I've been passed a number of times by a Mac 26X that used to stay in the Charles
River and power out into Boston harbor every Saturday morning. I figured he was
doing about 10-12 knots. Every week I would comment on how its nice that he
keeps using the boat. About a half hour later I would overtake them in the
middle harbor when they stopped the engine and raised sail (to his credit he
kept trying). In the short, nasty chop of the busy harbor they made essentially
no headway. This went on for 2 or 3 years - I haven't seen them lately.

BTW, I was at the yard today and checked out the newer 26 stashed near my boat
and realized its engine was missing - the cables had been chopped rather
traumatically! I don't think it happened in the yard since it was backed
against the fence. I'll get the full story soon, I assume. I guess this is
another downside of a boat whose half its value is just bolted on the back.



"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
. ..

Sort of leads to the obvious question, then. Can the thing plane with a
sailing rig, full ballast tanks, fuel, water and a couple or 4 people
aboard? If not, there goes any speed advantage over a displacement
sailboat, but you keep the disadvantages quite nicely. Including the
greater fuel consumption and the need to carry a much more flammable
fuel to boot.

There are advantages of outboards, no denying that. But to read an
account of how they perform in any sort of sea on a displacement hull,
try reading Fanny Hill's 'Brazil and Beyond'. They eventually replaced
the outboard with a diesel inboard.

Jim could have got a centreboard sharpie that draws bugger-all water
with an outboard in a well. I was looking at a Cal 22 yesterday and it
had an outboard on a set of parallelogram bars in a well - most of the
advantages of a saildrive at a lot less cost, and fully retractable. A
setup like that in a sharpie hull, you'd have something that sailed and
had shoal draft.

Course, it wouldn't plane at 18+ knots ot get to blue water fast, but
let's see if this unstable Mac can do it except in ideal conditions.

PDW

In article , Jeff Morris
wrote:

In one place they say they lose 3 mph when the ballast if full. In another,
they say they lose one mph for every 100 pounds added. Also, the "22 mph"
is
with empty tanks, no rigging, one person, flat seas. They advise not
running
without ballast, but if you must, there's a long list of safety precautions,
like not going on deck, staying seated, only do it if the seas are under one
foot and the water is warm, etc.



"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
. ..
In article ,
wrote:

On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 12:23:05 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

Its funny, the drawing on the web site don't show this to be "double
hulled".
The water ballast is on the center line, not around the chine - it
would
be
easy
to penetrate the hull with a glancing blow to a rock.

BTW, what would happen to the daggerboard if it touched bottom?



The daggerboard stays, and the rest of the boat keeps going.

Other tidbits from Macgregor: The factory does not supply gas tank
hold downs. If you wish to add your own, DO NOT drill any holes! You
must glass in the hold downs.

If you install a second battery, DO NOT put it next to the existing
one. It will cause too much stress (what's that battery weigh? 50
pounds?) You must mount it on the opposite side of the boat.


By the way, if you motor with the ballast tank empty, bear in mind
that the boat is then VERY top heavy, and extremely prone to
capsizing. Make all turns very slowly and gradually, and always avoid
the wakes from other boats and large fish.

I did wonder about that. Next question is, does the thing plane with
the ballast tank full? If not, there goes the 18 knots.....

PDW