MacGregor 26, opinions please ?

[dancrane]

Maybe old-school derision of the MacGregor, could be abbreviated to a moment's focus on the coachroof guardrails? What are they for? Are they even 18" high? Obviously a family boat - guardrails specially designed for toddlers.

Actually I don't hate the M26; its versatility is appealing, at least initially. Any move to show marina/mooring landlords that boating doesn't necessarily mean money in their pockets, must be good news.

It's hard to believe, in respect of the July 4th 2002 tragedy, that a vessel reliant (for stability) on appropriate quantities of water ballast, could ever have been on sale or acquired for use without the fact being made clear. I reckon the choice to ballast or not ballast (I'm assuming it's a straightforward sail or motor decision?), makes the idea brilliant. I'd never realised the drop-keel isn't itself weighted at all, as the U.S. report suggests.

None of that makes up for the design's aesthetic awfulness - although the 'Edge 27' (is that a Hunter or a Legend, or both?) is sufficiently uglier to make the M26 relatively easy on the eye. But I suppose the same was said of Westerly designs, 40 years ago.

Just a small point...I know the big outboard isn't meant for efficiency, but just how much unleaded will one need, hurrying the Mac26 from Chichester to Cherbourg and back over a bank holiday weekend, if the wind only helps for thirty miles out of 160?

 

[ARCO7]

Macgregors ideal for Studland Bay

I have just added my monthly thoughts to the Studland Bay Thread , adding that if the no anchor zone comes into force next year then I'm going to beat the system by trading in my Fisher for a Magregor 26 so i can anchor inshore of the eelgrass meadow on the shallow sand. Now that is an eco alternative to avoid the eelgrass and next year there could be 100 plus MaGs anchored together just off the Studland Shoreline .
I've see this done many times before, with all their water ballast pumped out MaGs can anchor within 6 inches of water and you can just hope ashore without getting wet above your knees .
Easy to tow and launch ,so no mooring fees if you've got a decent level driveway within an hours drive of the coast .
So if you want to keep visiting Studland by sea either get a MaG 26 or support BORG and the SBPA in their mammoth battle to save the place from becoming a no go zone for boaters.
Visit the SAVE studland BAY facebook community page for further details .

 

[Fourbees]

Just a small point...I know the big outboard isn't meant for efficiency, but just how much unleaded will one need, hurrying the Mac26 from Chichester to Cherbourg and back over a bank holiday weekend, if the wind only helps for thirty miles out of 160?

Too much to be feasible. We had two standard outboard tanks on ours, and if motoring at a modest 10 knots I reckon they'd last about 60 nautical miles between them.

Incidentally, when our M26x was delivered, we were given the idea that it was sensible to motor without the ballast and with the rudders raised out of the water... It wasn't! With no ballast a Mac blows sideways like a crisp packet and steering with the outboard only is certainly not advisable in close quarters situations! We learnt the hard way! And although you could theoretically do 20 knots in a Mac (ballast out), if you try this the bow rises so high that you can't see where you're going from the cockpit. We limited our motoring to 10 knots, ballast in - safer, more comfortable and more economical.

 

[dancrane]

We had two standard outboard tanks on ours, and if motoring at a modest 10 knots I reckon they'd last about 60 nautical miles between them...

...although you could theoretically do 20 knots in a Mac (ballast out), if you try this the bow rises so high that you can't see where you're going from the cockpit. We limited our motoring to 10 knots, ballast in - safer, more comfortable and more economical.

That for me, I'm afraid, pours a lot of cold water over the cleverness of destroying a sailing boat's serious sailing characteristics, in order to give her speedboat-appeal. It would seem the Mac26 does neither very well?

But I'm still a fan of trailable, beachable, shoal-draft cabin-boats. Maybe someone could fit a pair of Mercury 50hp o/bs, aboard a Woods Strider 24? I'll be surprised if it hasn't been tried...

 

[Lakesailor]

although you could theoretically do 20 knots in a Mac (ballast out), if you try this the bow rises so high that you can't see where you're going from the cockpit.

Exactly my point when commenting of the lack of trim when planing.
Someone else poo-pooed my suggestion.

 

[dancrane]

Does anybody know what happened to the Strider 24? I've barely read a word about them since the early 'nineties.

Great little cabin-catamaran with performance to please anyone who also likes some weather-protection & dry stowage. Worth looking for one (I think they built 100) if the MacGregor looks too much like a slow, slab-sided bathtub. Here's the Strider:

http://www.sailingcatamarans.com/Striderclubboattest1.htm

 

[Colvic Watson]

Oh no. You're not getting all Webby are you?
Will we have to submit degree certificates before we can express an opinion in future?

These are opinions. It's up to the reader to sift out the useful info.

Yes but when your opinion is based on seeing one heeling a bit then don't be surprised when you get the deserved derision! Macs have been bought and owned by many thousands of people, but all of that counts for nothing when the old timers suck on their teeth.

 

[maby]

Yes but when your opinion is based on seeing one heeling a bit then don't be surprised when you get the deserved derision! Macs have been bought and owned by many thousands of people, but all of that counts for nothing when the old timers suck on their teeth.

 

[Boomshanka]

Too much to be feasible. We had two standard outboard tanks on ours, and if motoring at a modest 10 knots I reckon they'd last about 60 nautical miles between them.

Incidentally, when our M26x was delivered, we were given the idea that it was sensible to motor without the ballast and with the rudders raised out of the water... It wasn't! With no ballast a Mac blows sideways like a crisp packet and steering with the outboard only is certainly not advisable in close quarters situations! We learnt the hard way! And although you could theoretically do 20 knots in a Mac (ballast out), if you try this the bow rises so high that you can't see where you're going from the cockpit. We limited our motoring to 10 knots, ballast in - safer, more comfortable and more economical.

A 26 foot AW(sailing)B with a 15Hp donk onboard could probably get around 7 knots at full chat, and run you across the channel and back on a reasonable lunch's worth of diesel if there's no wind... but then you have a decent sailing vessel for other times (with low down ballast on a deep keel)... so this 'run before the storm' benefit of a Mac26 is looking a little stretched... your post has confirmed my opinions on the Mac!

 

[photodog]

Yes but when your opinion is based on seeing one heeling a bit then don't be surprised when you get the deserved derision! Macs have been bought and owned by many thousands of people, but all of that counts for nothing when the old timers suck on their teeth.

The arguement that one must have owned or experienced first hand something to know how bad that thing is.... is nonsense.

I dont have to drive a Robin Reliant to know they are ****.
I dont have to drink sour milk to know it will make me sick.

And I dont need to have owned a Macgregor to know that it's rubbish.


Whilst I applaud all of the PC'ness being expressed in the thread... The boat is wholely ill suited for use as a yacht in the UK. They sell by the bucketload in North America were they are very popular on sheltered waters such as lakes.....

But they are not good sailors, they are not a good powerboat, and they fail in a unsafe condition if the operator does not fill the water ballast... which is something that must be actioned......

As such, They cannot be compared to a proper yacht... which has intrinsic built in stability and which has this stability even if the operator is a total numpty. A failure by a yachts operator will not place that yacht into a intriniscally unsafe condition.

By all means... go out, use them, have fun. But dont think that these are yachts... and dont think you will be getting a experience or level of safety that can be equated to a proper ballasted boat.

They are toys.


So, I just thought I would chuck that in as the Love-in was getting a bit tedious.

 

[maby]

A 26 foot AW(sailing)B with a 15Hp donk onboard could probably get around 7 knots at full chat, and run you across the channel and back on a reasonable lunch's worth of diesel if there's no wind... but then you have a decent sailing vessel for other times (with low down ballast on a deep keel)... so this 'run before the storm' benefit of a Mac26 is looking a little stretched... your post has confirmed my opinions on the Mac!

We're located about 12nm up the Medway - every time we go out, we spend around 4 hours watching the same 12nm of river banks slip past in each direction. The idea of something that could top 15 knots was very attractive!

 

[Tidewaiter2]

Ah Shay, owld Chappie..

Yes but when your opinion is based on seeing one heeling a bit then don't be surprised when you get the deserved derision! Macs have been bought and owned by many thousands of people, but all of that counts for nothing when the old timers suck on their teeth.

...Wot teef, young un

 

[photodog]

A 26 foot AW(sailing)B with a 15Hp donk onboard could probably get around 7 knots at full chat, and run you across the channel and back on a reasonable lunch's worth of diesel if there's no wind... but then you have a decent sailing vessel for other times (with low down ballast on a deep keel)... so this 'run before the storm' benefit of a Mac26 is looking a little stretched... your post has confirmed my opinions on the Mac!

This whole "run from the weather" thing comes from N. America... were you take the boat out on your local lake.... and if there is a bit of weather coming in you can quickly zoom back to your dock, jump into the RV and grab some cold ones, and not get rained on...

 

[dancrane]

Cheesed off.

All this healthy to and fro on the MacGregor 26 makes me think of one word: Velveeta.

Lots of Americans grow up and grow old, believing Velveeta is the start and end of cheese. Velveeta is a processed dairy product, sharing certain characteristics with cheese.

From all that's been written above, I get the feeling the MacGregor 26 is like Velveeta. It gives a slightly disappointing, tame approximation of motorboating, and a really dismally domestic, safe, unrewarding, uninteresting impression of sailing.

If you want your kids to feel excited and inspired about what sailing or powerboating (or cheese) can offer, buy a racing dinghy or a ski boat - buy Wensleydale with cranberries, or finest Gorgonzola. What does buying a half-assed compromise say about a person?

 

[photodog]

All this healthy to and fro on the MacGregor 26 makes me think of one word: Velveeta.

Lots of Americans grow up and grow old, believing Velveeta is the start and end of cheese. Velveeta is a processed dairy product, sharing certain characteristics with cheese.

From all that's been written above, I get the feeling the MacGregor 26 is like Velveeta. It gives a slightly disappointing, tame approximation of motorboating, and a really dismally domestic, safe, unrewarding, uninteresting impression of sailing.

If you want your kids to feel excited and inspired about what sailing or powerboating (or cheese) can offer, buy a racing dinghy or a ski boat - buy Wensleydale with cranberries, or finest Gorgonzola. What does buying a half-assed compromise say about a person?

I applaud this post.... however I would ask what characterisics of Velveeta are shared with real cheese.....????

My experience is that there are none....

But I find no fault with the overall comparison...


I think that people who puechase these have a vision of themselves, complete with Raybans and a moustache, powering along with partially clad nymphs whilst they wheel their Thoroughbred past the back markers to get the best spot at the beach... when of course they really look like Nick the greek piloting his donkey......

 

[dancrane]

Sorry Photodog, I was being polite about Velveeta, in order to sound polite about the popularity of the MacGregor 26. The point being, it's still a sad, limp, anaemic imitation of either real thing - sailing or motoring (or cheese).

You're so spot on, with your analysis of the marketing of crud to the masses! (I'm assuming you've looked at the youtube footage of these boats' manufacturers' commercial videos?)

Cue angry retort by contented masses...

 

[Fourbees]

From all that's been written above, I get the feeling the MacGregor 26 is like Velveeta. It gives a slightly disappointing, tame approximation of motorboating, and a really dismally domestic, safe, unrewarding, uninteresting impression of sailing.

Yes, that's fairly accurate, but as I said in my post, it's one way of trying out both boating types cheaply. And it trails well. We got a lot out of ours, but after 4 years moved up to a proper yacht and haven't looked back. I wouldn't recommend a Mac, but I DO know what I'm talking about. BTW, the guy that sold us our Feeling 32, Simon Derrick, who had a Feeling 44 at that time, was an ex MacGregor owner too. They had a lot of fun with theirs as well.

P.S. this is not a cue for you lot to slag off Feelings - I'm very fond of mine!

 

[Lakesailor]

Yes but when your opinion is based on seeing one heeling a bit then don't be surprised when you get the deserved derision! Macs have been bought and owned by many thousands of people, but all of that counts for nothing when the old timers suck on their teeth.

I have also read widely on the MacGregor's forums.
This one about Macs in choppy weather talks almost exclusively about using the motor.
Or this one about Offshore sailing (which most owners sensibly accept is not wise).
Or this one about heeling.

These show that many owners are aware of the shortcomings and use the boats within the limits. But that is the point. Do the other benefits outweigh the lower sailing abilities?

 

[dancrane]

For some reason, I'm having no luck getting to the links provided by Lakesailor...

...but meanwhile, here are some stomach-turning facts about Velveeta:

http://www.squidoo.com/velveetainfo

(Actually I'm beginning to think the comparison was a little harsh. )

 

[Colvic Watson]

The arguement that one must have owned or experienced first hand something to know how bad that thing is.... is nonsense.

I dont have to drive a Robin Reliant to know they are ****.
I dont have to drink sour milk to know it will make me sick.

And I dont need to have owned a Macgregor to know that it's rubbish.
.

OK, fair point, I think I'm getting the hang of this opinion based on complete lack of experience (though heavily influenced by forums). Marks out of ten please

1. Contessa's are rubbish because there's no proper heads and they are old fashioned looking
2. A Twister! Don't get me started, uncontrollable in a marina - I've read a thread on long keels and no one under 73 likes them
3. Bavarias - you do know they are built by unskilled work experience blokes who can't tighten a keel bolt?

OK, I've never sailed or owned any of those three, but I've read some forum posts about them and seen a few out sailing. It's easy peasey this, gonna have a go at catamarans next, though I'm handicapped by having actually owned one - maybe I should have a go at cruiser racers, cos I've heard they heel over and broach in a capful of wind - I've even seen a video of a broach on YouTube