MacGregorSailors.com

Ask Ray ...Nice Aft... he's an artist
Q1

Hi Ron,

Re: Boomkicker--Yes, the boom rides on the deck. You can just lash it to the port or starboard stanchion to keep it out of the way, and you could just use a topping lift. We trailer, so what I do with the boom is put the sail cover on upside down (snaps up) by laying it on the deck below the book, disconnecting the D-rings for the vang, boomkicker, and mainsheet and lay all three into the sail bag. Then I remove boom, leaving all the boom attachment hardware on the main (I replaced the 2" bolt and nut with a quick disconnect pin) and lay it into the bag atop the rest. Closing up the bag with the snaps on top makes it trivial to stand in the companionway and maneuver the boom onto the cabin floor, which is where we leave it for trailering. This keeps the topside deck well clear for quick mast raising and lowering. With my setup, a boomkicker is simpler than a topping lift to manage in this manner.

Re: Dana Point--Definitely check the tides and sea reports! We just went out of Dana on Tuesday, and wound up turning around after an hour of six foot seas had the kids terrified. We put back into the boat ramp, took the boat down to Oceanside (30 minutes south) and put in there. Got back out to sea and the seas were a mere two to three feet. Huge difference in enjoyability. Had I checked the reports before driving up I would have seen that the seas were going to be very heavy.

I like Oceanside a lot if it's not too far south for you. We've seen a large local pod of Dolphins all three times we've gone out of there--they seem to hang out due west of the marina opening, and they'll swim right up to the boat, follow it, and go under. Quite a kick!

San Diego is of course big enough to spend your entire life in the harbor if you want to, but avoid the Shelter Island launch ramp. It's very crowded, suffers from a circular current and a very narrow opening, and the piers are ten feet away from the ramp making it difficult to line-handle your boat onto the trailer which is what I prefer to do. Use Sweetwater instead.

The stern rail seats are exactly what you think. Mandatory in my opinion for keeping the cockpit clear and the weight aft!

When motoring, the main halyard is your topping lift, holding the boom well out of the way.

As for boat names, I guess its probably the same in the US as here. If you get them done from a boat name place, you get charged hundreds. However there are several guys that sell through Fleabay who do them much cheaper. I'v used a guy I found on ebay called Wolfgear for my Mac and for my last boat. I found a coka cola font I liked on the net and sent it to him and he did it. He used the picture of my last boat on his website. The little Careel 18 trailer sailer under the Stink boat here
http://www.wolfgear.com.au/boat-stickers.php
That set cost about $60 where as from a normal boat sticker place here you can pay 300 for similar graphics made from the same vinyl.
I guess this doesnt help you since this is in Oz (actually he does post worldwide) so guess the point should be, shop around when it comes to your boat stickers, and check out Fleabay. The online boat sticker suppliers usually have simple to use software for designing your own names.

Paul

I mentioned BoatUS.com for ordering boat names earlier so I went there to see how much they charge. Pretty sure I got my two boat names (one for each side) for $88. Anyway I was checking out the site and ended up ordering 4 "koozies" with my boat name on them and that came with two free floating key chains with my boat name on them.

I have been looking from some koozies for my boat...they work well IMHO to hold cans stable and keep them from sliding around.

Cheers,
Jim