MacGregor 26M Boat Moulds

[Russ]

Interesting post Kadet.

Sorry BOAT, he's right, an inventor is the first to conceive the idea. An innovator may take ideas and run with them which is what Roger did. But that's not invention. See patent office.

[BOAT]

PHPHPHTTPHPT!

[kadet]

PHPHPHTTPHPT!

Yeah cause Mercedes is having so much trouble selling cars, and Dehler stop making boats in oh hang on Dehler are still making boats. Sorry BOAT who is making Macgregor's now?

Without the DOERS in the world all the great ideas just end up as passing play toys for rich people and eventually fade away into nothing. There is a LOT of that out there. There are thousands of great ideas for mouse traps but only a few that ACTUALLY WORK.

Then by that definition the prize goes to Hartley
http://www.trailer-sailer.com/

PowerSailer will have to go to Rodger I think the M19 was the first, but I could be wrong

[Mac26Mpaul]

Whats the defintion of Power sailer then? Jarcats have been around for a while and I was told they do about 15 knots with a 25 on the back, pretty dam fast under sail I beleive too!
http://www.jarcatmarine.com

Some of Rogers marketing claims were a bit off, that "fastest sailboat" thing always makes me cringe when I watch the Mac 26 video (yes I'v watched it lots of times ) but I think most of us here are in the know as far as, he did the whole lot in one package better than it has ever been done before by any boat builder and clearly quite a few others have tried to cash in on his design with nowhere near the success

I have thought about selling my boat twice (even put it on the market and had acceptable offers), but when push comes to shove, I chicken out, because I simply havn't yet found a boat that suits my and my families needs right now, like the Mac 26 power sailor - and if you happen to read this forum Roger, thanks a heap mate, I bloody love my Mac

[kadet]

ouch sorry Rodger you don't even get that one

The J6 boasts the ability to carry a 25hp outboard for speeds up to 18knots! You would be surprised how handy that is. The suggested 8hp Tohatsu drove the J6 to 11 knots and the J5 to 13 knots. Alternatively a 3.5hp long shaft outboard is sufficient power. When travelling you may use the JARCAT 5 or 6 just as you would a caravan.

But I still love my

[Mac26Mpaul]

there ya go, here is a couple that cruised the whitsundays in the Jarcat they bought for $100
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LHgXns_II

Provided the wife finishes her latest degree next year, we are planning on a 4 week Whitsundays cruise. Although I confess I think the Jarcat would be a lot of fun , I'm still CERTAIN our Mac will be a far better boat for us to cruise the Whitsundays in

[BOAT]

All I have to say about that is: Oh Yeah!? Okay, so maybe nothing was invented in the US, we have only been around for 200 years ya know, all you other guys have been around for many centuries. So poo poo on me. Anyways, I'm just glad that people all over the world like the boat, I don't feel so ignorant for liking the boat if I am in international company - SEE! Maybe I'm not so dumb after all! (or not - it's still an open question)

As for the molds, it seems the first thing everyone eliminates is the raccoon stripes. They don't seem to mess with the real working part of the hull, just the top. Another nod to Roger.

And another thing, the MAC is the ONLY sailboat with the double raccoon stripes. Why does everyone want to make the MAC look like every other boat? I don't get it.

The real disadvantage of the raccoon stripes is that it makes it hard to walk the deck. Traditional boat design puts the cabin inset near the center of the boat so there is a 2 foot walk way along the side of the cabin to get to the front of the deck. (The BOW, and you would say). The raccoon stripes go all the way to the edge of the hull so there is no place to walk alongside the cabin. That's the only issue I have with raccoon stripes. Changing the molds is a non issue because the boat is perfect just the way it is in regards to the major large mold components.

I guess it's like Gun Powder to the Chinese, Vegemite to the Australians, or Volkswagons to the Germans, what ARE the origins of the trailerable sailboat?

(I have a Mercedes Sprinter, a VW Jetta, a BMW 740il, and a DODGE). What does THAT mean??

[Russ]

As for the molds, it seems the first thing everyone eliminates is the raccoon stripes.... The MAC is the ONLY sailboat with the double raccoon stripes. Why does everyone want to make the MAC look like every other boat?

Because they look stupid with 2 rows. Like the ugliest boat ever made, the 70s era Buccaneer. The Mac X looks more traditional than the M's 1970s Star Wars storm trooper stripes.

They don't seem to mess with the real working part of the hull, just the top. Another nod to Roger.

How would one go about modifying the hull? I'd prefer a wider entry like the X in the transom. Maybe square off the aft corners a bit.
Oh yea, Currie did a cool mod to the hull.

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 0&start=45

Roger wasn't an inventor any more than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs who both stole ideas from CP/M and Xerox.
I find it interesting that: "MacGregor Yacht Corporation began in the early 60's as a class project at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, while Roger MacGregor was earning an MBA degree."
It was wildly successful and he sold tens of thousands of them. Probably because of many factors: Price point, trailerablitiy, economy, market....and luck. He had a fantastic run with those boats and most are still being used today.

BOAT, we know you are Roger's biggest fan. You need a special T-Shirt or something. We all owe him for creating what he did and we love our boats. But he's not a genius inventor. He was an innovator and good at it. Was able to see ideas and implement them into a market that receive them well.

Paul, little chance Roger will see your post. From what I can tell, he's not tech savy with these things. His website is written in Frontpage 98....98! [<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">]
Laura is however. Her website is in Wordpress and looks 21st century.

The 26M hull is a good starting point. Now add a modern deck and decent interior......

[BOAT]

I have met some of the guys who owned the boat plants in Costa Mesa back in the old days, Whitney Peden, (sailed Mexico with Whitney), who owned Coastal Rec and Frank Butler, (Coronado Yachts), whom I met later in life when I was selling programmable controls for Westinghouse Electric. (Frank had a machine shop). Later Frank started a really big sailboat company. Frank knew my dad more than me. I only had a passing meeting with him about fabrication but he remembered my dad real well, like so many other people did in the industry. The folks at the Hobie shop here are nice, SERIOUS, but nice. They were all nice guys. And then there were the shapers, because of my family I met a LOT of the great shapers. Back in the day before CAD and DOS and computers hydronautic design was an art of trial and error. Your SHAPERS made all the great innovations. A hull or plane was SHAPED, and then TESTED. That's how all the great hulls of the past were 'discovered'. Then guys like Peter Barret would flesh out the numbers with math and if it all checked out - you created A MOLD!

Roger was always sort of portrayed as stuck up or snotty by all the other guys that had boat shops, and since I have never had much contact with Roger I have no way of knowing if they were right or not. Maybe they were just jealous, I don't know, but I can tell you all the other guys I met building boats in Orange County and San Diego were really really nice guys who were real nice to me. Whitney was a real nice guy, sort of scatterbrained, but nice. But they all seemed to lose the original concept, the beauty of the SHAPE. They all compromised their initial vision to accommodate the realities of math and production and "slip and glide" and all the other touch words those Naval architects use to beat your design back into a textbook model of what everyone else if already building. (Been there DONE THAT)

I like Roger because he has a vision and he sticks with it. Like it or not, it's HIS vision, it's what HE likes - the 70 footer is a clear statement that Roger is not going to be deterred from his original vision of what a sailboat should look like - so you guys can mess with the molds all you want to fit what is 'popular' but the guy who is the most successful just seems to keep pumping out boats the way HE wants them to look!

What all the other builders were missing was a VISION. I can't tell one from the other. Why not just use THEIR old molds? What's the difference?

[Russ]

the 70 footer is a clear statement that Roger is not going to be deterred from his original vision of what a sailboat should look like

I know, wrong thread, but what is the status of the 70? I need to find Mike's thread.

[dlandersson]

Is the thread going off into the wild blue yonder...?

The 26M hull is a good starting point. Now add a modern deck and decent interior......

[dlandersson]

Is the thread going off into the wild blue yonder...?

I have met some of the guys who owned the boat plants in Costa Mesa back in the old days, ...

[BOAT]

Right, I need you guys as my AP or I go off course.

So, about the molds. Has anyone figured out who has the molds? Maybe another boat company can take over the molds and start producing 26 foots boats again? Is that possible? Is that where this is going?

[Russ]

Right, I need you guys as my AP or I go off course.

So, about the molds. Has anyone figured out who has the molds? Maybe another boat company can take over the molds and start producing 26 foots boats again? Is that possible? Is that where this is going?

I wish I lived in Oz and knew a thing or two about fiberglass.

[BOAT]

I do too Russ, I think it would be great if one of you guys got the molds and started a small shaper shop doing one boat a month like they did in the olden days. A hand crafted 26 slightly customized to meet the customers desires would fetch a pretty good wage for a months work. They all don't have to be exactly alike when you build them like that, and you can focus on the hard core customers that are willing to pay bigger bucks for a MAC cuz that's what they want. It's a one of a kind boat - and to a smaller customer base it could be very profitable.