Plant Shuttered, Doors Closed.

[BOAT]

True True Mr. Aft,

My dad always said"

He who is convinced against his will,
Is of the same opinion still.

Dad also said that "kids are hereditary" - "If your parents did not have any you probably won't get any either."

[NiceAft]

True True Mr. Aft,

Please Mr. Boat, we're all friends here, call me Ray.

Actually, my opinion of this thread is that it is a silly thread. I really hope that I don't offend anyone by saying that. I really mean it. I hope I don't offend anyone with that statement. The reason I feel that way is that this thread is like having discussion on how many angels one can fit on the head of a pin. Once you come up with an answer, what difference does it make.

Some times silly is just what is needed.

Ray

[Russ]

Actually, my opinion of this thread is that it is a silly thread. I really hope that I don't offend anyone by saying that. I really mean it. I hope I don't offend anyone with that statement. The reason I feel that way is that this thread is like having discussion on how many angels one can fit on the head of a pin. Once you come up with an answer, what difference does it make.

Some times silly is just what is needed.

Ray

+1 Ray




--Russ

[BOAT]

Totally true Ray - the blog is just a place for me to ramble on about stuff that is on my mind - nothing is of any real importance like you say.

Everything seems to not matter much when I'm out on the ocean and looking at how big it is.

[NiceAft]

[mastreb]

On Saturday, July 20th, on the I40 just west of Oklahoma City, we passed a black-hulled MacGregor 26M headed east on it's trailer. Give the presence of factory carpet scraps between the hull aft docklines tying it to the trailer, it appears to be a factory delivery from Mike Inmon.

Probably the last MacGregor hull shipped east?

Matt

[BOAT]

I think Bill@Boats for Sail said he got the last 4 boats - not sure - who knows who he sold them to or where. I think Mike mentioned he had 'people' he would call on the phone to arrange delivery of boats - like regular people that would take a boat back east for a flat fee or something - I thought he shipped them on big trucks but he said not really so what you saw sure sounds like a Mike Inmon delivery.. Another 55 to 60 looking guy walked up to me in the harbor who said he was visiting from Costa Mesa while I was de-rigging at the launch ramp parking lot and he told me that back in the 70s Roger used to hire all the teenagers to work in the factory and this all his friends had all worked at the factory at one time or another. (They said they stopped hiring teenager in the 80's). He was sad about the plant closing.

Who would order a black boat for back east?? Must be going north.

[RobertB]

I think Bill@Boats for Sail said he got the last 4 boats - not sure - who knows who he sold them to or where. I think Mike mentioned he had 'people' he would call on the phone to arrange delivery of boats - like regular people that would take a boat back east for a flat fee or something - I thought he shipped them on big trucks but he said not really so what you saw sure sounds like a Mike Inmon delivery.. Another 55 to 60 looking guy walked up to me in the harbor who said he was visiting from Costa Mesa while I was de-rigging at the launch ramp parking lot and he told me that back in the 70s Roger used to hire all the teenagers to work in the factory and this all his friends had all worked at the factory at one time or another. (They said they stopped hiring teenager in the 80's). He was sad about the plant closing.

Who would order a black boat for back east?? Must be going north.

Yeah, when I bought my boat from the factory, I thought it would be shipped on a truck. No..... A guy showed up in my driveway driving a pickup truck towing my boat. New trailer had 3k miles on it - and both tail lights missing or damaged.

[BOAT]

If that is how all MACS have been shipped across the country for over 30 years now I figure that trailer and boat combination has been WELL TESTED over THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF MILES!!

I guess mastreb gave his boat a road trip that it would have received anyway had it been sold to anyone else! (Since 90% of all MACS are NOT sold to Californians).

[dlandersson]

Sounds like uship.com

I think Bill@Boats for Sail said he got the last 4 boats - not sure - who knows who he sold them to or where. I think Mike mentioned he had 'people' he would call on the phone to arrange delivery of boats - like regular people that would take a boat back east for a flat fee or something - I thought he shipped them on big trucks but he said not really so what you saw sure sounds like a Mike Inmon delivery.. Another 55 to 60 looking guy walked up to me in the harbor who said he was visiting from Costa Mesa while I was de-rigging at the launch ramp parking lot and he told me that back in the 70s Roger used to hire all the teenagers to work in the factory and this all his friends had all worked at the factory at one time or another. (They said they stopped hiring teenager in the 80's). He was sad about the plant closing.

Who would order a black boat for back east?? Must be going north.

Yeah, when I bought my boat from the factory, I thought it would be shipped on a truck. No..... A guy showed up in my driveway driving a pickup truck towing my boat. New trailer had 3k miles on it - and both tail lights missing or damaged.

[Tomfoolery]

Sounds like uship.com

Hmmmm - sounds like Jarrett "the rookie" Joyce.

From his Shipping Wars profile:

Company: Southern Shipping
Entity type: Carrier
Business Type: Independent (with pickup truck/van)
Carrier Operation: Interstate
CDL#: Upon Request
DOT#: 2159868
MC#: 750671 .Categories Served: Boats, Heavy Equipment, Household Goods, Household Moves, Motorcycles, Pets & Livestock, Vehicles
(emphasis mine)

[BOAT]

It makes sense - after all this whole fiberglass boat business stuff in Orange County was all populated with long haired surfers and board shapers and from what I was told back in the day the teenagers working in the plant would often deliver boats. "Hey Dude! Cowabunga! Your boat is here!" This whole trailer boat crowd that sprung up in the 70's were not like your normal cardigan wearing yacht club sailboat skippers who showed up at the dock in Sperry topsiders and used to avoid us "trailer boaters" like the plague. When we showed up at marina Del Ray with our little trailer boats back in 71 we were considered the scrapings of the waterfront. "Go over there in the parking lot with the other trailer boats and the fishermen!" "You don't belong here!"

Yup, I lived right in the middle of the whole thing - saw it first hand - Hobie Cat had a lot to do with it too - he was another board shaper who sort of invented the industry in Dana Point, (we used to call it 'Doheny' back then, there WAS NO Dana Point). The guys, came to Oceanside I think in 67 and started making those Catamarans (they called them 'play boats'). Back in the 1990's I helped their facility guy light up a new bay of machines to make boats using a "rotomold" machine - made no sense to me at the time - but I knew lighting and helped them out. But back in the 70's they were everywhere. The WdSchock Naples Sabot I think was the last of the wooden boats to go viral - it was invented in Los Alomitos Bay. After Hobie Alter and Grubby Clark pretty much everything went fiberglass after that. Back in the 60's I think over 100 shaper shops opened down here in Carlsbad and Encinitas alone. This new crowd of sailors were not spiff and polish with Nantucket accents, They were the dregs. Many old boat clubs still say sailing went to hull in the 70's. Yup, I was there and I was part of the problem - I admit it.

LOT's of those 'sailboat anarchy' types back then who despised Roger Macgregor for bringing so much low class common riff-raff into the sailboat community.

Many still do - THAT is the REAL REASON why people 'hate the MAC' and say bad things about it; not because it's "unsafe" or "water ballasted" - they hate the MAC because it's THE boat the brought so many dirty low life commoners like me into the sailboat community. Golf sort of has a similar version of this struggle going on for a long time.

I'm not surprised the government is regulating the affordable sailboat business out of existence - makes sense to me since most of those legislators in DC vacation in the Hamptons (and talk with funny accents).

Oh well, I got mine while I still could. I feel bad for our kids though. I think the era is over.

[Crikey]

No Boat, I think it's the kids turn to get a Tattoo - not that there's something terribly wrong with that!

Ross

[BOAT]

I hope - I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop - how long do you think they will let fiberglass get used in Florida?? It's just a matter of time before they start going after them there too.

[Catigale]

I know its sad to see MAC close up, but VOC regs have had a huge impact on the lives of people in LA and area. If you were around LA in the 70s and remember the air quality back then....