Ellen,

Isolated anecdotes don't constitute evidence or statistics. - And that's
what I asked for - not anecdotes.

There are thousands of Macs still sailing in all kinds of waters all
over the world, and the great majority of reports from Mac owners are
that they are happy with their boats and would buy another one.
Regarding the particular quote, it has been reported that the steering
problem mentioned in that cite was a problem experienced in some early
26X models that has since been corrected. (The current model is the Mac
26M). Of course, the Mac isn't the only boat in which some owners have
experienced problems over time. Re the comments of the particular
technician, negative comments by mechanics about what they are working
on, or about work done by others, are pretty common in my experience.

Actually, if you read through the notes in the search you cited, most of
the Mac owners quoted IN YOUR OWN SEARCH say that they are happy with
their boats and haven't had any major problems. - See those quoted below
for example.

Again, anecdotes aren't the same thing as evidence, and they don't say
much about the typical experience of the thousands of Mac owners. - Even
less significant are the sarcastic remarks and second-hand hearsay
comments from owners of other boats who have little or no experience
with the Macs, much less having sailed the current model.

Jim




Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"JimC" wrote
| Do you have any statistics or evidence to support your claim that the
| Macs are built "flimsy", Ellen? - Or are you just going to say that you
| don't have to provide any evidence because "Everybody knows....." Or
| that you don't have any evidence of multiple Mac failures, but you
| would just feel more comforatable if they were built heavier and had
| standing rigging like a 40-ft Valiant, ODay, Tartan, etc. The facts are
| that the Macs are light boats, and, accordingly, their rigging is light.
| Obviously, it's not the same as rigging needed for a larger, heavier
| boat. Also, the Macs are not sold as boats suitable for blue water
| crossings.


All you have to do is Google it. You'll find lots of things that say flimsy! Here's one:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.b...79239908e0a744

"Actually two different things were failing simultaneously. The cheap
steering helm "warped". This would appear to be due to the fact that
it is designed for small power boats, and is NOT designed to handle
the stress of feedback from rudders. This did not, of course, happen
instantly, but when it finally died it did it big time. This problem
can be remedied by replacing the stock helm with a good steel one,
available from a number of marine supply houses. You have to replace
both the helm and the cable. The mechanic who did the installation
for me could not believe that Macgregor had used such inadequate
hardware. The second problem related to having non-stainless mounting
hardware that corroded. A side item that we discovered later is that
one of the rudder brackets was cracking. There are numerous other
problems relating to the whole arrangement, including an inabliltiy to
get an adequate range of motion from the engine. The system needs a
complete redesign. "


- - This, again is merely an anecdotal report about one boat. - What Mac
was this, how old was it, and what percentage of Macs purchased in the
past ten years have had this problem? If it was an early year 26X model,
the steering linkage was changed long ago. - -


" We've owned both a 26 and a 26X. I disagree with your comment about the 26
sailing better than the 26X. I've sailed the 26X on Lake Superior for the
last 3 years, not only is it quicker under sail but it is much more stable.
As for the outboard, we run a Yamaha 15hp, which works well. The guys that
run the 50HP can sure go fast, but you can't put enough fuel on the boat to
make the engine useable for any type of cruising.
Ventures and Macgragors are built "less-expensively" but are pretty well
engineered. Remember a lighter boat imposes less strain on it's
structure and rig; furthermore there are literally dozens of thousands
of them that have been happily sailing for years."

- This is what I was saying. --


" I don't own one myself, but two of my best sailing friends have the
older Mac 26 and get a lot of enjoyable sailing and cruising out of
them. But they just don't have any "snob appeal"....."

"We've loved both of the Mac's we've owned, definitely a great sailing,
AFFORDABLE boat. As for the snob appeal, I'd rather have none than have to
worry about a $1000 boat payment every month."


"Flimsy to me implies not strong enough for the intended purpose and/or
likely to fall apart quickly. Neither is true of the 26X--like other
Macs,the 26X aren't experiencing structural failures. I expect the 26Xs
willstill be out on the water offending the purists 20 or 25 years from
now just like the old Ventures."

------------------
(Again, a few comments taken from your own search.)