Just posted my 1998 Macgregor 26X boat for sale here

[fdeoreo]

Hello All,

What can I say, I love my boat but it is time to try to find her a new home. I have listed her here as well as on craigslist Tampa. If anyone knows anyone looking please send them my way, happy to sea trial, let them camp at my house in the boat if from out of town or whatever. I cannot begin to list the number of things I have learned from all of you on this website. I thank you all many times over. The "Billy box" air conditioning setup made this the best possible Florida summer boat, without it sleeping would have been impossible (wife and kids you know). I have a couple canoes as well as a new downsized boat a West Wight Potter 15 and have taken her out already. If all goes well my next trailerable cruiser sailboat will likely be the Tattoo 22, I think it is the perfect size for my needs (and wants).

Sincerely,

Francis Joshua DeOreo

[BOAT]

Yeah, I think that Tattoo 22 is going to be the number one trailer boat in the world based on the new demographics of modern society (incomes are changing downward and ages are getting older) and the first time buyer market want a smaller boat too. I always figured on hanging it up in my late sixties but if the Tattoo 22 is all that they say it will be I may be able to sail well into my 80's if i can stay alive.

Of course, the 22 will completely destroy the sales of the 26 (and that might be why they are not in a hurry to get the 22 into production, not really sure - when I hint about design issues here i get slapped so if I assume they have the design issues are worked out I can't imagine a good reason to knot get that 22 into production ASAP - In MY opinion I see the 22 as a MUCH bigger money maker than the 26)

I think as all of us get older we might all be looking at that 22 footer a lot closer.

[Mac26Mpaul]

Definitely agree with you the 22 will be a good seller
Definitely disagree with you that it will kill sales of the 26. I would quite happily take a 22 footer if it were just me and the missus, but with my young family the 26 footer is a far superior boat, and I bet that there are many that will feel the same way as me...

Wait a minute!! I'v just been suckered. (see Boats avatar) Dam it man, at late 60s, you're too old to be a bloody troll mate



Francils, I almost sold mine, had it advertised and got quite a bit of interest, ended up with a buyer, but I chickened out. Even though I have used her little this year, I am SO glad I didn't sell!

If you are intent on wrecking your life and selling the Mac, my advice is, lots of photos, a big long spiel, and maybe even a video. Here is the video I put together especially for my add
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trN3_E3UdQ8
I got lots of interest and comments on the vid,, only problem was, I watched it myself a "few" times and couldn't sell

At the moment, I'm getting excited about a week long cruise we are planning for just after Xmas

[BOAT]

"Mac26Mpaul: "Wait a minute!! I'v just been suckered. (see Boats avatar) Dam it man, at late 60s, you're too old to be a bloody troll mate

never too old to be a troll it just comes natural to me - it seems like anytime I have an opinion people come out of the woodwork to argue with me - it's something I really like because i love to argue with people - it's fun and I make a lot of friends that way. It is frowned upon on the internet though because with written words you can't really tell if your talking to a friendly troll or a mean troll, so I am not supposed to argue on the internet. You may be right about the 26 - I really don't know - I was just making conversation. I'm glad you answered.

[BOAT]

"Mac26Mpaul: "Wait a minute!! I'v just been suckered. (see Boats avatar) Dam it man, at late 60s, you're too old to be a bloody troll mate

never too old to be a troll it just comes natural to me - it seems like anytime I have an opinion people come out of the woodwork to argue with me - it's something I really like because i love to argue with people - it's fun and I make a lot of friends that way. It is frowned upon on the internet though because with written words you can't really tell if your talking to a friendly troll or a mean troll, so I am not supposed to argue on the internet. You may be right about the 26 - I really don't know - I was just making conversation. I'm glad you answered.

I have seen that video before - it's a good one - I really like the part where the kids are down below making the dinner - it brings back my own childhood to me.

[Mac26Mpaul]

yes, one of the primary reasons we own a boat (primary reasons I originally talked the missus into letting me upgrade to the Mac anyway ) was to create some happy family memories for the kids. I think I have done that.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWIcsjpCLTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyyxZbQ_zN0

(Now I'm waiting for them to grow so I can have some happy relaxing kid free memories for me ).

[dlandersson]

I think you've done that. I STILL remember going to the beach 50 years ago at my Grandmother's house.

yes, one of the primary reasons we own a boat (primary reasons I originally talked the missus into letting me upgrade to the Mac anyway ) was to create some happy family memories for the kids. I think I have done that.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWIcsjpCLTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyyxZbQ_zN0

(Now I'm waiting for them to grow so I can have some happy relaxing kid free memories for me ).

[mastreb]

Kids are the big reason we (a) bought a boat and (b) bought a Mac. There's just nothing else in any category of boat that's big enough for our family below 33' at any price.

[Kittiwake]

Definitely agree with you the 22 will be a good seller
Definitely disagree with you that it will kill sales of the 26. .....

I agree with Mac26Mpaul that the 26 is here to stay. One major reason is '2-foot-itis': the great majority of boaters who spend significant overnight time aboard want something a bit bigger than their present boat ... and then bigger still; and the Mac 26 represents a very realistic upper size limit in terms of price, trailerability, shallow-water accessibility, ease of maintenance etc. Even if there are just two of you on board, that extra 4 feet in length (over the Tatoo 22) will be something to covet.
OK, if you are talking just wanting something to play about in during the day , returning to land at night, that's a whole different kettle of fish and any number of smaller boats become options.

Interesting that this same thread raises an old issue that most boaters periodically ask themselves: 'should we sell the darn boat and thus simplify our lives?' For me the answer is, I'd have forever kicked myself for not exploring the coast up close and personal ... and you can't charter a cruising boat for less than 2,000-3,000 dollars/week (even if you can find a suitable one to charter when and where you want it). After taking a Mac26 on a few one-week trips a year for a few years you have 'recovered' the bulk of your investment and can afford to leave it quietly on its trailer while you do other things - just playing with it when you are excited to do so. Well, at least that's what I tell myself
Kittiwake

[Mac26Mpaul]

Totally agree with that. If I were a single man, the 22 would do me fine, but otherwise the 26 is the boat.

Here, it cost somewhat more to own a boat like a Mac26 than it does in the US or Canada. Insurance, boat rego and trailer rego all up, comes out around US$1000 a year. Some non-boat people think that is expensive, but as I'v pointed out before, a single holiday in the boat pays for that easily. For instance, the first video I linked to was a one week holiday including a few days at Tangalooma resort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWIcsjpCLTU
Our entire expenditure during that trip was just under US$300 and that included our one meal at a Tangalooma resort café of hamburgers, fish and chips which cost $70. Otherwise, all food, fuel and my box of beer was included in that $300 and it gave us a family holiday we will never forget. Now if we had stayed at the resort at Tangalooma, sure it would have been a little more comfy, but it would have cost about $5000 and I don't think would have been as close a family experience.

So it only takes one decent trip in the boat a year to pay for the cost of ownership. Mind you, that $1000 is only the start really, because there is a little on maintenance, and more on presents that you buy for your boat, or spend in materials for mods, but hey, lets face it, playing with the boat is just as much fun as using it. I have spent many enjoyable hours in my boat in the backyard, playing with it (or listening to music and relaxing with a wee Scotch or Rum while pretending to work on it

[mastreb]

The cost of a boat is no more than the cost of other kinds of vacations--and no less.

When we did our big cross country trip to the East Coast last summer, it was probably about as much as one could reasonably spend on a boating vacation. It cost $2000 just in gas to tow the boat, and when all was said and done, we spent about $7000 on the vacation over the course of five weeks.

In that time we did all kinds of amazing things, met great people, and had a blast.

Had we flown to the east coast round trip and chartered a boat for five weeks, we would have been in the $11000 range--still frankly not unreasonable, and when you include the cost of the boat itself, it's a bit of a wash.

But then we get to have the boat the rest of the year, and do things like go around catalina on a whim for $500 total in gas, slips, and restaurants. That's a cheap ten days.

And we can put it in the water for a long weekend whenever we want at no additional cost whatsoever. Doing the math, including all the costs, it's still the cheapest way to get out of the house and enjoy yourself.

We've determined that the break-even cost for a second boat on the east coast for us (costs of buying, storing, reg, etc.) will require us to spend two months a year on it. This is as compared to other vacations we could do, cost of shipping our present boat, air-fare, etc. factored in. Now we just have to decide if we want to dedicate our vacations to east-coast boating vacations exclusively...

And by "we" I mean "she" of course

[March]

Funny how we try to justify a hobby by devising all sorts of rationales: I do that all the time and then I chuckle at myself: calling the boat "an investment," justifying all sorts of improvements that will presumably boost the value of the boat, calculating the expenses of an expedition beforehand and never bothering to note that the actual expenses are always higher.

Does it really matter, in the long run?

One cannot put a precise pricetag on what cannot be measured in money. And if it is measurable in money, the only bottom line is, "can I afford it, or not?" If one feels one cannot afford it, for whatever reasons, then the price is indeed too high

[mastreb]

One cannot put a precise pricetag on what cannot be measured in money.

Perfectly said. You don't expect to see that quality of wisdom on a boat forum every day.

And I shall cease to justify

[Mac26Mpaul]

Very wise indeed however intelligent, rational, objective statements aren't going to cut it with my missus because everything is valued in money to her, and she don't like spending it either Justification including cost/benefit analysis ( with my somewhat flawed math) is required if I'm to keep an expensive bloody boat that we rarely ever have time to use

[BOAT]

Trying to justify the expense of a boat is more of a human biology issue than math.
80% of the worlds population migrates to and lives by some sort of shoreline. Humans always do that. Living here in Oceanside I see hordes of people cram into town every weekend from Riverside and San Berdu and Escondido and desert points inland and I still amaze over the weekly human migration.

Read the first chapter of Moby Dick where Herman Melville describes the uncanny attraction that the shoreline has on all the landlubbers crowding the waterfront:

"Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster- tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?"
But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling And there they stand- miles of them- leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets avenues- north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?"

It's just plain human biology guys - the birds fly south in the winter and the humans crowd the water front - that's just the way it is.

As for "going to sea in ships" as it were I think Melville sums up my situation well in the very first paragraph of his tome which I have quoted here after the sentence after this one, but be it the summary for me that in the end - I am not a people person - as the crowds huddle as close as they can (on "neigh") to the sea I must go further - I must escape the huddled crowds to find peace in the vastness of the human birthplace called the ocean - (the very blood that runs through your veins is nothing more than seawater).

As I transform into a troll compelled to irritate fellow humans, Melville pegs me right to the mast:

"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."