On Mar 6, 7:39�am, Harry Krause wrote:
Vic Smith wrote:
On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 10:05:05 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:

After wading through many past posts about the MacGregor,
among them an excellent *review done by Chuck, according
to the salts I will never be sailing on the MacGregor.
Hell, I can have the motor hanging lifeless on the transom, 6 feet of
dagger board down, 300 sq ft of sail filled with air, and be clipping
along at 8 knots or so, but I won't be sailing on the MacGregor. *
So that means no work! *Pretty neat (-:
It's a terrible boat. Caveat emptor.

Harry, as the last sentence of the above para I had written:
MacGregors are to "sailors" as Bayliners are to "Krauses."
I snipped it.
Here you are, so that didn't work.
Anyway, thanks for the heads up. *I'm far from sold on it.
But if I get one, I sure as hell ain't coming back here.

--Vic

You probably won't be coming back to shore, either. Make sure you file a
float plan.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Sounds like Sir Krause of the Bayliner Jousts.

You are entitled to your opinion, but you are wrong to state that a
MacGregor is a patently unsafe or life threatening choice. Like any
boat, it must be used with an eye to the weather. I can't speak for
other parts of the country, but in the Pacific Northwest these are
extremely popular boats. We boat snobs forget that a lot of families
don't have $100k or more to put into a boat, yet want to get out on
the water and enjoy some time together. Enter the MacGregor; for about
$30,000 a family can own a brand new boat that will motor fast enough
to do some wakeboarding behind and sail well enough to enjoy sailing
(the local dealer has one that he takes out to our Duck Dodge series
of informal sailboat races in the summer, and he actually wins from
time to time). As a family boat it has a lot to recommend it; sleeps
at least four without getting ridiculously creative, adequate galley,
enclosed head, etc.

The MacGregors are shallow draft, but they can sail by virtue of a
retractable daggerboard keel and a water ballast system. I'd shudder
to think how a similar sized power boat, (like the YOHO) would do in
the stability department if you ran up an equivalent mast and
introduced the same sail load. *that* would be dangerous. :-)

Would I go offshore in a gale in a MacGregor? Heck no. Nor would I go
offshore in a gale in my little 36-foot tug boat. Nor should you go
offshore in a gale in your boat.

With the literally hundreds of these little boats plying the waters of
this region
on a regular basis, we would be well aware if they were unsafe for our
regional conditions (again, I don't claim to offer an opinion about
their suitability for the OP's intended cruising region). The only
real knocks launched against the boat
are from: 1)a few High-nosed sailors, who eschew anything that's not
as "technical" a boat as they feel it should be- (usually including
all versions of a sailboat except the one they happen to own), 2: a
few Beer-fueled powerboaters who are suspicious of anything with a
mast, and often derisive of most other boat brands except the one they
happen to own- (its a personal insecurity issue, I think).

I'd recommend that if the OP is interested in MacGregor he should look
for an owner's group on the web and see what actual users of that boat
have experienced in the region where he's considering doing his
boating. Until one has been there, done that- or until there's a
disproportionate number of rescue incidents or other objective
evidence, there's no basis to pronounce a boat unsafe for a specific
intended use. That doesn't mean the boat is automatically
suitable....simply that one should investigate thoroughly with an open
mind before predicting that the boat would be unable to make it back
to shore.