Largest trailable Sailboat ?

[They Theirs]

(From Mac 26X)
We send them to our dealers throughout the world.
Dealers near our plant usually take delivery at our plant and tow them away using their own vehicles.
For more distant dealers, we load 2 MacGregor 26's (on their own trailers) into a single 48' long standard shipping container. The containers are trucked to a nearby rail yard, loaded on a container train, and taken to a rail yard near our dealer. The containers are then unloaded from the train and trucked to the dealer.
The containers are sealed during shipment, and the boats arrive neat and clean. The dealer checks them over, adds whatever extra equipment that might be requested, and delivers them to the owner. The boats were carefully designed to easily and safely fit into these standard containers.
The delivery cost is quite low compared with our competitors, and varies with the distance the containers travel. You can get an exact quote from your local dealer.
MacGregor 26's going overseas are loaded in standard 40' containers (one boat per container) and are shipped worldwide in standard container ships. For more information about exporting these boats, click on the "export" section in the index for this web site.
Sharp Marine Industries (Laura MacGregor Sharp)
Who is Sharp Marine Industries, Inc.?
We are the exclusive distributors of all MacGregor sailboats shipped outside the United States and Canada. We also cover Hawaii and Alaska. Our offices are located at the MacGregor Yacht Corporation factory in California. We are actively involved in production and design, and are able to directly communicate to the factory the needs and desires of our overseas buyers.
Sharp Marine Industries

[kmclemore]

...Things should get only better for them as long as they don't get greedy and price it out of reach for the average Joe....

That's sort of what happened when Boston Whaler started making their Harpoon line of sailboats, though it wasn't really out of greed per se. In 1982, for example, their smallest 4.6 meter daysailor cost $4295 *without sails or trailer*! The sails were another $590, and the trailer was probably around $500. Heck, for $5385 you could have bought a small car with that much cash back then. {On edit: A new Honda Accord cost only $6185 in 1981!} I won't even go into the prices for their larger boats, but you can look here to get some idea:

http://www.ruach.net/Harpoon/download/pl1982.pdf

The issue was that Boston Whaler was not willing to compromise on quality - they used Philippine mahogany for the seats and trim, Kenyon spars, 100% Harken hardware and Elvstrom bailers... that's some expensive stuff! Plus they used the same bullet-proof method of 'unsinkable' hull construction that they use on their power boats, and they also hired the most expensive racing yacht architects at the time to design the line for them. Although they ended up making a very fast, easy handling boat with rugged durability, all that ended up making the boat ridiculously expensive as well.

Unfortunately, the market for folks that wanted a really top-quality, high-performance daysailor has always been pretty thin, so they only ended up making them for about 5 years, from 1977-1982, and then the tiny demand was saturated. In the end, they produced some wonderful boats, but the market simply could not support that level of luxury for any length of time. I guess the only good thing is that they've become somewhat of a collector's item, and I can now sell my used Harpoon for more than what I bought it for!

[AWKIII]

kmclemore:

I agree with you on Boston Whaler.

I grew up in Newport, R.I. and Boston Whalers were everywhere.

On the powerboat side, the Coast Guard and Harbor Patrol used them and the yacht club had two they used as launches to shuttle folks back and forth to the mooring field. Of course, for the sport fisherman, it was THE BOAT to own. Almost a status symbol. Bottom line, they are the best designed power boats on the market and the quality is second to none.

Their sailboat line never seemed to take off, at least in our area. Again, they were pretty boats and as you said, built beautifully. There was so much competition though. O'day had a huge line of day sailors. And of course there was the Pearson Ensign. Just a marvelous boat in all respects. Trailerable, but not launchable. But they were everywhere.

I think two things hurt BW's sailboat line. There was way too much product being built and then the oil crisis just killed many of the builders as the cost of composites went through the roof.

Sadly, the industry has never recovered from the hey days of the 1970's. It was a great time to be around boats and the sport.

[Chip Hindes]

Catigale, not be be argumentative

I always get a kick when someebody starts a post in this fashion.

My favorite, however, is "No disrespect intended..." which translated means, "Pucker up, buddy, because I'm about to unload a big heaping helping of disrespect on you..."

So, no disrespect intended, but...

Boat building is like other businesses in a lot of ways. You need a good product, intelligently marketed, competitive price, low cost enough to make a profit, some customer service. Skip any one of these, or allow one to slip, and you're likely to be toasted, business-wise. The Hunters and Macgregors of the world have made it past the lean and hungry times and can afford to make some mistakes. But when you've only made 80 of something, it only takes a few missed deliveries, a few lost sales, a few poorly timed mechanical or structural failures, and you're out of business.

It's easy to say as many business experts do that you need to be adequately capitalized up front to make it through these hard times, but realistically, unless you're independently wealthy and willing to take large risks with your own wealth, you're competing for funds right alongside every other business; if the risks are perceived as too high, boom, your investors are gone to higher profits elsewhere.

Something you didn't mention, and I believe it's really important: Compared to most other businesses selling products which are basically low volume, high dollar, and despite they way many of us treat ours, boats are luxury items, nobody actually needs one. You can make an excellent product which nobody buys.

On the other matter, I believe that Macgregors' key to shipping success is that by taking the wheels and/or fenders off the trailers, blocking and jacking in a particular preplanned and designed-into-the-boat fashion, they can get not one, but two of them in a standard 40 foot shipping container.

I don't see why this would be any different with seaborne freight than with rail/truck.

Those who are proposing doing such a thing on their own: I'm not sure it was mentioned in this particular thread, but l presume you already know that Macgregor will not honor the warranty on any boat shipped overseas that does not go through their own chosen export agent, Sharp Marine (I believe owned by Roger Mac's daughter and son-in law, and why not?)

Don't know how it applies in Oz, but as I recall those who proposed shipping their own boats to Europe found that by the time they paid all the various shipping costs, insurance, fees, duties, cost of mods to make the boat CE compliant, etc, the amount to be saved was pretty paltry.

[They Theirs]

I dont know what it cost for shipping today, but a friend sends a full container to Hawaii regular. The price of everything is very expensive; he conveniently gets Island Fever, frequently traveling to the mainland for a few months to shop. Cost him about $2000 to ship, with delivery to this home. He takes the risk for damage and claims to have saved a bundle with each trip.

[Phillip]

Thank you They Theirs. That is what I needed to see. Talk about a sleepless night.
Chip: you are correct re warranties etc. They are non-existant if you don't buy from an authorised dealer in Aussie.
If you purchase from an American dealer and ship yourself, then that is called a "Grey Import". This country is swamped with them: Bayliners, Sea Rays etc, of all sizes.
As for Europe...what can you say....it has to be the land of over-compliance; over-regulation; over taxed; over everything, except production etc.
Here in Aussie,
1. the American Trailers have to be bought up to standard (Lease knows these details);
2. you pay a 10% Goods and Services Tax (on every thing...boat, shipping, all costs),
3. then you pay a further 5% Import Duty if you can not get a letter stating that the Mac26 has more than 50% American content in it.

They Theirs, I will let you know the 2nd quote for Shipping when it comes through.

Many thanks
Cheers
Phillip

[Chip Hindes]

Phillip: As long as you know what you're getting into, I wish you luck and success. It really is a pretty good boat.

I was wondering, is it possible to finance such a thing, or is that just another minor hurdle?

I was very peripherally acquainted with grey market cars here in the states nearly 20 years ago. European spec Rolls, Lambos, AMG Mercedes, souped up Beemers, etcetera, all big dollar machines which theoretically weren't available here in the states at any price. You could get an exemption from crash testing based on extremely low volume, but otherwise they had to be fully compliant with US standards, including even EPA pollution and mileage testing.

The gummint would impound them and then require a lot of cash bonds, deposits and the like before the cars ever left the dock, to prevent you from cheating and slipping a non-compliant car into the system. The cars would then be sent to the conversion shops and sometimes takes months, even years to emerge; as I recall (and understandably) the sellers in Europe demanded cash up front, and the banks wanted nothing to do with them. All strictly self financed.

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

Chip - Not to be argumentative, and no disrespect intended, but you won't get two Macs in a 40' shipping container.
You can get two in a 48' tractor-trailer, with the wheels on the trailer, but no fenders, and they are stuffed in there tighter than a bear$ a$$ running up hill in a hailstorm.
My recollection is that a shipping containers outside width and height is 8', while a tractor-trailer is 8' wide x 9' high.

[Phillip]

Bill, you must be an expert in this area.
if you don't mind telling me, from your experience,
1. am I correct in assuming you can put ONE Mac26 in a standard 40' shipping container?
2. from They-Theirs picture with one in a container, where on earth is the trailer? Is it up the front of the container.
3. when I read your web site (which I have done many many times) does a Mac26, after you have set it up, still go in the container? I guess this is how you ship them around your country.
4. is there anything anything else I should know at this stage.



Chip:
Finance isn't an issue.

There is a "proper" way of paying for goods purchased in another country. The secret is to deal with specific dealers who conform to the, what could I call it, "protocol".

About importing cars. Here in Australia an imported car has to be inspected to see it meets the local "standards". This can be expensive and can take a long time. The fact the import is probably better constructed than the local product is irrevelent. The main aim is to stop people bringing in "Grey Imports" and undermining the Local Agencies from getting their exhorbatant mark ups.


Cheers
Phillip

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

I don't recall ever being accused of being an expert before.
1) - Yes
2) - The 26M is on the trailer in it's normal position. The aft end of the trailer is shorter than the boat. You can just make out the angle-iron supports that are bolted to the rear of the trailer using the same holes that are used for the goal posts. These are lag-screwed to the deck of the tractor-trailer. The masts are shipped under the boats. The tires are blocked. Spare tires are lag-screwed to the deck of the t-t just inside the door. They'll hang a car tire, wrapped in carpet, from the starboard cleat used for tieing down the rudder blade, before they close the door.
The bow of the boat in the rear of the trailer (last in - first out) is on the left (port) side of the tractor-trailer. I install the goal posts,trailer lights, and fenders after I roll it out onto my loading dock.
The mud-flaps on the t-t on the left are APL which stands for American Presidents Line, an American shipping line.
3) - I don't ship the boats. The only way I sell them is if the customer, or someone hired by him, picks it up at my shop. I never see most of my customers until they come to pick up their boat. I never see most of them again. Occasionally I'll see one of them on the water during one of my trips.
4) - Yes. We should all try to learn something new every day

[Phillip]

Thank you for that Bill. Your responce has been very helpful and appreciated.
The shipping Agent has just this minute asked for the dimensions of the boat (the request came from the USA end) so

1. I have taken the measurements off Macs site
2. Sent along They-Theirs Photo
3. Sent along your answers.

Lets see what happens next.
Knowing my good fortune, the truck container will be half an inch or something rediculious wider than the shipping container.

I'll tell you something else I learnt a while back Bill.
An Aussie bought a Boston Whaler that was too wide for a Container, so he made a sort of slightly off-centre cradle for it, so the boat was slightly on its side, and it went in to the container as sweet as........

Thank you again
Cheers
Phillip

[Rich Walton]

If you want to know first hand how a Mac fits in a 40 container i will send you picts. I paid 5050 usd to ship my boat from Curacao to Oakland Ca.

Rich

[Phillip]

Tell me all about it Rich.
When the Shippers came back asking for dimensions etc (from USA end) I began to wonder....is there some sort of difference in width between a truck/trailer container and a Shipping Container.
If it is not too much trouble to pass on your info/experiences/photos, I would appreciate it Rich.
Thank you.
This site is certainly a wealth of good information.
Cheers
Phillip

[DLT]

tighter than a bear$ a$$ running up hill in a hailstorm.

I don't get it...Why would a bear's a$$ be particularly tight in this situation? Now, I could see if he was running downhill...wouldn't want any penetration...

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

It would depend, obviously, if the bear were in the northern, or southern, hemisphere.
In the northern hemisphere, we, and bears, go up north.
In the southern hemisphere, they, and bears, go up south.
So yes, in the southern hemisphere, you would be correct.
However, you may be thinking of the koala bear, which is not really a bear at all.
This is just my personal opinion but I think the koala bear evolved from the kohlrabi, hence the similarity in spelling.