Great Loop Preparations in High Gear

[dlandersson]

Ditto

Chinook
Just looking at your mods makes me green with envy
It should make life on board a lot more comfortable
Good luck with the trip and look forward to your trip reports

Allan

[Rumdirty]

I'm in awe at your craftsmanship and well thought out plans. The Great Loop is on my bucket list and I look forward to hearing your reports along with all the photos I expect to see! You and Sandy have done a beautiful job transforming your bare bones Mac into a fantastic travelling home.

[ris]

Thanks for the info on the trailer paint. I will pick up that paint at SW as we have an account. I love the sunbrella pocket idea with the elastic at the top. Looks really nice. We are still working on the cushions for the cockpit. What kind of en-closer is over your cockpit? We still need one. Is that black cushion on the driver seat for height or just to lean into? If I knew all my sails, mast and stuff was good I would tell you to leave yours at home and I would meet you in Carrabelle Fl. so you wouldn't have to have them down the river portion of the trip. We are just going to use ours boat as a trawler on the loop next year. I have heard of people shipping their masts to mobile on the loop. I have so many questions maybe I will just do a pm. I really appreciate all the people who share their wisdom about these boats. So thanks for sharing.

[Seapup]

I thought you had a Macgregor...sure does not look like one Very Nice

Looks like you put in a GX2200 AIS... I put one in recently and am very happy with it. Most ships you can see, but I had a few times sportfishers running fast popped up on the garmin before I could see them behind me or around the next bend on the ICW.

[Chinook]

We have the BWY full cockpit enclosure. We purchased it the year after we bought the boat (2002), and it is still serving well. We made a full no-see-um cover, which can go over the bimini and attaches to the dodger, giving us the option of a fully screened cockpit. The black cushion you mention is an invention we particularly enjoy. It serves as a booster seat, which gives much improved forward visibility when the boat is underway. When flipped over, it does double duty as a cockpit table, when we're at anchor. It's constructed in layers. The bottom panel is 1/8 inch plywood, laminated onto 3 inches of rigid foam (the kind used in home insulation). A piece of 3 inch high density cushion foam is glued to the rigid insulation, and the top and side surfaces are wrapped with 1 inch soft foam, to help fill the thing out when inserted into the cover. Insertion was difficult, because of the rigid base and tight fit. We used silk wrap film (technique shown in the Sailrite video for stuffing seat cushions into covers). You wrap the cushion in this light film (like dry cleaning plastic film, which would actually work just fine), and then you stick a vacuum cleaner hose against the cushion foam, with the film gathered tightly around the vacuum hose. When you turn the vacuum on, the cushion foam magically shrinks down and wrinkles up, greatly easing the stuffing process. A YKK zipper closes the cover up. We use the table while reclining with backrests on the cockpit cushions. Perfect way to enjoy drinks and snacks, or even a casual dinner. Regarding sailboats shipping their mast downriver to the Gulf, that's only necessary for big sailboats who are doing the loop. Since we can relatively easily raise and lower our mast while underway, I plan on lowering the mast when we pass through Chicago, and then somewhere southwest of Joliet, after we pass the last low fixed bridge, I'll raise the mast again. I plan on sailing while on the rivers and lakes whenever wind conditions will permit. The large sailboats miss out on a lot of sailing opportunity because they have to unstep their masts between Chicago and Mobile. We'll also lower the mast up north, when we pass through the Canadian locks where bridge clearance is an issue. I read on the mods forum about how to raise the mast higher up, when in the down position, by inserting a piece of old spreader tubing into the pedestal socket as a shim, and then inserting a length of 1/2 inch galvanized pipe into the tubing. It just fits, and also just fits into the mast crutch. This allows the mast to be raised up enough to give good headroom while standing in the cockpit, and will also allow the dodger to remain in place when the mast is lowered. This is also important to me, since one of my 50 watt flexible solar panels is installed on top of the dodger. This mod is not visible in the photo below.

Regarding the AIS, that's the model I installed. My old VHF was fairly new, and I was reluctant to swap it out, but Sumner convinced me that it was a good idea. I've got it wired into the Garmin, but haven't had the boat out to give it a try. We'll do that when we head up to the BWY rendezvous. That trip will serve as our shakedown cruise. I'm looking forward to getting familiar with it.

[tp56ihs]

Hope you don't mind but I plan on stealing most of your ideas for my 1996 26x.

[Chinook]

That's why I post them. Of course, if I'm out and about and spot a knockoff mod on someone's boat, it might cost them a pizza.

[egwall1]

Just found this topic string and have loved reading it. I've been kicking around a Great Loop trip for some time now in our 26M, and am in the process of trying to convince my better half that it is something we CAN do. I like the idea of sailing whenever possible, but am guessing there will still be a lot of motoring. What are your plans for carrying fuel, how much, where to store, etc.? How much fresh water do you carry? What is your system for pumping out black/gray? I don't yet know much about frequency of appropriate places along the Loop for fueling up and discarding waste, so not sure what to plan on installing in the way of capacities for all those necessities. If you have found any Great Loop books or web sites that address those kinds of issues in detail, I'd appreciate hearing what they are. I've read a few Loop books which have been fun and encouraging, but they have been more like destination travel guides than detailed outfitting suggestions for getting a boat ready.

[Chinook]

On the rivers, canals, and lakes, as well as on much of the ICW, motoring or, at best, motor sailing will be the order of the day. We have a pair of 12 gallon tanks in the fuel lockers. I also have a platform on the stern, above the steering arms, and I carry a pair of gas cans (one 5 gallon and one 2.5 gallon) there. Under the steering seat, I can fit 3 additional 2.5 gallon gas cans. This gives me a total of 39 gallons of gas when full. We typically motor at 5 to 6 knots, and I can count on averaging between 6 and 8 miles per gallon. My motoring range, then, is between 230 and 300 miles. Good sailing conditions can further extend this range. The longest passage between fuel docks on the Great Loop is from Hoppies Marina on the Mississippi and Green Turtle Resort Marina on the Cumberland River, a distance of 234 miles. The majority of this distance is running with the current on the Mississippi River, so I expect I'll be able to stretch my fuel economy. Winds out of the west or north should allow the sails to give me a boost. If for some reason I think I'm going to be short on gas, there are a couple of places on the Ohio River where one can anchor out and dinghy in with gas cans, and then hitch hike or take a cab to a gas station. The run down the Tenn-Tom Waterway has some lonely places, and there is one stretch of about 170 miles before you reach the fuel dock at Bobbies Fish Camp, in Alabama. Another long stretch is between Carrabelle FL and Tarpon Springs, involving a crossing of that part of the Gulf of Mexico. This is about 172 miles in length. Other than those two stretches, fuel docks are adequately located and spaced

We carry a total of 30 gallons of fresh water, 9 gallons in a rigid tank next to the galley and an additional 21 gallons in a flexible bladder tank under the vee berth. We can get along with about 1 gallon of water per day, so with that tankage we're good for 3 or 4 weeks. Opportunities to replenish potable water on the Great Loop route are frequent, so drinking water will not be a problem. We also carry a solar shower, 6 gallon capacity, if we need to rinse off between marina stops.

Regarding waste disposal, we have installed a composting toilet, which has proved to be far superior to emptying a porta potty. If we used it exclusively (which won't be the case, with stops at marinas and towns for sightseeing), it can go 3 to 4 weeks between emptying the solids tank, with 2 adults using it. The system separates urine into a separate tank, and it needs to be emptied more frequently (translate: over the side in most cases). I did read a blog by a couple who made the run from Lake Michigan to Florida on a 23 foot sailboat, using a porta potty for that trip. They mentioned frequent disposal trips, but never indicated that facilities for disposal were a problem. Porta potties aren't allowed in Ontario Province, Canada and on Lake Champlain, I believe. You need a pumpout capable toilet which can be locked out from overboard disposal there. My research indicates that composting toilets will pass muster there. Greywater sink waste simply goes down the drain, and is minimal, given our meager water use.

You should consider joining the American Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA), which is a great source of information on cruising the loop, comparable to this board for info on Macs. Membership runs about $50/year, I believe. You can check their website out for free, but membership will give you access to the member forum, radio blogs and other features. You'll be able to get lots of questions answered. It would also be good to start picking up a set of cruising guides for the Loop. Doziers Waterway Guides are good. It takes about 5 or so guides to cover the entire route, and you'll be able to read up on routes, services, side trips and places of interest. A complete set of charts for the trip can get quite expensive, perhaps $2000 or so if all purchased new. However, full sets of used charts are frequently listed for sale on the AGLCA forum. I got many of my charts that way, and plan to sell mine after we've crossed our wake. I'll be posting a blog of our trip, so you can follow our progress. Good luck with your plans.

[tp56ihs]

Pizza on me if our paths cross Chinook

[C Buchs]

Pizza on me if our paths cross Chinook

I'll extend the invitation to any of you who are traveling through the west end of the Columbia River Gorge!

[captain6065]

Hey Chinook, read all your trips, you're one of the reason that convinced me to buy a Mac. A Mac 19 for us as a start.

Anyways, when you arrive in Lake Simcoe (next spring/summer I'm guessing) as you come in from the Trent-Severn canal, we live on the water in Lagoon City. Free showers, dinner and frosties are on us!

You can either dock at the marina or if your mast is already down, you could dock along our canal.

Cheers!

[Wind Chime]

This is a better view of the vee berth. At bottom center is the custom key cushion which covers the space above the forward part of the aisle. We leave this in place all the time. On the side settee side, I built a wooden elevated extension of the seat between vee berth and galley, which puts the side seat at the same level as the vee berth. For X owners, this is a very nice mod, which makes a lot of sense. It even gives you a little more storage space in the locker in front of the galley.

Hey Chinook,
I love the mod for the square infill section between the sette and the forward dinette seat that extends the sleeping v-berth. Do you have any more photos or comments on how your made the wood square infill piece or how it is attached/resting on the three sides?

Thanks,
Darry

[Chinook]

Hi Darry,

The attached pictures show how the spacer fits into place. To start with, I bolted a wooden ledge on the starboard side. The bolt holes are plugged and sanded, and the ledge stained and varnished. On the port side, I borrowed an idea from the mods section here, and built the wooden riser which sits atop the port side settee. It raises the surface up so that it's even with the vee berth platform. You'll note the notch which holds up the plywood spacer on the port side. The shape of that notch is carried through in the shape of the seat cushion which goes on the port side settee. The spacer panel fits nicely on those two ledges, and can't slide out of position. The riser is made of wood and painted with white enamel to match the fiberglass interior. I use white silicon caulk on all joints and seams, and this finishes things off nicely. I made an opening to match the original bilge access, and simply placed the original starboard cover on the new recess. Among other benefits, this provided a new storage space between the old settee surface and the new riser surface. You'll note my use of drydeck panels on the vee berth platform and top of the wooden spacer. I chose to not run drydeck all the way down the side settee surface, and so made a ramp out of starboard (I sanded the taper on a belt sander) to transition 1/2 inch from the drydeck surface to the new settee riser surface. Another note: the black fiberglass cubby below the spacer, on the port side, was made by cutting up the original galley front and installing the cubby in a cutout along the aisleway. I similarly installed another cubby in the cockpit, below the starboard seat, It's handy for stowing winch handles and related items.

[Chinook]

One more picture, showing the spacer sitting in place.