Wightlink rescues MacGregor...

Quote :Just amazed how boxy it looks, not a good characteristic sailing profile, maybe it should be certified only for the municipal boating lake.: Un Quote

It was sailing on the municipal boating lake. :-)
 
flaming said:
Allow me to educate you.

http://www.ne-ts.com/ar/ar-407capsize.html

Lot there to read but the key phrase is possibly...

"The boat's hybrid design uses a water tank on the bottom to provide stability. The tank should be filled when there are more than four people on board, MacGregor said. The tank on the boat driven July 4 by George Dean Martin was empty, according to the prosecutor in the case.

The boat has no visible warning about needing to fill the tank, said the driver's lawyer, Richard Rubin."

Looks like slightlydifferent circumstances in this case, as the "yachtsman" appears to have been alone, but the Mac 26 has a history of falling over.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the education! Should get out a bit more. Pity it is only journalistic copy rather than a proper independent report. As ever looks like there is no single cause - the usual series of negative events which on their own don't cause problems but together do. (Although still trying to work out why the skipper's previous conviction for stolen engine parts was relevant!)
 
Thats the problem with the boat.... it has a big cabin.... were passengers can get trapped.... so its ok to say other boats also turn over... but these tend to be open dingies...

A yacht with a enclosed cabin has to have a failsafe amount of stability to prevent a inversion except in extreme coinditions... These dont... the guy upstairs arseing about may have foregotten to fill the ballast... but its the kids down below who drown.
 
awol said:
So the kids were wearing LJs and drowned; the adults weren't and survived.

Discuss!
Click to expand...
Indeed. Given that they were down below and the boat was inverted, I guess it would have been difficult, even if they realised what was going on, to dive down (as they would have had to so) with all that positive buoyancy in order to get out of the cabin and up to the surface. Ironically, they may well have been down below because it was deemed safer, I suppose.

A desperately sad event all round, and a classic illustration of a series of unconnected facts producing a tragic outcome.
 
peter radclyffe said:
these boats should be banned
Click to expand...

Are you going to round up the 30,000 or so that have been sold, or shall I....

I confess I looked quite hard at getting one of these, but it was plain its sailing performance would have just irritated me, and I spent some time watching one on Rutland Water beating to windward, and it was struggling with windage and leeway in a light breeze. I'm not sure it had its water ballast full, but I couldn't tell frankly. I just knew it was not for me for all sorts of reasons, but they have plenty of fans who sail them successfully I'm sure they have a place, sailed/motored properly.

Tim
 
Alfie168 said:
Are you going to round up the 30,000 or so that have been sold, or shall I....
Click to expand...

Wow. didn't realise that popular. I think the concept is really great (Power & Sail of some sort) and I guess sales show their is a market, albeit I can't say I like the look of the Macgregor.
 
"Are you going to round up the 30,000 or so that have been sold, or shall I...."

Excellent Idea. Count me in!

I could just see a massive pile of Macgregors... stretching hundreds of feet into the air.... we could soak-em in Gasoline and have the mother of all cook-offs....

Gallons of texas-two-step chilli and balloons for the kiddies.....

Later, around the dying embers of the once proud fleet... we would all dance in a hypnotic trance formalising our penance to the god of the wind for creaing such a monstrosity.

Sounds like quite the party!



Anyways most are sold to yanks to have something down at "The Lake" and if they dont buy one of those they buy something called a "Pontoon Boat" which have names like "The Party Patio" and such.

I do however think that they do a disservice to a proud seafareing nation such as ours to have these things in country.

NELSON WOULD BE TURNING IN HIS GRAVE!!!!
 
Macgregor do make a failry nice big boat however... IIRC its called the Macgregor 70.... though the only one I have ever seen had been impounded by the Garda with several tons of Coke on board... (and BTW.. that wasnt Diet...)
 
Alfie168 said:
Are you going to round up the 30,000 or so that have been sold, or shall I....

I confess I looked quite hard at getting one of these, but it was plain its sailing performance would have just irritated me, and I spent some time watching one on Rutland Water beating to windward, and it was struggling with windage and leeway in a light breeze. I'm not sure it had its water ballast full, but I couldn't tell frankly. I just knew it was not for me for all sorts of reasons, but they have plenty of fans who sail them successfully I'm sure they have a place, sailed/motored properly.

Tim
Click to expand...
30,000 i'm shocked, the problem appears to be when people are tired or forget, e.g. ballast, most boats will look after themselves, but this design is dangerous
 
Slight embarassing climbdown...Macgregor Yachts total production is something over 38,000 boats, and the 26X has sold about 6000 and the 26M (slightly better hull shape) has sold about 4000.

Lies damned lies and statistics eh.....but still a lorra lorra boats.

Tim
 
photodog said:
I am gobsmacked that clearly these things can in effect fail into a unsafe condition....
Click to expand...

Lots of things do that. My Volvo car fails unsafe if it stalls (which it does occasionally) because it then loses power steering and the remaining manual is far too heavy for a female to operate. My F-I-L's French car fails dangerous with its power brakes when the reservoir corrodes, as we found out when it went into a wall.
 
Searush said:
Mcgregor.jpg


Sorry damn forum won't let upload pictures "invalid file" it says. Worked allright on the old s/w.

But them macs can go weel under engine if you need to get back before closing time.
Click to expand...

He's alright as long as he goes in a straight line :)
 
peter radclyffe said:
these boats should be banned
Click to expand...
Absolutely........why can't they have something like self-bailers (but permanently open) used in dinghies which would allow the ballast tanks to empty when used at speed but would fill up when the speed dropped again?

A lot of good inventions and idea's come from the states, but in my experience they are about 10 or 15 years behind Europe with regards to safety regs, which is surprising with all of the litigation we hear about over there.
Several years ago I worked for a leading UK machine tool supplier, and I was responsible for the CE marking of the imported machine tools..........I soon realised that one of our American suppliers didn't have a clue about the requirements for CE............they ran machines with no interlocked guards, in fact they had no provision for interlocked guards..........no redundancy or safety relay's on the e-stop circuits etc. etc.

Pardon my obvious ignorance on this matter, but surely there is an equivilant safety standard for yachts etc.? If a machine tool was found to breach the CE regs it was possible for the HSE to place a prohibition order to prevent any more being sold and all existing machines to be corrected / modified by the manufacturer / supplier........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top