One of my favorites is the Bayfield 25 with inboard diesel and full solid
keel. Its a proven cruising boat for the coast and the great lakes. The
bad side is its not good for club racing around the buoys. The long keel
does not turn as fast as a fin keel. However, with 10 gals of fuel and the
1 cylinder yanmar you have about 40 hours of running time. It trailers well
on long distances. It takes about one to two hours to set the mast up with
lots of drill and skills. It is not the type of boat good for a weekend at
the lake. People I know tow this type of boat on long distance like
Montreal to the Bras d'ors lakes, the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia.

"Whistledown" wrote in message
oups.com...
I think you're right. I saw a Mac 26 with a H U G E outboard. I
mean H U G E. The engine part had to be 5 feet tall. They were
making about 25 knots with their sail flapping around doing nothing.
It's sights like these that don't help Mac owners shake any stigma they
have.

But Gordon, have your buddy look into that Cosair 24 trimarine. One of
those is as commodious as a Mac and can sail cirlcles around bigger
boats like a Catalina 30. Also, they don't have much wood.

b