So who HAS sailed a MacGregor?

andytrombone

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I didn't get any replies when this was buried in another thread and I genuinely want to know so here goes.....

Given the discussion of the MacGregor 26 on other threads, I am interested which Forumites will hold their hands up to actually having sailed one - and what was your honest experience?

I hear the usual stories repeated but I have only ever met one person who has personally sailed a MacG as opposed to "my mate xyz sailed on one that........."

Good, Bad or Indifferent let us know.
 

xcw

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Me! I owned a MacGregor 26C for 6 years - the proper sailing one, not the hybrid. Great little boat and we had a lot of fun with her. We kept her in Chichester Harbour where she was ideal with the lifting keel for the shallow creeks. Sailed all around the Solent with her. She sailed like a big dinghy, quite fast and responsive. Would I cross the channel in her or deliberately go out in a big blow? No. But we had a huge amount of fun and being able to trailer sail kept the costs down. We sold her for a larger boat. At the end of the day it's horses for courses.
 

snowleopard

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Would I cross the channel in her or deliberately go out in a big blow? No.

No harm in being ambitious though...

limitz.jpg
 

Long John Silver

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I didn't get any replies when this was buried in another thread and I genuinely want to know so here goes.....

Given the discussion of the MacGregor 26 on other threads, I am interested which Forumites will hold their hands up to actually having sailed one - and what was your honest experience?

I hear the usual stories repeated but I have only ever met one person who has personally sailed a MacG as opposed to "my mate xyz sailed on one that........."

Good, Bad or Indifferent let us know.

Never sailed one but I did used to pack my lunch in a tupperware box when I was at school. I always wondered what it'd be like with a rig and a motor on the back.
 

sailorman

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I didn't get any replies when this was buried in another thread and I genuinely want to know so here goes.....

Given the discussion of the MacGregor 26 on other threads, I am interested which Forumites will hold their hands up to actually having sailed one - and what was your honest experience?

I hear the usual stories repeated but I have only ever met one person who has personally sailed a MacG as opposed to "my mate xyz sailed on one that........."

Good, Bad or Indifferent let us know.

Do they sail then :confused:
 

Alfie168

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I confess I havn't sailed one either, but when I was boat searching it certainly came up on my radar as a 'possible' because of its versatility, so I did find myself watching one or two under sail to see how they behaved.

I come from a dinghy background where pointing ability is everything, and I regard it as a desirable in any sailing vessel if you have to get away from lee shores and such like. It just gives you more options, and I like a boat that will point well.

It became obvious they were quite tender, that it was difficult to drive them particularly hard, and that their pointing ability was not wonderful. That being said, they otherwise sailed well enough, and no worse than some tubs I have seen that do not attract such ire. They also have a lot of windage as they are high sided and have little draft.

So, no I havn't sailed one and I crossed it off my list for personal reasons, but I'm equally happy they sail perfectly adequately. I've not seen one under motor power. Presumably, if you get lee shored, you drop the sails and use the 50hp to blast away to safety. Its a serious plus, just not what I was looking for.

Tim
 
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Lakesailor

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I reckon you've got a good mix of answers. There are other forums that are a bit po-faced about going off-topic. But you'll wait two weeks to get an answer on them.
The other thread about the 26 has some videos of them sailing in 40 mph winds.
I would say cobblers.
There are a few on Windermere and whilst they are not absolutely dire in the way that some old, chubby, bilge keelers are, they aren't going to be sailing around in those kinds of winds. I was out a few months ago and saw one (I think I had MentalPause with me - that's a forumite, not a condtion) heeled well over. On Windermere that that can mean there is more wind over there than where we are. Not so. He stayed well heeled whilst passing through our patch (we were reaching the opposite way).
I note that the 'mericans have a kit with a ballasted drop keel to improve their stability.
On the other hand they will motor reasonably well, have bags of standing headroom and you can drive them onto their trailer at the end of play and go home.

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dylanwinter

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this is a brilliantly classic YBW thread

the answer is that despite all the ire heaped on these boats - no-one here has actually sailed one.

Its my guess that the people who are trying to sell these things need to get their boats into the hands of some competent sailors who would actually prove what they can (or can't )do.

now what would be a good test for a Mac

have an real sailors actually circumnavigated the UK in one?

Dylan
 

photodog

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I've been on one in the boat show...(I decided then that the best place for one was on chocks at excel.... ) and I have sailed PAST them on several occasions.....

Does that count for anything?
 

dylanwinter

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Nope

I've been on one in the boat show...(I decided then that the best place for one was on chocks at excel.... ) and I have sailed PAST them on several occasions.....

Does that count for anything?

Nope

people sail past the slug all the time

doesn't mean its a worthless heap of junk

(actually......discuss.....)

the people who are supposed to be marketing macs must be tearing their hair out

or they should be


Dylan
 
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Major Catastrophe

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Nice to see The Head Mistress, Peggy Hall, is posting on the US MacGregor forum.

But going back to the OP, can we assume that while there are few people here who have sailed a MacGregor, there are many who have never set foot on one with an opinion on how bad it is?

I really hope that Dylan contacts MacGregor and does a sponsorship deal with them.
 

jellylegs

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I sailed on one a few times, was actually fun, within its boundaries, like all boats. Treat it like a big dinghy with a cabin and you wont go far wrong.
Looks quite cool, in my view. When you have outgrown it you could trade up to the Mc gregor 65 (i think it was called....that is super cool!)
 

KINGFISHER 8

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I seem to remember one fell over in the Solent a couple of years ago ... got rescued by an Isle Of Wight ferry ... presumably he forgot to fill his ballast tank. Think it was on the local news. If you want an inshore trailer sailer and don't mind motoring to windward to get anywhere I'd think it's suitable ... and if you or the family get bored you can motorhome at 15 knots or however fast they go. Not for me but each to his own.
 

dylanwinter

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In desperation

I consulted people in another place - the excellent US based trailer sailer Bulletin Board

here is the thread

http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/tsbbcomp/trailersailor/index.cgi/read/778981


but here are the best answers


They will sail upwind better than my little catboat, not quite as well as a similar "pure" sailboat, the Catalina 250 water ballast version. They are initially tender but stabilize once heeled over. They do not react well to being overpowered, nor to pinching, so maybe if Dave saw one try to go to windward under sail and fail it was operator error. Or maybe he never saw one try.

Plenty of them do not try to sail upwind, but it does not mean it cannot be done.


My 50HP sees probably ten times more time at less than 2000RPM than above. To clean out the motor and charge the batteries are the only two reasons mine sees any time at higher power. OK, I am guilty of opening it up on a HOT Bob and Bake day when my buddies are cooking along with their 4HP motors. Knowing what I know now , I probably wouldn't get more than 20HP if I were doing it again.

Resale was the biggest reason I went with 50. The next owner most likely would want 50HP, even though he won't understand why he doesn't need that much.

I can't complain about fuel usage--I just don't use that much. We spent all week sailing at Havasu on about 3 gallons of gas. Most of that was on a slow motoring around the island on a windless day. It was obscene how much it took to tow there and back though.

Ron


I own a Mac 26X. The 26M is a better sailor. I've not sailed a Monty, so can't specifically compare. The earlier Macs, "S's" and "D's" are truer sailboats and perform better under sail.

The 26 (either model) is a bigger compromise toward more powerboat and comfort and less sailboat performance. As I was telling a person at Havasu, if you want to race competitively, you aren't wanting EITHER an X or an M.

But if you want a boat that sails ok and motors ok, and has a huge comfort factor, then the 26 is an ideal boat. They are significantly cheaper than competing models in my opinion, especially the used X's. Maintenance is pretty minimal as well.

I see in your videos that you like to go below for a cup of Tea. Much roomier on the 26. Room for two to sleep comfortably. An "enclosed" head, but it's no larger than an airliner head. Some rotate the loo 90 degrees, so your legs stay in the main cabin and the business end is in the loo. Not full standing headroom (I'm 6'1"), but darned close.

Doesn't point very high, and with a jib in light air, it's SLOW. Push it hard and it rounds up quickly. Put a 150 genny on it with roller furling and you're good to go.

Last summer at our club, every time I drove to the docks to sail, I'd see people working on "real sailboats" in the work area. Sanding and buffing or replacing woodwork. I'd wave big time as I walked to the slip, hopped on the X, and went sailing.

Hope this helps. Ron


Compared to my Com-Pac Sun Cat, one of the slowest sailboats on the planet. Damning with faint praise, but it's true. I'll be sailing around slowly tomorrow on a boat that sails worse than a 26X or 26M, but no forum know-it-alls have a problem with the Sun Cat because it's cute and "sailboatish."

They are not as bad as the forum sailors who have never tried one like to pretend they are. Those guys are just offended by the big outboard.

It's not a great sailboat, nor is it a great powerboat, but it will do both acceptably well, it is cheap to buy and own, and is reasonably well made. By that I mean, when working at a dealership where we sold them, MacGregor managed to deliver intact, complete, non-leaking boats in every case except one (window leaked a bit). You might be surprised to learn that delivering intact, complete, non-leaking boats is kind of hard for some manufacturers to pull off. At the brokerage, we sold lots of 10+ year old Mac 26X's, and they were hanging together as well as the other 10+ year old production boats to my eye. They are thin and the rigging looks woefully inadequate, but that is because a 26 foot powerboat usually carries a 250 hp outboard or two, not a single 50 hp.

Owners seem to love them and they hold resale value well for a boat that sees 40 new ones sold each month.


http://www.bwyachts.com/index.html
 
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