# Let me introduce myself



## flbkroxie (Oct 25, 2010)

Just found this site this morning, and want to introduce myself as a fellow female sailor. Hello all!

I haven't been sailing long, took a lesson and got hooked. I wanted to buy a a small trailerable sailboat, but husband was not at all interested, in fact he was against the whole idea. We have owned boats in the past and he just didn't want to have to "wrench" on another one. So I decided to buy one myself, and do all the work myself. He was OK with that. 

So I bought a 26 foot Macgregor and even he is enjoying it! It is helping us to learn and allowing us more time on the water. We are both taking sailing lessons and eventually want enough experience to be able to charter boats. BVI here we come! 

The best part about all of this however, is that for the first time in my life I am doing it all. Intimidating, but also fun. I've learned to use power tools! I built a lazarette floor, installed laminate flooring, installed a water tank and new electric faucet, and am currently putting in a sound system. He is not "taking charge", so I am learning to do it myself. He offers advise, and that is great. And when I run into trouble he chuckles, because he's been there himself. 

Looking forward to sharing experiences with others!


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## SecondWindNC (Dec 29, 2008)

Welcome to SailNet!

It's definitely rewarding when you can do the work yourself. (At least when you're finished; until then it can be frustrating!)

This site can be very helpful with advice on many of those projects, and is also a great place for sharing those experiences.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Splendid woman !!

This is one of the very few occasions when I've seen a wife/girlfriend/female partner keener than the male and its a good thing to see. I'm one of those blessed with a partner who loves being on board as much as I and her eagerness has meant that she has learnt an awful lot about the down and dirty bits of boat ownership than might otherwise be the case. While she is not there yet, I look forward to the day when she will take control of everything from dropping mooring to settling in for the night.

Yes I know, thats how monsters get created and I may well end up having to buy myself a new boat.  

Oh yes , and welcome yon newbie. I do hope you enjoy the forums and can derive some useful information from them.


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## wingNwing (Apr 28, 2008)

Welcome! Looking forward to hearing about your projects, and hearing some sailing stories.


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## flbkroxie (Oct 25, 2010)

*How long can this possibly take?*

As I mentioned earlier, my goal for today was to to install a Sony stereo receiver with Ipod/Iphone capabilities (very cool) and two interior speakers. Sounds simple, right? WRONG!

The instructions were useless. A lot of pictures, but little English. I've never installed any kind of 12 volt anything, so this was definately a learning experience. Hubby gave me a few hinters before he left on a week long golf trip with the guys, but now I was on my own.

I had to figure out how to mount the the unit above the galley so it wouldn't move around. There was already a huge hole there and a plexiglass cover. I had to learn how to wire the unit for power, and to run the wires for the speakers so they wouldn't be seen, which was one of the hardest tasks. Thank you internet!!!

Without going into too much boring detail (it took me ALL day), I finally mounted the unit, ran the speaker wires to the unit, tapped into an existing power wire for power and ground, and jig sawed a faceplate that actually fits!

I think I did everything twice. Maybe three times. I tried to jig saw the existing plexiglass faceplate, but broke it. Learned I had put the jig saw blade in backwards. There were no instructions and hubby was on the golf course, so how was I to know?  Looked on the internet and found my mistake. So I made another faceplate out of some precut red oak from home depot that I had bought for shelving, and it turned out well. Will stain it to match the 'teak" flooring. Everything has to match you know!

I connected all the wires with this heat shrink stuff that's great for marine applications, tested the unit, it worked great, and was about to put it all together when I realized that I had not run the wires through the mounting unit! Dang!

Had to cut all the wires I had just stripped, crimped, and shrunk, and do it all over again. By this time I was really ready to call it quits. After a lot of trial and error I'm happy to say it works!

Tomorrow I will re-do all the connections, since I ran out of the heat shrink stuff and resorted to electrical tape, and build some speaker boxes for the speakers. Love that jig saw.

Enjoying a glass of Scotch tonight, proud that I did it myself!


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## anthony1 (Nov 24, 2009)

Congrats on the boat, and your determination to do it yourself.
Another site you might try is the MacGregor/Venture site lots of great info and heelp if needed. I have a Ven 25 circa 1975, a great boat.


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## wingNwing (Apr 28, 2008)

Then, when the job's complete, make yourself a playlist for that ipod called "Wild Women" and play it through the boat speakers in honor of yourself ... you go girl!


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## mdbee (May 2, 2007)

*Welcome!*

Great to see you here. What model Mac 26 did you buy? D, S, X, or M?
Iv'e got a S myself. There is a lot of great information here as well as a few other sites that are a little more Mac specific.

Fair winds & congrats on your installation!



flbkroxie said:


> Just found this site this morning, and want to introduce myself as a fellow female sailor. Hello all!
> 
> I haven't been sailing long, took a lesson and got hooked. I wanted to buy a a small trailerable sailboat, but husband was not at all interested, in fact he was against the whole idea. We have owned boats in the past and he just didn't want to have to "wrench" on another one. So I decided to buy one myself, and do all the work myself. He was OK with that.
> 
> ...


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## flbkroxie (Oct 25, 2010)

Bought a 26S that I found locally. Great price and not far to travel. 
I have bookmarked a few other sites, but spend way too much time already on sailboat stuff  
Can't get enough of it I guess.
Am posting a new thread on the cabin speakers installation. Not sure if this is how to do it or not, but hopefully somebody will send me in the right direction.


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