Question:
A friend who is considering buying a boat went to a boat show the
other day and returned with a brochure about the Macgregor 26'.
It has two features that seem ideal for his intended use, which
is sailing near the SW coast of Florida, keeping it docked
at his house on a canal which is blocked from the Gulf by a low
bridge. They are: a 15" draft when the daggerboard is raised, and
a mast that can be raised or lowered by one man while underway.
The only thing that seems alarming is the price: $11,500, including
a trailer, motor, sails, etc. For a new 26' boat!
This strikes me as absurdly low, and I can't help thinking there must
be something wrong with these boats. Perhaps they're of extremely
poor construction. Or perhaps the manufacturer won the lottery and
is simply being philanthropic.
Any experience with these boats? Any comments?
Answer:
- Not bad boats. Might work well for his purpose (if the ocean doesn't get
rough there). One can tell nothing (I really mean nothing) about a sailboat
by knowing the length. Weight tells a lot more, particularly about price.
Length and weight will give you a pretty good idea about a lot of things.
Thinks of the Macgregor 26 as a big dinghy, and you will be OK.
- The MacGregor 26 and its predecessor the Venture 25 have quite a devoted
following. I have owned mine for only one year, but have no major
complaints. At our club there is a fleet of half a dozen Mac/Ventures and
there is a Mac/Venture Club with some 35 members located in Toronto.
I'd suggest you send $10 to the factory and get their video that shows how
the boat is constructed; it explains some of the methods used to keep the
cost down. It does come fully rigged, but not luxuriously. For example,
it uses sliding vernier plates to adjust the standing rigging, thus saving
on turnbuckles. There are only two pieces of wood on the boat - the
tiller and one step down to the cabin; everything else is low labor
Fiberglas, aluminum, or stainless. No $60 snap shackles on the halyards -
just D's. No fancy blocks for the jenny sheets - just fairleads.
The mast is easily lowered, by one person, as they claim, if you use the
optional gin-pole. Just note that beyond some angle you have to detach
the boom, or it will detach itself with a loud snapping of pop-rivets.
Although it wouldn't apply in Florida, during the long Canadian season of
extremely hard water you can sit around your warm computer discussing
with the erudite members of this website whether and how the water ballast
system works.
- I happened to be down in SW Florida during the March 12-13 storm.
Many boaters were lost in that storm-- including those in large ships,
shrimp trawlers, motor and sail boats. One pair of sailors were towed
in about 70 miles by the Coast Guard to Fort Myers, Florida. These
two fellows were experienced offshore sailors, sailing back from a Cancun
(Yucatan) vacation to Sarasota (but, I might add, with only a VHF radio
aboard). The forecast was fair when they left, but halfway across the
500 mile distance, it turned sour. They were laid down 6 times, nearly
blown onto Cuba, engine was ruined by flooding, sails blown out. Winds
gusted to above hurricane strength and breaking seas rose to over the
top of their 46' mast!
After a couple days of this, their distress call was picked up by a
passing fishing boat who called the CG. They were very lucky and it
was a repeated observation that only the solid quality of the boat saved
their lives.
Obviously nobody goes out knowing that such a storm is brewing.
But in this case, nobody was predicting anything like the weather that
occurred. Unless one is ready to confine one's sailing to protected
waters (and I can't imagine living in SW Florida and not anticipating
trips to the Keys, the Bahamas or further), I would put heavy construction
paramount on my list of boat selection criteria.
