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Comparison Between the New Boat and the 26X Operating Costs Maintenance and Storage |
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Tip of the day: My friend Roger Gaefcke, a two time Mac owner, gave us this one: When rigging the mast on a roller furling Mac, use the dock line on the fwd cleat-- through the jib tack ring-- down the side of the boat about 2'-- loop for your foot-- step in with one foot-- push-- stick in the forestay pin. This is so easy and is now my favorite tip for rigging. Yesterday's tips: About time! This is the toughest topic of all. What OB is best for this boat? Opinions from each dealer give strong points to each OB. Every motor seen has been very quiet at lower power, all have some noise at full power! You can't even hear them run at harbor speeds. FOUR-STROKES A few strong points are; Lightest OB is the Honda, heaviest is the Merc big foot. Suzuki has a free 6 year extended warrenty program at this time. The only fuel-injected one is the Suzuki ( advantage for fuel economy, starting ease, quiet idle (now they are all EFI except the carb Honda). Longest time in production is Honda ( most recent design is Suzuki with Yamaha in between ). Yamaha and Merc share the power unit and each has a big foot/high thrust lower unit available. The optional lower unit seems to be better for waterskiing, similar top speed but extra cost and sailing weight. The disadvantages of this entire group are extra maintenance ( oil and filter changing ), extra cost and extra weight. We sold more Suzuki than any others up until now. TWO-STROKES; We have now used the Evenrude E-Tec for 18 mo. This choice was made as our favorite because: Lowest cost of owmership. Long service intervals ( you don't have to haul the boat out and take it to a sevice dealer for oil changes twice per year ) Beast fuel economy. The large prop pulls the boat better than the rest, same as Big Foot Merc or Highthrust Yamaha. Higher speed,(most noted when the boat is heavy) Lightest is the Tohatsu/Nissian. Two strokes are lower cost with similar top speed and consume more fuel, slight smoke at idle and they all have a fussier idle than the four-strokes. Lower maintenance cost and service intervals. One asked about the use of a diesel OB. The only ones I know of are very heavy, over 300 lbs and low 27 HP, not enough to plane the boat. A very bad choice, but if anyone wishes to make this costly purchase, please let us know the speed obtained. ALL THE MOTOR OPINIONS ARE PERSONAL. PLEASE GIVE ME ANY OTHER INFORMATION/ADVICE AND I"LL POST IT HERE WITH YOUR NAME Tanks over 9 gal are required by Coast Guard to be tied down. The time a person spends sailing is not deducted from his lifespan In strong wind, pull the centerboard back 3" on the C.B. line, mark it. Also, when sailing with main only, pull the centerboard back 6" on the C.B. line, mark it. We all know that the side stays should be tight, but how much. One indication to tighten the lowers is a wrinkle in the mainsail at the spreaders. This wrinkle will point to the clew of the main. For sure, you should hear a twang when striking the lowers. For the M boat the mast should be straight. For the X boat, have about ½ mast thickness bend in the mast, that's about 2". This should be done with the backstay free. Maximum speed under power is obtained @ about 5% below engine redline, check the motor manual. Change prop pitch to suit. At a typical launch ramp, you can dump over 1000# of water before pulling on the trailer with your car. Just winch up the sailboat tight to the trailer. It will lift the bow tilting the ballast tank to dump water. Even a small car can then pull her up the ramp.
Last Updated 5/19/07 Updating regularly. Check back soon!
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