First thoughts on 26X vs. Siren 17

[Starscream]

Proud new owner of an '02 26x. Sold my 197? siren 17 for $2,200 and made the big move at the beginning of October 09. I've had the X out on the lake once under power and now it's in storage for the winter...sad state of affairs.

So far, based on a 400 mile pickup trip, lots of cleaning and prep, and a single power-only foray into the lake, I couldn't be happier with the decision to upgrade to the X. I spent a lot of time on the web trying to figure out if it was the right boat or not--seems to be a lot of opinions one way or another, but I noticed that almost all X owners or previous X owners recommend the boat. Looks like there were a few lemons out there, but you get that with any product I guess. I decided on an 01 or 02 because of the apparent improvements.

So, first let me say: "wow". Nice boat, looks great, but kinda makes my house look small when it's parked in the driveway.

I had a flat tire on the way home at about 60MPH, and had to pull off the highway and change it in the dark. Actually, it was a pretty mundane event. No fireworks or swerving, just a lot of vibration. Much less bad than I thought it would be. Truck jack (06 Durango) didn't get the trailer high enough to get the spare on, so lucky I had a 2x4 to use as a spacer. The process was like this: get it jacked up, old tire removed, new tire didn't quite fit, old tire back on, jack down, 2x4 in, jack up, old tire removed again, new tire on, lesson learned.

Here are the comparisons:

Trailering
Towing Siren at 75 mph: no problem. Towing X at 60: Ok. Towing X at 65: Deathwish (maybe I'm just a chicken)
At 60 MPH, mostly flat with some small hills:
Highway MPG no trailer: 22.5
Highway MPG siren 17: 16.2
Highway MPG X: 14.3
The X is much harder to navigate on the road. I have to admit I jumped a curb on the initial ride back (and no, not the tire that blew out). Wide load = Wide turns. Wider than you think. Pulling either boat makes it feel like you're being tailgated by a Semi. Certainly the X gets more comments and looks, I think the Siren just got sympathy. But she was a good boat.

Launching:
X is easier than the siren. Believe it or not. I launched the X without getting my feet wet, I couldn't launch the siren without geting water in my pockets. The truck doesn't have to back as far in either, even though both boats float in the same depth of water.

Motoring:
No comparison. The Siren had a 30 year old Evinrude 2 stroke, pull start, had to keep a hand on the throttle to keep it going and the other hand on the tiller. The X is just so easy. Turn the key, warm it up, use the motor to pull off the trailer, then point and shoot. All this while sitting on some nice leather cushions too--what a treat.
GPS rating on the Siren w/6HP: 9km/h (about average over many trips)
GPS rating on the X w/50HP Honda: 30 km/h with the wind 25km/h into the wind. Two adults, two kids, full gas on both boats. This was just about exactly what I expected based on my web research.
No fuel consumption data. I didn't even use a single tankful of gas per season on the Siren so it wasn't an issue. Now that my eldest is into older kid stuff, fuel consumption on the X may become an issue, what with all the wakeboarding and powering that now becomes an option. Actually, this is why I bought an X and named it after a transformer. After much thought, having both options in a single boat is exactly what I wanted. I love sailing from a technical and environmental point of view, but it's sure nice to be able to just blast around a bit and have a great time when the time is right.

Retrieval:
About a tie. I almost put the X through the back window of the truck a couple of times. There was a crosswind blowing and it was just impossible to line up and drive onto the trailer like the manual said. I don't think I could have done this part myself. My daughter ended up opening the tailgate of the truck and helped guide the nose in. With that help, there was nothing to it, and she said it was really easy and simple for her to do. I'll have to think about some of the trailer mods I've seen on other posts to help slide it in there. The Siren was easy because it was small and light, but I always got wet.

Sailing:
Don't know. Probably can't be worse than a nineteen seventy-something Siren with original sails and a self-trained "captain". But I will content myself, as I did with the Siren, to try to get the best performance I can from the boat's capabilities. If some guy in a j-boat or cat blows by me, I can always roll in the sails and rock him in the propwash.

Accomodations:
No comparison. The Siren was like camping in tupperware; the X seems very reasonable--haven't tried it yet. Like the roominess, and the cockpit enclosure makes it huge.

[c130king]

Welcome to the club. Glad to hear you are happy with your decision. I know I was when I got mine...still am.

I take it from your post you didn't have a pier at the ramp. I have never needed to power off the trailer...just give a push on the bow and back it goes.

Same for getting on the trailer...except for one time when there was no pier.

However, I have never done either by myself...that could make a differenece I guess.

Update your profile with boat and location info so we know where you are.

Cheers,
Jim

[Chinook]

[quote="Starscream"]
Certainly the X gets more comments and looks,

We have trailered our 26X all over the country, and we have definitely come to recognize an expression on the faces of people we encounter which we have come to call "The Look". It's readily seen on the face of a bored traffic flagger when we slowly roll by. Sometimes it appears on a driver stopped next to us at a traffic light. Pedestrians guilty of "The Look" are easily identified by the swiveling motion of their heads, eyes fixed on the boat, as we pass through small rural towns where a sailboat is almost never seen. In RV parks filled with 5th wheels and huge motor homes, "The Look" usually appears on the face of someone who casually saunters up. It's invariably accompanied with the words "Nice Boat". We note that "The Look" virtually never occurs in places where other, larger sailboats hang out, but it can be encountered almost everywhere else. It seems that Macgregors have a unique ability to inspire dreams.

[tompolak]

So, first let me say: "wow". Nice boat, looks great, but kinda makes my house look small when it's parked in the driveway.

I found it funny how "big" this boat seemed in my driveway too...... that is until I took it to the marina. We were one of the smallest boats there. I have a 2001 X and it seems to be a great boat. Not much if any difference between a 2001 and 2002. I took the boat out on Lake Michigan when many of the other boats stayed in port becuase the waves were too big. I think the best remark from one of the keelboats is, "I only have a 18 hp motor.... I am not sure if we can make it back in against the waves." Him and his wife are nice though. I never heard anything negative about the Mac.

Good luck with the new boat next year.

[Chinook]

I've noticed that the Mac has some very unique properties. When hitched to my truck it immediately assumes huge proportions. However, once on the water it seems to dramatically shrink. I don't think even transformers can do that.

[DaveB]

Diffrence is, you will no longer camp out in a Siren 17, good news is the accomidations of your Mac.x will allow you to relax, take a snooze and wake up to watch all the other sailers sail by you.
For the moment you relize your in heaven and not worry about a thing, that the moment of time.. no one forgets.Mac's have a way of creeping up on you and massage your worried mind.
Safe Sailing and Fair Winds.
Dave

[ROAD Soldier]

Dave that sounded a little too touchy feely for me. Alright Starcream let me give you a run down on the wonderful: macx: that likes to be used and abused like a two dollar (oldest profession on earth girl) on a military pay day. Cutting up stinky bait on the cockpit table it likes it and says "give me more baby". Beating 5ft waves while sailing and trolling for fish at the same time it says "it hurts so bad it feels good". Being defaced by blood from gutting fish and accidently cutting fishermen's fingers while gutting fish adding even more blood it says "is that all you got". When you are all done with excitement at the end of the day or sometimes night you can ram it good and hard onto a beach toss out an anchor and go to sleep and all it says for that is "give me my two dollars".

[MD Dunaway]

I was not familiar with the siren 17 when you posted this. So I did a Google search including images. That is a tiny boat! I have two boats a Venture 21 and the Mac 26S. The first time I towed the 26 it looked like the Titanic in the rearview mirror. You may have had a similar experience. The V21, even, is pretty big compared to the Siren. The first time I towed the 26 I went downtown Cincinnati at noon. Interstate 71, 75 south and then I 275 east. About all the excitement I could stand! After a while its no big deal. happy sailing!
Mike

[Rick Westlake]

I've noticed that the Mac has some very unique properties. When hitched to my truck it immediately assumes huge proportions. However, once on the water it seems to dramatically shrink. I don't think even transformers can do that.

Maybe because it's stuffed with the Wallas stove, the PortaBote, all the cockpit canvas, and a month's provisions ...

Just kidding and you know it.

Starscream, welcome to the "X-Men"! You will find that this remarkable boat will lead you to wax poetic like DaveB, get you to talkin' trash like ROAD Soldier, make you cringe the first few hundred miles you haul it across country (maybe the second and third; never mind parking at any restaurant but a truck stop!) ... and open the door to sailing and traveling adventures beyond what you could have imagined, such as the Bahamas, the Sea of Cortez and the Inside Passage to Alaska (like Chinook!)

[ROAD Soldier]

Rick Westlake wrote

Maybe because it's stuffed with the Wallas stove, the PortaBote, all the cockpit canvas, and a month's provisions ...

Thats what I still need to get tha all cockpit canvas

[DaveB]

Go for it while you are young, did all that in seas up to 40 ft. cruiseing half way around the world on my 35ft. Alberg. I in my elder age perfer comforts close to landluber but sail and ancorage in my now gunkholeing lifestyle.
Sailing to windward I now like 15 degrees , in my 30's liked 20-30 degrees heel and balance the Sails with perfection.
Mac.X is perfect for us as a couple that does up to but exceeds 1 week cruiseing.
Good friend has owned a Siren 17 for the past 3 years and joins our WCTSS club to trips to the Keys and West Coast FL. and as a young couple they love it. It is a very fast boat compared to our larger trailerable cruisers and can skim across hard sand bars.
I spent few trips sailing next to the Siren 17 with my Potter 19 and Compac 19 and also the MacX.
Very good lightend boat.
Dave

Dave that sounded a little too touchy feely for me. Alright Starcream let me give you a run down on the wonderful: macx: that likes to be used and abused like a two dollar (oldest profession on earth girl) on a military pay day. Cutting up stinky bait on the cockpit table it likes it and says "give me more baby". Beating 5ft waves while sailing and trolling for fish at the same time it says "it hurts so bad it feels good". Being defaced by blood from gutting fish and accidently cutting fishermen's fingers while gutting fish adding even more blood it says "is that all you got". When you are all done with excitement at the end of the day or sometimes night you can ram it good and hard onto a beach toss out an anchor and go to sleep and all it says for that is "give me my two dollars".

[ROAD Soldier]

Half way around the world in this:
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/13061

Talk about seen it, done it, and got the T-shirt to prove it.

[MD Dunaway]

ROAD Soldier please elaborate.

[ROAD Soldier]

MD wants

ROAD Soldier please elaborate.

Ok for you undisciplined civilian types here is an explanation from an even more undisciplined military type (or just old and cranky) dude. Seen it, Done it, and Got the T-shirt to prove it is a saying for us older experienced military guys like me. If I have a young commander which most of time they are compared to me, ask me what we need to bring, what tactics we need to use, and what can we expect in going to Iraq or some other god forsaken place on earth he can trust my advice because I am old and experience enough that I have Seen it, Done it, and Got the T-shirt to prove it. Just like Dave who stuffed himself into a small 35ft boat and took on God and the sea and is still here able to talk about it. Are you tracking? I do say tracking because that is my polite way of saying, if you are not know what I am talking about I will explain some more. If I ever say to you do you understand? That means you better understand or it is most likely your life if you do not comply. So to reiterate tracking good, understand very bad.

[MD Dunaway]

"Talk about seen it, done it, and got the T-shirt to prove it." That part I tracked. What I missed was the connection between the photo Ad and that it was a reference to the first line of Dave's reply. I thought you were saying that you were half way around the world on either the boat in the photo or one just like it. Can't blame for thinking optimstically. Sorry for the confusion.