Gould 0738 wrote:
Few sailing purists would choose a MacGregor.

I agree... but it's not a matter of "sailing purists." We have several
friends who have owned Mac 26X's so i don't intend to just slam them...
but (for example) after I took one out on a Lightning (a 1930s design,
classy boat but not a hot-rod) he then wanted me to come sailing with
him on his boat and help him "fix" it.

It's certainly true that I am spoiled... but it seems unlikely that
anybody who has sailed a well-balanced, good performing sailboat, is
going to be in the least satisfied with the sailing characteristics of a
Mac-26. They are also beastly to try and steer in a chop.


... A performance oriented
powerboater would not choose a MacGregor, either.

Probably about the same, relative to it's sailing performance.


MacGregor invented the retracting keel adaptation that energized the
trailerable sailboat market.

That is a blatant lie. Centerboards, daggerboards, swing keels, etc etc
were all invented prior to the turn of the last century.


You need to read the entire sentence.
They invented the "adaptation that energized the trailerable sailboat market".
I wouldn't be sruprised to learn that the Egyptians had retracting keels- but I
don't think they had a lot of trailer boats. :-)

Roger MacGregor is a better designer than he's often given credit for,
but he didn't invent a darn thing. Not the centerboard, not the swing
keel, and not the "adaptation."

You can tinker with the wording but it's misleading at best. Why not
tell the truth... MacGregor's early trailersailer designs were
innovative, inexpensive, and popular.

... The innovative solution was MacGregor's water ballast system.

They didn't invent this either.


No, they didn't invent water ballast- but they did design MacGregor's water
ballast system.

So? I invented the "King water ballast system." I could claim to have
invented dozens of things... especially if you let me make the claim for
things I saw other people using first.

Again, it's misleading at best. There were other water ballasted
trailerable sailboats before Macgregor began building them.


It might be noted that the MacGregor 26 has limited stability without
the ballast tank full. Several of them have flipped over, at least one
with fatalities.


I can't imagine anybody sailing without filling the ballast tank. Is that a
problem with the design, or user error?

Depends on who you ask. In the case with fatalities, the boat was being
used under power, without the mast in place, but with a crowd of people
on the cabin top. Personally I consider it a design flaw, but it should
be noted that *any* boat, including the QE2, has limits to their
righting moment that must not be exceeded.

IMHO it is within reasonable expectations for a 26' boat to carry a
half-dozen people on it's coachroof without flipping over. It's also in
the nature of this type of design that it has great initial stability,
but little or no reserve. In other words, it will heel a little as a
warning, and then suddenly flop down on it's side. That's why I consider
it a design flaw.

I've actually helped launch a MacGregor in the past. Aside from getting the
mast up and the forestay secured, it wasn't really any more of a hassle than
launching a powerboat. I thought getting the mast down and properly secured was
a bigger job, as I remember. However, we didn't launch the boat during this
short test and I
wouldn't want to claim that we did.

OK. It would be worth mentioning that you have done it, and your
impressions, if it doesn't exceed the article's length limit. I'd agree
with your assessment.

One reason we got the smaller boat is that we wanted onet that was
easier to trailer, rig, and launch. In all the years we sailed &
cruised, and were members of several different clubs, I never saw a boat
that was easy as ours. Like I said, I'm spoiled!




And it will continue to surprise many, as long as there isn't a *real*
sailboat passing it... which happens frequently.



I think you're probably right on all counts.
This boat would not be the first choice for somebody primarily interested in
performance sailing. It's a recreational sailboat. I think the idea is to have
"fun" doing some sailing, and not worry about whether somebody else is sailing
faster,
more directly upwind, etc.

Sure. If you want to move along without the motor noise, ya got that.
And speed isn't the only criteria for sailing, obviously. My objection
is that it *doesn't* provide the "fun" of sailing... not the heel, not
the feel, not the handling... as evidenced by most of the people I know
who *used* to have these boats and moved on.


The MacGregor sails better than almost any powerboat. :-)

Now that part is definitely true!

... It certainly motors
faster than most sailboats.

Yep. It motors faster than my motorboat, in fact.


... It's a unique, highly compromised vessel that can
provide a lot of fun- but will suffer in direct comparison with boats that
specialize in one aspect or another of the MacGregor compromise.

I don't think it's fair to say that a motorboat without sails is
"compromised." Certainly I don't think that the many sailboats I've
owned with no motor (some of which it would be physically impossible to
mount a motor on) were "compromised" either. They do what they're intended.


The MacGregor has put 35,000 people on the water.

But *not* in this Pow-R-Sail-R boat. MacGregor likes to imply this, and
it's more misdirection. C'mon Chuck, you and I both object strenuously
to this kind of malarkey in politics! Why are you pushing it in boating?


... That ain't all bad.

I didn't say it was all bad. I hope you don't see my posts as any kind
of hatchet job. But you keep saying "it's a compromise" and then
ignoring the other side of the trade-offs.


.... Will my
next boat be a MacGregor 26? Nope. Would I want to venture out into 6 footers
in a 2500 pound boat? Nope, again. But the concept has a lot of merit-

Yes, it does. So drop the advertising fluff & the misleading hype and
concentrate on the merits. It's a great water toy... and it's not a bad
camper trailer either

Fresh Breezes- Doug King