pivoting mast

no, although where to put a life raft is a question that is bugging me, by beach i mean physically beach the boat, the macgregors have a retractable dagger board and water ballast, you can sail them right up on to the beach, i thought it was kinda cool, they do look a little unsteady when they are sailing, its more of a power sailer than anything

 

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Most cats-like Hobies-have rotating masts as well as some dinghies and racing keelboats. The mast step can be something like a trailerhitch ball with a cup-like receptacle in a cast fitting in the mast(or on the deck). Not worth the trouble on your boat -probably. Just make sure you have a simple, rugged method to step the mast and forget the little "go-fasts" for now. However, I didn't notice whether you had a rig or not? If not, a Hobie rig might be just the ticket because they're pretty inexpensive used-but make sure that you can get the deck mounted fitting off the forward crossarm in addition to the mast heel fitting. May take some work to adapt it to your boat but should work with the appropriate sail area-you'll have to research that.
Good Luck!

 

$600 for the boat? Sounds like you got a great deal Nate!

When I was driving back and forth from Huntsville to Campbell and Rucker working on TBOS, I never thought to look for boats in TN. I did check the lot on Rucker and nearly bought a rough looking beach cat, but I didn't have a hitch on my car. And the asking price was $1000, so I guess I saved some money.

I have to repeat everyone else's opinion. Get sailing first. As you gain experience, you'll start seeing things you would like to improve - and have a better idea of what needs to be done. Which increases your chances of success with any mods. I suspect the pivoting mast would help a little, but right now you need to learn how your boat handles, increase your skills as a sailor, and learn the rules of the road. Especially if you haul the boat down to PC's bay area - which I hope you will! Maybe you could even join the Florida 120 next year.

Good luck with it!
Oh, and if you ever trained on TBOS, I hoped it helped. Cooler than the flight line anyway...

 

If regulations do not say you HAVE to have a life raft then DON'T... A life raft is NOT a good safety device on a small boat... A 'rubber-duckey' towed, may suffice when social sailing where you may want to go ashore other than by swimming... and have PFD1's, (Personal Floatation Device's rated for open ocean use, - blow-up ones are best for sailing-crew, and closed cell foam for passengers at a tenth the cost), for all 'crew' and Captain...

'rubber-duckie' http://www.aristocraft.webpixel.com.au/content/products-littlebuddy/
I have this one as illustrated weighing in at 46 kg http://www.aristocraft.webpixel.com.au/content/products-bayrunner/ but my boat is a bit bigger http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-building/my-little-piece-peace-25962-96.html#post466827 at 11.99m LOA

 

I am quite familiar with that drive, my wife and I are dual military, both in the army before we got married so as luck...or in this case the inverse would have it, she got orders to rucker and I am at campbell, make that drive every weekend.

 

so, for anyone looking at the pics, does that keel look like its useable? is glassing it in, or coating it with some kind of sealant the right thing? my luck it will break off in a turn.....Im letting the waterline down get refinished by a professional, I HAND sanded from the rub rail up, still have the hull to go, gonna primer and paint, but I though it best for a professional to handle the area that actually has to be watertight. If this was your boat...where would you start?

 

Yes sir, it came with a mast and rigging, all the lines are new, and I repainted the mast, had to fair it up a little at the spreader (dented in at the bolt hole), looks like it fell sideways at one point, had an NDI done though, its still intact..no cracks, but the mast step is nothing more than three pieces of aluminum plate welded together into a channel, and the welds are cracking. But as far as I can tell I got the whole boat, to include the septic bag and toilet , and two sails, a main and a jib, all lines need to be replaced but I did manage to re heat and glaze the glass windows to get rid of the cloudiness and tore apart the brass winches and blasted them, they work good as new. all the teak wood was salvageable, hull was the worst part really everything else was just cleaning up patina and trying to bend things back into shape. I can not vouch for the trailer, it came with the boat and it scares the crap out of me even with the spine and stiffening I did. and the boards sit right on top of my through hull fittings.

 

Post some images of your boat as it is now... - - Can you turn it upside down and do the work on the bottom, orbital sanding to start, bog and sand, (cubed), then paint, sand, bog, (cubed), and paint before final coat of quality marine grade paint... Professionally applied... to get a classy mirror finish...

Do you have mast & sails... Replace the chainplates and SS bolts, replace all the standing rigging carefully check the mast and all the fittings... attach new halyards, and sheets... re-do all the wiring and use ONLY marine-grade-insulated-tinned-wire... Completely disassemble, service, and carefully rebuild all deck winches... Carefully check by removal and replace all deck hardware as even SS deteriorates over time and if in doubt replace with NEW... and so the story goes...

 

it is stripped to the hull, there is approx 18 to 20 layers of paint (all different types) between me and the gel coat in some spots and bare glass in others. only one blister on the hull which I already dimpled and prepped for filler, and one spot where I can only speculate the previous owner started to drill a 1/2 inch hole below the waterline on the port side bow, (maybe a thru hull fitting) then changed his mind halfway through and filled with what I guess is resin. I was thinking about just marine grade paint everywhere to include the bottom, i do not plan on keeping it in the water for very long periods of time. i have gutted all the old wiring and checked the mast and swages on the rigging as well as the lines. mast and boom are already painted and finished, used solid film, aviation grade Teflon bake on lube in all the joints and blocks. I have also fabricated aluminum backing plates for the underside of the deck where the cleats, chain plates, and boarding ladder, along with just about everything else will mount through, like big washers to spread the load. I am planning on going LED with all the lights. I guess I am just scared I am going to get this thing almost done and then find something that is unfix-able. the keel really gives me a lot of concern.

 

Don't mistake anything I say as a professional opinion; there's enough confusion in the world already. But although I'm sometimes right and sometimes wrong, I'm seldom silent.

For what it's worth, my opinion is that you should start by just setting up the existing rig that came with the boat, as close to factory spec's as you can get it.

Sail the living hell out of that existing rig until you're comfortable with it, and until you're thoroughly familiar with what it can and can't do.

Then you can start analyzing ways to tweak or replace it....

And by the way, relax. There's damn near nothing on a boat that's unfixable. There might be some things that aren't worth paying a professional to fix. But he has overhead, and needs to turn a profit to stay in business (that isn't a malicious dig. It's just a simple fact, relayed with sympathy for his situation. Like everyone who offers a service to the public, he has to make money or fold).

But if you're reasonably handy and your time isn't cutting into your livelihood, you have it whipped. Just keep a grip on your patience.

 

roger that, it was just one of those moments where I said "self, you have to replace the mast step anyway....can you make it better?" and since I have absolutely no idea what the h#ll i am doing, I thought I would ask the group.I tinker, and usually wind up making things work better but in this case i just don't know enough to do anything. I know what needs to be done, but the materials required, best brands, what to use where,. all of that is making this very slow going, plus im deployed right now so nothing is getting done, and I have all day to brainstorm and think about what to do. Im just chomping at the bit to get it in the water. but its gotta be right. I don't like rigging stuff unless I have to. what about the keel, best and most cost effective way to handle it?

 

My mini-keels add 550mm to the draft, are glued with West epoxy, and made using 9mm plus marine ply covered inside and out with on average 700g/sm double diagonal 'glass' more on edges and bottom... It carries the 6000kg or so of my boat, so I can sit on the hard when the tide goes out... It is a sailing boat and the mast step is where the radar is at the moment... With sails I may carry 90sq/M in 2 genoa sails...

 

its a complete waste of time on a Mac 26 as well

 

Sail the **** out of it and learn how to sail first

marinas are full of boats where owners have thrown countless thousands at tweaks, yet they are clueless when it comes to sailing, so the tweaks dont really help.

Same un-tweaked version with a good sailor on board can do a horizon job on them

 

That part is bad. It really needs to be fixed if you are going to trailer the boat.

The keel is bolted on, correct? Have you examined the bolts? Bolt failure is what would cause it to drop off.

Part-wise, thru-hull failure and keel bolt failure is what will sink you. I don't think a rig failure in that size boat would. However, having helped move a 25' boat, I'm sure it could crack some skulls.
A small outboard would get you home in case of rig failure.

Search for compression post on the forum for the mast step support. Either that or laminate an over head beam for extra support.