On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 22:50:13 +0200 (CEST), Ed Gordon
wrote:

I've spent the past two days looking at used Mac26Xs. I've seen about
half a dozen that were advertised for sale by owner. I was hoping to get
a real bargain but that seems to be too much to hope for. Why? Well,
it's because everybody luvs their Macs. Two of the sellers said they'd
rather just keep their Macs than sell them for a low-ball price.

Yeah, they really hold their price. A few likely reasons, in no
particular order. Might be out-of-the-box thinking here, since the
MacX/M are called "Powersailors," not "Sailboats."
1. Even if the owner gets tired or "sailing," he still has a decently
fuel economical and trailerable powerboat, with about the same cabin
space of a $75k Bayliner. But about 18'' draft. Leave mast and sails
at home. Some do that, and look at it as powerboat only.
2. Macs normally don't have holding tanks/stinking hoses, don't smell
like ****, and don't have **** floating in the bilge.
3. You can park it in your yard, and avoid mooring/dock/layup costs.
4. If you decide to go overland, just hook up the trailer and you've
got instant Winnebago.
5. They aren't tricked out like a Victorian whorehouse - very little
wood and cabinetry to maintain. Some people don't think wood and salt
mix. Simple and easily reached electrics. One thru-hull for a sink
drain?
6. They are recent - the oldest X is '95, M 2002(?)
7. While Macs are light, glass quality is consistently good, no balsa
in the hulls. I wouldn't even bother with a survey on these.
8. They sail at the low end of performance. Some sailors modify them
to reach moderate sailing performance in most but light air.
Most of the forgoing items are more important than sailing performance
to Mac buyers. If they just wanted to sail, they'd get a performing
sailboat.

There might be more reasons Macs hold their price, but those are the
big hitters. Some of those reasons are real attractive to me, but
DAMN! I don't have the cash to afford a Mac!
I've read quite a bit on the Mac forum, and boy do I envy those guys.
Super-cool bunch too. Polite and helpful.

One other guy says he buys a couple a year, cleans them up and fits them out
and sells them for thousands more than he paid for them. He says he
never has to sit on them for more than a month at most and most sell the
first week he puts them on the market. I've seen several really choice
ones but they wanted more for them than I paid for mine new.

That guy was probably lying to you. Lot of that going on.
It's just plain difficult to get any good deal on a Mac.
But not impossible, so maybe this guy is sharp.

That should tell you Mac bashers something. Macs are holding their
resale value so it means they keep staying very popular. I bet your
heavy keel boat can't make that statement. Compared to a Mac26X they are
a bad investiment.

Yeah, but some us just don't look at a boat as an "investment."
Though I just can't afford a Mac right now, doesn't mean I can't
get something cheaper. I can hire a homeless person to pull out
all the warped/rotten cabinets, the "sanitary" and electric systems,
and clean the **** from the bilges if I go for an older keel boat.
But that's only the start on an older cheap boat. And that old keel
is still going to keep it from going into the gunkholes where a Mac
commonly goes.
I don't know, I just don't know. Maybe it's time to visit Capt'n
Neal's website for some advice. I think he covers the best methods
for a non-wealthy person to buy a boat. He's another polite and
helpful guy. Sometimes.

--Vic