MacGregorSailors.com

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/sinking.htm

Thought I'd pass this on to you....no longer an X owner but I lurk here once in awhile....

Jim and I bought an Adventure Craft...started the Great Loop and sunk it in NC... after reading all the info on this site... I believe more and larger bilge pumps would have saved our boat. The whole thing makes sense...even some stuff I read about sailboats..LOL

Read the battery section also..

Really sorry to hear that, Idle.
Hope you find another wat-RV soon.

Thanks for that.

I am guilty on one count in that list - my battery switch does indeed cut off the bilge pump. However, as I'm a trailer sailor, and the boat's never in the water overnight unless I'm sleeping in it (and in which case the battery switch is 'on'), I'm not too worried.

I did the same, Kevin with the following rationale.

I would prefer to have a system to cut off all juice to everything, to mitigate electrical fire risk, than to mitigate the risk of sinking due to bilge pump failure. This is driven by the identical usage pattern of course - I dont leave the boat unattended on the water for more than half a day.

Do you guys consider there is a serious risk leaving a Mac afloat without automatic bilge pumps?

It seems to me that Roger is a better boat designer than many of the examples on that web site, and I don't think Mac's suffer from those kind of horrors.

I just have a couple of small pumps which require plenty of manual intervention at the moment to use. My bilges collect a bit of rainwater, but not much.

My boat's moored, but more by accident than design! My plan is to keep it on the trailer, but I have a mooring because the ramp is currently inaccessible, so this is a short-term thing hopefully. (Having the pontoon is nice and convenient, but I don't have any bottom paint, so I'm sure it's getting nicely fouled up. )

Personally, I can't see any serious probability of the boat getting swamped while moored. Or is there

Cheers, Rick

By design, the Mac is much less likely to fill up and sink - with no-through hulls being the single most important thing. I cruised for 5 years with no bilge pumps. I then woke up at 3am with two kids on board and 18 inches of water in the cabin. I installed pumps shortly thereafter.

KHE

what caused the 18" of water in boat?

have had our Mac for 9yrs and the only water I get in the bilge is fresh water from leaking chain plates or a console grab bar seal, so only a few inches at any time.

Kelly Hanson East wrote:By design, the Mac is much less likely to fill up and sink - with no-through hulls being the single most important thing. I cruised for 5 years with no bilge pumps. I then woke up at 3am with two kids on board and 18 inches of water in the cabin. I installed pumps shortly thereafter.

Indeed, it's almost surely never going to 'sink' by virtue of the built-in flotation. Flood... yes, that's very possible... but not sink!

Corrosion failure of compression post was the culprit. Complete thread is in his Forum...Ill find link and post it.

The failure

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... 62&start=0

...and the repair

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... c&&start=0

I posted that site since it has so much good info...and reasons why smaller boats sink....I'm reading it with a much different eye than you....our boat sank....probably due to bilge pumps that were too small and none in the outer hulls......It was NOT a MacGregor 26X......and I didnt mean to worry anyone...but in the article he mentions that sailboaters sometimes forget the importance of bilge pumps...he also has some good articles on batteries and corrosion.

Don't get me wrong - I appreciated the posting and link, and enjoyed reading it - I'm just saying that the way I use *my* Mac, I'm fortunately out of danger with that. Your mileage may vary.

I believe in bilge pumps also, I have one and plan on another although I have been fortunate. I found about a cup of water in mine after a snow storm where the snow was blowing sideways a few days ago.

The boat is still next to the garage.

Sorry about the boat, thanks for the article.

I've been reading this with interest--we have a small bilge pump, but I'm not sure it was installed well. The wires that connect it to the battery would clearly be under water once the float switch was triggered, and in fact the wire from the pump connects to another wire (with electrical tape) a few inches from the pump itself. Do you think this will actually work if the wires are under water?