JimC wrote:
wrote:
I'm not bashing Macs. They're fine for what they are designed for,
i.e. "inland waters and limited coastal sailing". So are they
designed for heavy seas and gale force winds - NO. "Might" they
survive? Sure, but one can always assume that there is a high
likelihood that a boat will fail, often catastrophically, when used
*well* outside of its designed operating range. A simple matter of
engineering, not speculation.
Keith Hughes
As I said, they are not suited for extended crossings or blue water
cruising. While they are a coastal cruiser, they are not comfortable in
heavy weather. As to carrying 10K pounds of coffee, that would have to
be cut back somewhat. As also discussed previously, the Macs aren't
large enough to store provisions for extended cruising.
Jim
"Somewhat"? Capacity of 960lbs, including crew, would require a
reduction of, oh, say 95%. Ok, then your entire point is rendered moot,
true? If Redcloud had been a Mac, it couldn't have been carrying the
payload, so it wouldn't have been in the situation in the first place.
So it's a pointless argument to say "If Joe were in a Mac...", the Mac
is wholly unsuited to what he was trying to due, irrespective of the
weather component.
BTW, from the Macgregor site, we also have:
"IF THE CABIN OF THE BOAT IS ENTIRELY FILLED WITH WATER, AND THE BOAT IS
DEPENDENT ON THE FOAM FLOTATION TO KEEP IT AFLOAT, IT WILL BE VERY
UNSTABLE, AND MAY TURN UPSIDE DOWN."
It's quite evident from this statement that when flooded, in heavy seas,
the Mac can be expected to turn turtle, or roll.
So why the desperate need to defend the Mac as something it's not? It's
a trailerable boat (big compromise #1), at a low price point (big
compromise #2), with a targeted audience and type of use. It does what
it's designed to do, and works great for a lot of people for whom the
design compromises are unimportant, or considered acceptable. It's also
wholly unsuitable to uses for which it is not designed, as are most boats.
Many folks have sailed Catalina 30's on blue water passages, but I
wouldn't do that in mine. It's designed, built, and rigged to be a
coastal cruiser, and just like the Mac, operated outside of its design
parameters, is *much* more prone to catastrophic failure. Plain and
simple - you operate within the confines of the engineering design
space, or you're at risk.
Keith Hughes