MacGregorSailors.com

Well after the Annapolis Sail Boat Show last year we had IT bad again. Looked at the Hunter’s, the Catalina’s and a few others. Looked but didn’t see the Mac at all (we only walked past it a dozen times or so L ). Anyway came home looked over enough brochures to wallpaper the house and then hit the Internet. Found a couple of dealers and a few for sales. Looked at a used first, nicely outfitted at 30K but the Admiral said it didn’t feel right. Bad vibes or something (after 28 years together I know when to let a subject pass).

Moving on to a dealer in Mayo MD. We happened on a couple of used ’s and made an offer on one. Two weeks later after everything was settled the boat was ours, but the weather was beginning to get cold, looked like first trip would have to wait. As luck would have it the next weekend was unseasonably warm and the salesman offered to launch it for us as we had not bought a tow vehicle yet. We arrived with the boat in the water and the motor started and warmed up. What service! Cast the lines and the motor died and the steering froze. The boat had been sitting for a while and after a quick carb cleaning the motor was running great. The weather had gone south and I set to reading the boards here to pass the time. Found out about the rack steering and knew just what needed to be done.

Four months later with weather clearing upto just over 60 on Saturday, with tools in hand...
Dropped the rack, disconnected the rudder linkage and still could not free up the cable. I pulled the rack assembly apart to see if there was anything holding it at that end. As I pulled the rack from the casing, out dropped the two end blocks that hold the cable to the rack. Looks good no problems here. As the end of the rack cleared the center cutout out pops a small doubled over piece of metal??? This was the piece that holds the end of the cable onto the end of the rack. Looked like I was not the first one rebuilding this unit. I was able to straighten it out and reinsert it worked a little better but still the cable had issues.

Ordered the Uflex Accura ZFB assembly. $160 at Go2marine dot com

Moral of the story... If you don’t pay attention to how it came apart you’ll pay $$ later.

Well that's 3 us MACHeads in Virginia anyway!

My I ask what year is your boat? Mines a 97.5 (I believe it has some 98 features)

So far I haven't had any steering issues but after my boat has set on the dry for the better part of a year I am sure I have one coming!

How hard was it to install your steering kit?

Oh I believe that there are many more than 3 in VA. I have a 2002X, we keep it out in Mayo MD just off the Rhodes River, Casa Rio marina. A bit of a drive but looks like some nice sailing out that way.

->How hard was it to install your steering kit?<-

I'll let you know, it wount ship out untill the end of the week. But getting the rack apart is a piece of cake. Looks like the hardest part will be clearing out the old caulking used to seal the through port.

Uncle Jim wrote:
Moral of the story... If you don’t pay attention to how it came apart you’ll pay $$ later.

Ever make this mistake with a chevy turbo 350 automatic transmission?

Yepper ... try to explain that to the wife (hands on hips and frowning).

Big T

As a matter of fact, it was a '76 Chevy 350/350 hp I was dropping in to a '67 firebird ragtop, by the time I found the frame side motor mounts and installed the block, connected the Cal-Custom headers and went to bolt the flywheel to the torque converter, found out that there are two different sizes of converters and flywheels, and never the twain shall meet. three months of mudding through the yards to find that one FW which had both the 10.5 and 11in bolt patterns. By this time there was enough condensation in the cycl heads that the hole thing needed a reworking. Sold the whole thing $600

Here's the latest on the install of the Uflex - Accura steering system.
Ordered it on 3.16.06, from Go2marine, web site said it would ship out in 7 days?, after 6 days I received an email that it was backordered and to call for more info. The sales rep i talked to didn't understand how they could be back ordered but he'd find out and call tomorrow (Sat). Late in the afternoon he called (these days that's something) and said it came in late last night and would be shipping out on Monday.

It showed up sometime around Thursday and I opened, inspected, looked it all over, I even read the instructions Made notes on tools I would be needing and had to dig out of bottomless pit that is my garage.

Started out bright and early, around 11:00 for the marina (70 miles). Stopped and picked up dad and a quick trip to Big Box hardware store for some trailer bearing grease and arrive at boat about 2pm.

Open up the consol and popped the rack out, remove the cable and pop the cover off of the wheel. OPPs brought the Harmonic Balancer puller not the wheel puller. No problems, rest can be done and I'll knock that shaft out later. Now for the aft cable, the boot was thick with caulk as was the inside of the hole. 45 mins later I was pulling the cable through and then to connect everything up. After 30 minutes of trying to get enough of the caulking out of the boot to reuse it we call it quits for the day.

Back at the garage I was able to heat the wheel with a propane touch and one light rap with the hammer and the wheel was free.

Drilling the new hole out was the next step (hole saw also on the list of forgotten tools on Sat). The guide book says to mark and drill out the 3 1/4 hole as well as the three bolt holes. Best to drill these last so that you can be sure of the best position of the helm.

My intention was to use a piece of 1/4 plywood as a guide for the pilot bit. that didn't work as I was using an adjustable hole saw and it bucked and twisted, time for plan B, the jig saw, cutting was quick and was I just about to clean the hole to size when the batteries started dying, fast. Plan C, I could file the rest but the only file I had was a medium triangle file. Back to Big Box store, nice rasp in hand I made finishing touches on the hole, ran the cable through the helm, it does turn very tight btw almost as tight as the worn rack assembly ran the cable and boot to the motor/rudders and clean up.

If I'd brought the boat home, total time would be about two hours instead of the 6 or so I spent in going to get the right tool or trying to make do with the wrong tool. Better yet tow it to the Big Box store parking lot.

This week I'll drill the thee bolt holes and tie it up nice. If the weather clears up first splash this week end.