J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum Cruising Discussions MaJic Carpet finally Gets Underway

Well it has been over 1-1/2 years that I have had MaJic Carpet next to my shop getting no end of repairs and upgrades. Two weeks ago I towed it to a local boat yard for them to do a couple of jobs I simply couldn't do like fair the very bottom of the keel. I had figured out how to jack th boat up, but decided that the cribbing was too unstable to risk putting my hands under the keel. THe yard had much better tools for doing this part of the project. THey also helped with the new MaxProp installation which is a bit more involved than I had understood. ai will write up a separate thread on the MaxProp. the bottom line is I now have a propeller that can actually provide reverse thrust. As soon as the boat went into the water we took it for a shake down cruise for a week up the Columbia RIver about a 100 mile round trip and everything worked pretty well. I have lots more to learn about this boat, but my confidence is going up all the time. All of the work is apparent and it almost looks like a new boat, but we have more to do in that area. My spray job is going to require another haul out to perfect the finish and we have already proven how tough the Awlcraft 2000 finish is after being thrown up on the dock a couple of time by really inconsiderate boaters throwing huge wakes.I will be adding the cloth covers to my bumpers after seeing how the bare bumpers can ride up the hull and become ineffective. but he paint took the abuse just fine and now I just need to clean up the contact marks from the painted docks.The image of us underway shows some of the extra gear we hauled up on deck including two inflatable Kayaks a Sevlor raft and a
[img]http://[/img] large Yeti cooler. Our group was heading to Beacon rock and it was nearly 100° The cruise went well over the last 5 days. The boat did what it was supposed to do and it passed the Wife tests just fine once she figure out where and how to store everytining.