Jeff Morris wrote:

You seemed interested in Mac but want a boat the won't capsize. You should
check this out:
http://www.ne-ts.com/ar/ar-407capsize.html

Jim Cate will claim the skipper was drunk (true, but the passengers said that
didn't contribute) and that the boat was dangerously overloaded. The truth is
there were 8 adults on deck, when the recommended limit is 6. The 3 small
children below wouldn't add up to more than 140 pounds, and should have been low
enough in the boat to have little affect on stability. This may have been a
fluke, but it doesn't seem to happen to other boats. This was the only case
that year of a sailboat passenger drowning while wearing a life jacket.

The skipper's alcohol level was way over the limit, and the passangers
were also drinking. He was operating the boat in an unsafe manner
(turning it back to shore with multiple adults on the deck, and
operating it without the water ballast). In a recent news report on
this case, the judge rejected his defenses about the boat's purported
deficiencies and gave the "skipper" a stiff prison term.

As to whether this is an inherent problem with the Macs, if there were
reports of multiple incidents such as this one under circumstances in
which they were operated with the water ballast as specified, one might
conclude that the boat has an inherent problem. However, despite the
thousands of Macs in use, no one has provided evidence of such an
ongoing pattern of Macs capsizing, as in this case.

Jim





Jim is also quick to tout other features of the Mac, while in fact they are
common to many other "pocket cruisers." For instance, many small boats
(virtually all with water ballast) have positive flotation. Its true that the
Mac is relatively unique with its 50 HP engine, but even that can be had in
other boats, at a price. But at $30K the Mac isn't cheap, and I'm not sure I'd
want an older one, although you could probably have one pretty cheap.

How about a Catalina 25 with a pop top?




"Danny" wrote in message
om...

I've been sailing Hobie Cats, windsurfers and all sorts of little
sunfishy kind of things for years. I have sailed a few mid 20's
Catalina Sailboats as crew with success. I am planning on buying a
used 25 foot sailboat and need to know recommendations. What I'd like
to have is something with small draft as I'll be sailing a shallow
bay. Swing Keel I guess or maybe a shoal keel gives me the same draft?
Good sleeping space and standing space would be nice as I am 6'4". I
also would liek a compromise between stability and performance. I
understand Catalina's are great because they are virtually
un-capasizable but maybe something that would be a bit more fun and
still pretty damn hard to flip. I'm ready to spend up to $5,000 US.

Whaddya think all?