New 26X owner, going to need a lot of help!

[mac n cheese]

As Russ has already mentioned the water we generally see in our bilge is nuisance water usually topside rainwater leaks. Because of all the compartments and no true bilge a portable bilge pump or a good old sponge and bucket works well.

Following pic is my solution using battery alligator clips with the option of of AUTO mode should you need peace of mind if you leave your boat unattended. It's simple.

This seems like a good solution to me. Being portable, it can be moved from compartment to compartment.

How does the "auto" mode work?

The discharge line looks rather short, how do you route it overboard?

For auto mode you simply attach the positive AUTO clip (instead of the manual clip) to the battery post which is activated by the float switch in the bilge pump. To be honest I've never used the AUTO mode. Yes...the drain line is short. For discharge overboard I suppose I could tie it into the galley drain. Never tried it so I'm not sure it would work but I would certainly have to lengthen the drain hose.

[SlowSL]

My hatch cover doesn't appear to have anything between the cover and the deck, is this normal? It's just fiberglass on fiberglass, and areas are pretty well worn out. The sound that it makes when opening/closing is still haunting me in my dreams. I'm going to be fixing with some UHMW strips, but was just curious if this is the way they came out of the factory?

[K9Kampers]

My hatch cover doesn't appear to have anything between the cover and the deck, is this normal? It's just fiberglass on fiberglass, and areas are pretty well worn out. The sound that it makes when opening/closing is still haunting me in my dreams. I'm going to be fixing with some UHMW strips, but was just curious if this is the way they came out of the factory?

Yes, that is factory original stuff right there! I dealt with that for many years! Had kept the local coyotes at bay!
At the anchorage, "Oh, there's the Macgregor!" At home, neighbors say "Oh, he's working on the boat again!"

I finally buckled down and applied one of the mods learned on this forum... Velcro. Ran lengths of the loop side under the hatch flanges. Should've done that mod sooner! Removing and reinstalling the hatch is a process that every Mac owner should do ONCE!

[ris]

We put the Velcro on and the top still made noise. We looked and the front of the sliding hatch was still rubbing the deck in the middle when you would slide it, made a horrible noise. We ended up adding about 1/8 inch deep of epoxy to the whole track both sides, then putting the smooth part of the velcro on the bottom of the hatch where it rides in the groove which we had just put 1/8 inch of west systems epoxy. Hatch is quiet now. Wife claims it was best mod on the boat. We also painted the underneath of the hatch while we had it off. Also made sure to use butyl tape when we put all those screws and stuff back on to stop any potential leaks. There might still be pictures in the mod section of how we did this. Like the man said we all had to do this once. We actually took it off twice.
Richard

[Russ]

My hatch cover doesn't appear to have anything between the cover and the deck, is this normal? It's just fiberglass on fiberglass, and areas are pretty well worn out. The sound that it makes when opening/closing is still haunting me in my dreams. I'm going to be fixing with some UHMW strips, but was just curious if this is the way they came out of the factory?

Yup, glass on glass makes an awful grinding sound.

Many have installed velcro on the track.

Here viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27498

[SlowSL]

There is a metal retainer mounted to the floor of the cockpit, right to the starboard side of the helm console. It sticks up a few inches, and is angled forward slightly, and looks to be either a retainer for a tube, or maybe a pass through for controls, is this normal? I have a pass through tube inside the console for the controls. I didn't notice if it went through the deck or if it has a bottom, will have to look later.

[Russ]

There is a metal retainer mounted to the floor of the cockpit, right to the starboard side of the helm console. It sticks up a few inches, and is angled forward slightly, and looks to be either a retainer for a tube, or maybe a pass through for controls, is this normal? I have a pass through tube inside the console for the controls. I didn't notice if it went through the deck or if it has a bottom, will have to look later.

A photo would help. But it doesn't sound "normal".

BTW, update your profile with your boat type. Is this an X/M/D??

[SlowSL]

There is a metal retainer mounted to the floor of the cockpit, right to the starboard side of the helm console. It sticks up a few inches, and is angled forward slightly, and looks to be either a retainer for a tube, or maybe a pass through for controls, is this normal? I have a pass through tube inside the console for the controls. I didn't notice if it went through the deck or if it has a bottom, will have to look later.

A photo would help. But it doesn't sound "normal".

BTW, update your profile with your boat type. Is this an X/M/D??

I'll post a photo when I get home later. Profile updated, it's a '99 26X

[SlowSL]

Here are some pics of the rudders. As you can see, they are not correct. The vertical movement is extra sloppy. At the very least, they need shimmed to keep the nut from interfering with the bracket. At least a shim or bushing of some sort must be missing, right?








There is no cover on the control line hole, what does the piece look like that's supposed to be here? What's it called?

[SlowSL]

Now that I think of it, looks like the bracket is bent up, that will probably fix that issue, but I'd still like to know if there is anything else that is missing. Looks like a single plastic washer is installed near the upper part of the bracket, but nothing else.

[C Buchs]

Here are some photos of my rudder brackets.







Yours are definitely bent. You can try to bend them back. If that doesn't work, you can't new ones here http://shop.bwyachts.com/product-p/5205-1x3.htm for $40 each.


Jeff

[C Buchs]

Here's the boot around my steering.



I need a replacement too. Here's one http://shop.bwyachts.com/product-p/h002-1v0.htm for $7.99. I just put in a $500 order and forgot this!

Jeff

[Starscream]

You can get the cable glands at Amazon too, or Walmart.

https://www.amazon.ca/Universal-Firewal ... 10&sr=8-37.


The one from Bwy is a little small, especially with solar panel wiring going thru there too. I found the optimal waterproofing method was to install the Amazon gland over the BWY gland. Looks pretty good, and very watertight.

The early X models had aluminum rudder brackets that a number of owners have had trouble with. Later models have stainless brackets which were better, but also not trouble-free. Yours look like they need some serious rework.

[C Buchs]

You can get the cable glands at Amazon too, or Walmart.

https://www.amazon.ca/Universal-Firewal ... 10&sr=8-37.


The one from Bwy is a little small, especially with solar panel wiring going thru there too. I found the optimal waterproofing method was to install the Amazon gland over the BWY gland. Looks pretty good, and very watertight.

The early X models had aluminum rudder brackets that a number of owners have had trouble with. Later models have stainless brackets which were better, but also not trouble-free. Yours look like they need some serious rework.

Great tip. Does that's Amazon one's holes match up with the holes on the BWY one?

Jeff

[Starscream]

Nope, I had to drill new ones.

The original boot needed replacement, and installing the new one over top of it was the easiest thing...a 5 minute job and now the cable entry is really waterproof.