MacGregor 26X for Mississippi River Use

[Retcoastie]

Some Mac owners might be able to help you out with tow vehicle retrieval. We go to Chicago often and could get it to Louisville easily. And the train ride to Chicago is nice if you are not in too big a hurry.

Keep your eyes on the dream.....

Ken

[ronacarme]

Our 2000X with Honda 9.9 HT carb'd 4 stroke has, for several Michigan sailing seasons, averaged 12 -14 mpg (statute miles), rarely motor sailing, mostly motoring about 5mph, almost never WOT, no significant current. I would guess in flat conditions at a steady 5 mph it would get at least 10 mpg, with better mpg at lower speeds and worse at higher speeds ivo increase of hull drag with speed. Doing the math, a 3 mph adverse current would at that throttle setting give only 2 mph speed over the ground and 4 mpg. Ron

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Welcome and good luck. My 2000 has a Honda 50 4-stroke. Since most of my cruises are day or overnight trips, I am able to limit the weight I carry. at about 10 knots, I am getting an easy 10-12 mpg, cut it in half for 17 knots at 500 rpm under redline. These are for round trip cruises with and against the current on the Hudson with the ballast tanks empty.

With all due respect, your numbers don't look like everyone elses who posts here as well as my own personal experience of about 10 years of 26X ownership. To get 10-12 mpg, you need to be doing hull speed or less, once you get that MacX up on a slow plane (ie. 10 knots), gas mileage drops considerably...maybe 4-5 mpg Granted, with motor sailing at 5 knots, I've probably gotten as high as 18 mpg, but not at 10 knots..and as for doing 17 knots with a 50HP, I've only acheived that at WOT with only me on the boat and with about a 1 knot tailcurrent as well And at WOT, mileage drops to about 3mpg. Hull speed is around 6knots, at that speed and slower, gas mileage is quite good, but at higher than that, it drops to the same poor gas mileage that any outboard motor has when those barrels open up.

[Chinook]

I'd been reluctant to comment, since my experience is so different from that reported by the earlier post. Thanks, Dimitri, for commenting sensitively, with good observations. Since we tend to cruise long distances on trips, and sometimes in places where fuel docks are 150 to 200 miles apart, I keep careful records of mileage. The only times I've been on the water and run out of gas, it's been on someone else's boat. Most of our experience has been with the Nissan 50 hp TLDI oil/fuel injected 2 stroke (similar to the Evinrude E/tech). It usually delivered 5 to 6 nautical miles per gallon when pushing our heavily loaded boat at 5 to 6 knots, with throttle set at 2800 rpm, plus or minus. On those occasions when I averaged 8 to 10 nm/gallon, we had been doing a substantial amount of motor sailing or pure sailing between fuel stops. When we made a rare high speed run, our mileage generally dropped to around 2.5 nm/gallon. When I first got the boat, and was often running at 3000 to 3500 rpm, I seemed to average around 4 nm/gallon. I failed to account for the reduced efficiency of full throttle the first time we crossed the Gulf Stream, and we ran our first 12 gallon tank dry after only 24 nm, nosing slightly into the Gulf Stream. After switching tanks, rolling out the jib, and dropping to half throttle, we went the next 40 nm on only 5 gallons. We're now running a Suzuki 60hp 4 stroke, and experience is a bit limited, but thus far, it appears that our efficiency is slightly better than with the Nissan. I'll once again keep close track on our Great Loop trip, and will report on how we do.

[Cris]

Sailmgb, I agree, the 26X is perfect for Mississippi River travel. I live at MM800, not far upriver from lock #3. A decade ago I extensively researched boat alternatives and would still conclude, as I did then, the X is the best choice for many reasons.

A coupla observations. Go no smaller than a 50 hp motor. Although you’ll of course get best economy going with the current (when sailing isn’t an option), there will be many times you’ll be fighting the normal flow. Especially if the water is high and the channel is narrow, not to mention the wind is another potential adversity if there isn’t room to maneuver under sail. And I imagine part of the reasoning behind your choice of the X over the M is the pivoting centerboard. Very helpful in this body of water because of the numerous wing dams.

I’ve traveled the river between the Twin Cities, south to Sabula around river mile 537, and would be happy to share experiences. You might find my Riverside Living page of some interest (http://www.facebook.com/RiversideLiving).

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Chinook, I don't know much about modern TLDI 2-strokes, but traditional knowledge used to be that 2-strokes were not as efficient as 4-strokes at the lower RPM's. At high RPM, fuel economy, was about the same between the two but at speeds below hull speed, the 4-strokes did better. From what you are reporting, that may still be somewhat true for the TLDI's. My 4-stroke is very fuel efficient when motor sailing too...like when the wind is pushing you at 3 or 4 kn and you really need to be somewhere so you use the engine to add a couple knots over that. I did a 55 mile segment burning only 3 gallons like this once.

[Johnacuda]

Welcome and good luck. My 2000 has a Honda 50 4-stroke. Since most of my cruises are day or overnight trips, I am able to limit the weight I carry. at about 10 knots, I am getting an easy 10-12 mpg, cut it in half for 17 knots at 500 rpm under redline. These are for round trip cruises with and against the current on the Hudson with the ballast tanks empty.

With all due respect, your numbers don't look like everyone elses who posts here as well as my own personal experience of about 10 years of 26X ownership. To get 10-12 mpg, you need to be doing hull speed or less, once you get that MacX up on a slow plane (ie. 10 knots), gas mileage drops considerably...maybe 4-5 mpg Granted, with motor sailing at 5 knots, I've probably gotten as high as 18 mpg, but not at 10 knots..and as for doing 17 knots with a 50HP, I've only acheived that at WOT with only me on the boat and with about a 1 knot tailcurrent as well And at WOT, mileage drops to about 3mpg. Hull speed is around 6knots, at that speed and slower, gas mileage is quite good, but at higher than that, it drops to the same poor gas mileage that any outboard motor has when those barrels open up.

No, I hear you, And I am still trying to sort out some of the details regarding my happy little mystery. Initially skeptical, I checked my knotmeter against the gps in my phone tracking distance and speed. I also plotted the course i took betweeen Kingston and Newburgh, NY. My numbers were straight motoring, no sail on those trips. Just me on board (165lbs.) lightly loaded, no ballast, mast, boom, furler and all rigging in place. 34.2 gps miles logged in just over 2 hours without needing to swap out my 6 gallon tank. Sustained WOT on flat water with 1passenger in the front berth, I have hit 21+ on the knotmeter, but haven't backed that up on the gps. This was my first season with my I'm not sure what is going on with her unless my 6 gallon tank is really a 9 and I'm dyslexic at the pump? I'll keep a real close eye this summer and focus on all the details, prop, total boat weight, planing speed, rpms req. for all speeds.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Yea, seems to defy some laws of physics but I also understand the effects of weight on a 26X and perhaps yours is much lighter than most others...like if you have only one small battery for example, no water tank, no second anchor, etc...that could shave off a few hundred pounds which could make a big difference. Mine is typically loaded full of goodies. I also have bottom paint on mine which perhaps adds a bit of drag, etc. But there have been a lot of people publishing results on this board (which I started following about 11-12 years ago) and they are nowhere that good (one guy published a very detailed fuel burn table with a Honda50 I recall which I might still be able to dig up). Of course, I also understand the effects of currents and although I'm usually dealing with about 1 knot currents with incoming and outgoing tides or perhaps as much as 3-4 knots in narrow Gulf passes during tide changes, perhaps rivers have even more than that and could explain some big differences. Also, the knot meter I used to have on my transom mount transducer never read very accurately, but it always under spun, never over spun as far as I could tell. GPS is the way to go, although you still have to factor in the currents.

I might have gotten an extra .5 mpg when my prop was new and before I installed the pressure water system.

[Catigale]

Well, its a lot easier to recover a trailer and truck on the tail end of a trip than bringing a boat home without a trailer! Also easier to store too.

[Gater Dunn]

Hi Cris as I was looking at one of your pictures on your site I noticed a long shaft electric motor on the bow, what motor and how did you mount it? iv'e been thinking of doing the same

You might find my Riverside Living page of some interest (http://www.facebook.com/RiversideLiving).

[Cris]

Gater Dunn, here's the link to the description in the mod section - http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/index.php?view=156. If you click on the thumbnail pic you'll see a different pic of a close-up. It's an old mod, and since then MinnKota has come out with a wireless remote control for all basic functions of the trolling motor. It's very cool-small enough to wear on your wrist. Also, since the mod post I've mounted a searchlight on the stem that previously held the front nav lights. It's also wirelessly controlled. My nav lights are now relocated to the port and starboard sides of the upper hull along the thin black stripe.

[Catigale]

You can easily get 10 mpg on the Hudson at hull speed + tide for a total of 10 knots VOG....the Hudson is tidal all the way up to Troy Lock...130 mies upstream!

[Chinook]

Not familiar with the tidal cycles on the Hudson. How many hours of effective running with the tide can you generally count on? Are anchorages/marinas strategically distributed, so as to allow a cruiser to take maximum advantage of the free ride?

[rtshinn]

How many times will you have to step the mast on the great loop?
Robert