it deserves respect and good preparation. Regarding hiring boat prep work, I simply couldn't have afforded to pay someone what we needed to do to our boat to get it ready. Doing your own work will also pay off when things break or stop working. Feel free to pm me if you want to talk about specific questions or issues.

[kurz]

@ Chinook
Great infos, just I'm curious: What was the longest distance you had to do by motor without a gas station?

[Chinook]

The run from Hoppes on the Mississippi, just below St. Louis, to Green Turtle Marina on the Cumberland River was close to 200 miles, if I recall correctly. No fuel docks in between, although, if we'd got into a pinch, I figured we could have anchored near one or two small towns along the way, dinghied in with jerry cans, and then either hitchhiked, called a cab or an uber, to get gas. Not really handy. Hard to estimate your fuel consumption rate in advance. You have the current with you while on the Mississippi, and it can be substantial in that stretch, but you're going against the current for about 70 miles going up the Ohio River. Overall, the push from the Mississippi well outweighs the drag from the Ohio. For us, I figured on about 6 miles to the gallon, and I knew it would be close. I think I had about 7 gallons to spare when I tied up at Green Turtle. I don't know the status of Hoppes anymore. It was the only fuel dock on that entire stretch of the Mississippi, but they are challenged to keep open, given the power of the Mississippi, floods, and siltation problems. It's worth confirming that they're open. Another long stretch is down on the Tombigbee, going down to Mobile Bay, but I don't think it's quite as long a stretch. When we did the loop we still had the 2 12 gallon tanks, plus about 15 gallons in plastic jerry cans. Since then, I've installed a pair of aluminum tanks which each hold about 18 gallons. I really like the extra fuel capacity, and thus cruising range. The aluminum tanks are a real pain to fit into the 26X fuel lockers (I had to cut the openings bigger and remove the pedestal to slide them in), and they are also expensive, but worth it for the way we use our boat.

[kurz]

One thing about fuel saving: did you think about a really Bug Prop? Ok forget planning with it, but maybe you could save gas and get more milage. TRUE OR WRONG?

[billder99]

I'm joining this discussion late.... It's obviously very doable in a Mac, however, a 26 foot/8 foot beam boat is extremely small to be used as a live aboard for a year.... etc, etc..

Chinook, thanks very much for your careful and detailed response. A ton of useful information here, too much to respond point by point. I've started a binder, condensing reponses to this MacGregor Forum thread PLUS my other thread in Sailboat Owners Forum which also has a ton of great information for anyone considering the Great Loop: https://forums.sailboatowners.com/threa ... 249932288/

Thank You! My thoughts are evolving rapidly thanks to Forum members assistance.

Bill Doyle

[Chinook]

I don't know what a BUG prop is, so I can't comment on that. If you meant big prop, I'm equally out of my element. The prop pitch I used was based on trials with the engine, specifically what rpm I reached with a specific prop. One thing I highly recommend, and this goes for general use and not just for a long trip like the loop, is to have a spare prop along at all times, and also, practice changing it ahead of time so you know how things come off and also that you have the right tools. My first engine was a Nissan TLDI and I had the right socket size for removing the prop from that engine. I repowered to a Suzuki 60 hp 4 stroke a number of years ago, and bought a spare prop right away. When I tried swapping props I discovered that the Suzi requires a larger socket than was in my tool kit. I had to buy a special one so I could change the prop. On our loop trip I had to do just that. While heading up the St. Lawrence River I managed to stray out of the designated navigational channel and a series of loud bangs told me that I'd found my way onto a shallow rock bar. The prop kept me going to the nearest marina, but when I tipped the engine up, the blades were badly gnarled and I'd broken the lower part of the skeg off. My spare prop got us the rest of the way back.

[OverEasy]

Hi Chinook & Ris

Wonderful stuff!
Great advice on the prop too!

Best Regards
Over Easy

[kurz]

Sorry. Chinook, I meant BIG Prop.
I worry that a diesel moved a 13 tonnes Catamaran with the same consuming like my ob moves my 2 tonnes Mac.

So my question is, if you make the rpm lover with a real big Prop, if you could save gas. Maybe torque is too small, I don't know.

[ris]

We have a 60 bfp which is a 60 hp motor with a 70 hp lower unit. Instead of a 12 inch prop it has a 14 inch prop. Our best overall prop is a 14 X 9. We also have a 14 X 7 and a 13 3/4 X 13 prop that is stainless. I think the 13 gets the best gas mileage at 2000 rpm. It also goes 1 mph faster. I will do some tests this next week and let you know about gas mileage. We were on the Mississippi about 3 days going down river. Our normal travel was about 8 mph but on the Mississippi at the same RPM we went 12 mph. (I did surf a big tow wave and reach 14 mph) We have two 12 gallon fuel tanks and carry 5 gal extra. For the Mississippi we bought 2 extra 5 gallon gas cans. We never used them as we saved so much fuel because of the current. In fact we gave them away when we reached Green Turtle Bay Marina on Lake Barkley. You can get a lot of info from the AGLCA. America Great Loop Cruising Association. The status of Hoppes on the Mississippi keeps changing. All their barges were washed away 2 years ago but they are getting more barges. We think the most important info for the loop is Weather. Learn to be a weather person.
Richard

[dlandersson]

Guy was in Washington state.

As far as I know no one up does upgrades as a business.