I bought a steering cable system for the boat, but it is stick steering. Can I make it work on my faux shipswheel I got off amazon or should I stay with the stick steer? Either way I will make it work!
This is the coolest project I’ve seen in a long time; you should submit some photos of progress to the Small Craft Advisor magazine or Classic Boating, nice job anyways!
I'm going to do the same thing to mine,although it probably won't look as good as yours. I really think you need a keel,not necessarily for the weight but for tracking. I'm planning on replacing mine with a wood metal combo with about 1/3 the weight. Pushing these hulls from behind is tuff chore. I did the great loop in mine and when motoring if I took my hand off the tiller it went in a "death sprial". CANT WAIT TO SEE YOUR PROGRESS!
Indeed I am adding a small keel just for tracking. I have done this before with a smaller build and yes it gets squirrelly ... especially with a current or breeze. I will start back on this project as soon as it cools down a bit here... 100 degrees is too hot for me to be working inside a boat...lol. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Just started watching your vids. Really enjoying them. Plan similar build but want to go 25 - 30ish foot. Keep it trailerable but weekender ready. More overnight comfort. Head, galley, separate stateroom. Best part is sailboats are so much cheaper! Thanks.
Very cool build. Binge watched the whole thing after discovering it this morning. I'm planning on doing one myself and wanted to share some experiences that might be useful to other viewers of your channel. My first boat was a MacGregor 25 swing keel sailboat, but the keel fell off on one of the first trips. Without the 1,500 pound iron keel, the boat would float in a couple of inches of water and went about 15 miles per hour with its 9.9 horse outboard. Speed with the keel was limited to about 4 or 5. I later had a MacGregor 26-X sail/speedboat which went almost 20. What impressed me was that the original Mac 25 went pretty fast once the keel was gone and cost a fraction of what the X was worth. I almost never sailed either boat, so I'm thinking that I could get another old swing keel sailboat and do something like this with it. You definitely want a small skeg just a couple inches deep somewhere forward of center, otherwise the wind likes to blow the bow around when maneuvering at slow speed to a dock or boat ramp. With the 26-X, you lowered the keel just a few inches to stop the wind from taking the bow where you don't want it to go.
Thanks for watching and subscribing! I can't find the comment you done about the 9to5less boat, but ironically I was going to buy one just like it (Iroquois 30) years before they got that one, but the guy wound up just giving it to someone who cut it up and made a playhouse for kids.... auuuugh! I often wondered what happened to the 9to5less boat.
I just traded the MacGregor for the Iroquois a month ago. Its on blocks in a boatyard in Merritt island Florida, and I am working pretty hard on some things that need to be done before it can go back in the water. It costs me $300/month in the yard, so I'm not doing a lot of video and haven't stopped to edit any. I need to fix that bad patch that was peeling off the bottom and they painted over it when 9to5less had it out of the water for "repairs". I'm taking the new 3KW solar rack off the Carver and putting it on the catamaran and I got a 115 horsepower outboard to use as the main engine and want to keep Trevor's 15 horse mercury as a backup engine in case the 115 doesn't start. Once the boat is back in the water and at my dock, I can take my time fixing all the stuff that didn't have to be done in the yard. At that point, I will probably restart my channel and post videos of the boats progress. My channel began 6 years ago with the blue Mac25 I got after the one that lost its keel. Ironically, I considered that boat broken and got the blue one to replace it, but now I would prefer the one without the keel because it went so much faster with the motor. I haven't heard from Trevor since he took the catamaran from here, other than the few videos he's posted of his cross country electric car trip. Jess calls every few months and comes to Florida about once a year for a music festival. We've been talking about how funny it would be to shoot some video on the catamaran once its done.@@Youcan2Adventures
Wow... yeah it takes time and work to make and edit videos. People just don't realize how much it takes to make a decent video. My health has been very bad for over 2 years and I can no longer work on boats. I started a sewing business (cushions, light upholstery, horse related stuff) as I can do that little by little. I really liked Jess as she was always in a good mood even when things did not go right. If she would have gotten the boat and done her own channel she would be making big bucks even if she did not move it from the dock! She is so happy and everyone loves her laugh...lol! I can't wait to see what you do with the boat. If you were closer I would offer to come down and help do the interior. Once you start on it I am sure you will get a lot more views and subscribers..... speaking of which I will subscribe right now! Anyways, hope you get all your repairs done and get back in the water soon! Send me an email sometime... a lot easier to answer than on here...lol! Cheers, Jeff
@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 I'm up in Titusville. I'm doing something similar to this. I'm using a old pearson 26. Boat was destined for the dump. It was not going to ever be restored. I bought it from a widow for 100 bucks rather than it go to the dump. In order to get it out I had to cut the keel off. The entire deck I've cut off. I have a giant empty hull in my yard right now. Really I'm just starting. The good thing is a lot of what I'm using to build the interior is still there as it was 100% glass. So I don't need to build berths. My plan is to place a skeg but also add 500 pounds of concrete beneath the floor. This boat orinally came in the 70's with a 20hp outboard. I was looking to do 25 to 50 as I'm going to build the transom much stronger. I would love to have someone who isn't such a sailboat purest to bounce ideas off. I've done this with a sailing dinghy and it came out awesome so now I'm just scaling up.
Very cool I would have left other comments but was watching on the tv . I love the idea you got here nice job I look forward to see how the end result is
i have been thinking about doing this for decades now. but i’m not handy and now i’m getting old so i’ll just watch you! funny how many of us have had this idea, altho few tackle it. it’s a no-brainer: old used swingkeel sailboats for a few thou all over the place. and with the price of gas and diesel it makes even more sense. but a 10 hp is more than adequate to efficiently drive a displacement hull of any swing keel sailboat. so for a few thou you have a vessel you can spend the night on. in the world of “power boats” the same privilege will cost you tens of thousands up front and loads more in fuel whenever you want to go anywhere. good onya.
keep in mind theres no keel weight to help keep the hull from rolling over and putting your cabin in the drink. the lighter you make that top hvy cabin the better. maybe when you make the skeg make it long a with some weight somehow.
I have always played with this idea, but never committed to doing it. I am so glad to come along with your build. Especially looking forward to interior!
Awesome! Thank you! I will do the interior when all this wet weather moves out and I get materials.... I really wish I had a smaller boat to do this with, but this was free. Thanks again and stay tuned!
Hi.. I know you haven't posted any updates.. but, I would love to see how it finished out. You have inspired me to do the same with my 22 foot MacGregor.
I actually sold it a while back and now the new owner has it for sale locally .... he was going to finish it with his daughter, but never done anything except paint the bottom. I may buy it back and finish it out. Thanks for watching and glad to be an inspiration! :)
It needs you. Some old boats bounce around from owner to owner until someone with the skills and motivation does something. The RU-vidr 9to5less left his catamaran at my dock for over a year, but refused to sell it to me. It went through two more owners, each of whom made the boat even worse than it started out. Eventually I traded a MacGregor 26-X for the empty fiberglass shell with two feet of rainwater in it and windows removed. Its going to take a long time to restore it, but I'm adding a 3KW solar array from my Carver 27 and a 115 horse mercury outboard so it can go fast if necessary or cruise with minimal gas consumption. I do not plan on restoring the rigging or sailing it.@@Youcan2Adventures
Good job I’ve watched the all the episode you posted still waiting for the next one . I also have same project of conversion . Getting ideas from you . I don’t know what to do with keel I wanted it out but will it role over ? Please reply.
Hi, thanks for the comment and hope you are having fun with your build. Regardless of what everyone says it will NOT roll over. I had a Watkins 23 in 2007 that I bought in Fla and sailed it from Bradenton beach to Tampa with no keel... yes it was squirrely, but it never tried to tip over. I know of plenty of people who done these conversions and not one of them has even listed to one side. I would not listen to what couch captains tell you, just do it and have fun! Thanks for watching and eventually I will get time to make another video. I have a full time business I own and operate and have very little time to even get online :)
Hi Peter, I never got to launch the boat due and never got any further on the build as health reasons prevented me from doing anything. Thanks for watching though and I may be doing an update video soon if I can get out and do it. Thanks again, Jeff
@@Youcan2Adventures Hi Jeff, thanks for your reply and all the best with your recovery. Hopefully happy sailing/boating will prevail after all your hard work . Good luck. Pete
Well… I’ve got an old Cat 22 and been wondering if it was worth doing all the repairs to make her sail again… 🤔 - now maybe I’m thinking completely different…
Really depends on deck core condition. I would not cut another deck off unless I had to. What a mess and the work involved is very intense. Not to be a negative Nancy, but just being realistic. If you do decide to cut it and do something similar.... please video or take pics to let others see your ideal cruiser! Good luck :)
Thanks! Tight budget is my life....wait til you see what I do to the interior with just pennies for a budget using repurposed materials and gifted things from awesome people. I can't wait to see where your build is going next!
