prodigal1 wrote:
wrote:

Thanks prodigal. I've found a few Contessa 26 at yachtworld.com
all of which are over 20 years old.

This sounds like you don't like the idea of a 20+ year old boat. Age
isn't the issue either. Mine is going to be 40 years old next summer
and look what some of my friends have been up to with good old boats
like mine
..
http://www.cafesmersdusud.com/oceanothon.htm
http://www.clic.net/~dcooper/hinterh...titdelire.html

I have no intention of buying one but my point was that the company
might have gone out of business a long time ago.

With a water ballast you can let the water out to reduce the
weight of the boat so you can tow it with a car or small SUV.
Another idea is to build a trailerable boat with a water ballast
tank and put a bag inside this tank for storing up to 150 gallons
of diesel (in addition to 20 gallons in the standard fuel tank).
Sea water can be added to the ballast tank as fuel is drawn out
without seriously affecting the weight distribution of the boat.

fine, but in my world, the H2O stays outside the hull --as best as I can
keep it that way-- and cars and spitSUV's/spit are for highways and
landfill respectively

How far do you think a 26' boat can travel on 170 gallons of
diesel without using the sails ?

on a sailboat, your primary drive is...the sails! the motor is
your...auxilliary power. it's used to get you in and out of port. But
all of this is fairly academic. Just coming in here and asking about
--ocean +Mac26 indicates the need for _much_ more reading and even more
forethought.

I wouldn't want to motor all the way across the Atlantic either
but I would still want to know how far my boat can go under power.

As stated earlier, I brought up the MacGregor only for the purpose
of comparing it to the Bayliner.