MacGregorSailors.com

Hi there,

Found this great website recently and have spent alot of time on here and elsewhere doing research on the Macs lately. Wonderful resource you have here. I am in the market for a boat and I'm pretty confident the Mac is going to fit my families needs well. I have a wife and two children (6 and 8 ) we like to cruise the San Juans and local waters, hang out on lake Washington at St Eds( great place to anchor for a summer afternoon) And do some fishing. I have had a fair amount of boating experience mostly power. My first boat was a 17 Sparrow with a swing keel, only had it a year but it was a hoot, as the family grew it got too small so I jumped into powerboating/fishing for a couple years and had a arima16, then a Palmer defiance, and finally a Cdory22 (last boat) The last two were bought new. I loved all three boats, but we really started to enjoy time up in the Sj's on the Cdory, though it was tight!! I sold the boat last summer, as it wasn't getting used as much, gas was getting up there, and I wanted something more functional for family cruising. I actually have looked at the Macs at a couple boats shows and I remeber being really impressed, and at the time was tempted to switch my choice of boats. Oh well, this time around I think im going to go with a well cared for used vessel. So far I'm leaning towards a later model X for features and price, but you never know until you get out on one. I have limited sailing experience,and it was on a small swing keel daysailor, so I'm going to take a basic course at some point soon. I've never been on a Mac in the water so i think that is really what i'm looking to do at this point. Anyways just wanted to say hello.

Sark

Welcome Sark,
I think you have found a great place to do your research. That's where I started.

We bought our boat at BWY in Seattle. Great folks to work with and if you go down there, I'm sure they'd be glad to take you out on one of their demo boats.

It sounds like you've got some good boating experience. I grew up on boats, owned a Hunter 34, then moved here and bought a 17' Bayliner to play with but soon got bored of just motoring and missed the sailing. The Mac is a good compromise boat, it doesn't sail real well and doesn't motor real well, but for us we don't care. We're not in a rush to sail someplace and don't need to wakeboard or travel at 35 knots. It's a tender boat as it is very light for a 26 footer, but that's why it can trailer with a standard vehicle pulling it and without a special tow license. Considering it's only 26', it has a lot of room.
You should go down to BWY. They have some used boats as well. When we were there last year they had a used M and X up there.

I'm sure you will find a lot of neighbors on this site that would be glad to take you out if you asked.


--Russ

Hi Sark,
I would happily take you for a sail. I'm not far away from you, just short drive to Ballard. Let me know what time is good for you. I launch at Shillshole most of the time. If you would like you can hitch a ride with me to BWY rendezvous in Port Townsend. I will leave early morning on Thursday June 25th from Shillshole.
Ilya

Welcome Sark, I just bought a 98 in February up in Brier and have had it out twice, once out of the Kenmore slough launch and a 3 day to the San Juans. I still have a 19.5 Bayliner I/O but don't think it will get much use now except for salmon fishing. No family, so space isn't a concern. I don't know a lot about the boats but I will tell you 3 differences I see between the and - the has a little less clearance to get into aft berth, and the has the head forward with a folding door and the has an enclosed head.The :macm:s have a companionway ladder vs most :macx:s have a step which is removable. Sailing characteristics would be better left to the more seasoned Mac'ers on this site (I think the BLUE hull is slower ) and the support is pretty awesome for an owner/operator site Ask and you shall receive I looked for about a year and saw that Macs from late 90's-early 00's were running about $18-19K. Got my seller down to $12.5K with a few extras like bimini full enclosure,GPS,stereo,extra batteries with perko switch and a few other options w/ a Nissan 50. If you can swing it, now is the time to buy, given the economic times we're in . Good Luck and hope you find what you're looking for. PS: Be aware that looking at this site after you buy your Mac will make you want to do all kinds of crazy (not really) things to your boat. PPS: I would offer a ride but don't want to embarrass myself or endanger your life and if you can't sail up with violaman, drive over to Pt Townsend, BW Yachts' get-together is a 3 day event (Fri.-Sun. 6/26-6/28) and they will have about 50 Macs in the marina.

Wow, you guys are awesome,

Violaman- I would love to take you up on your offer. I generally can do most weekends and possibly midweek afternoon, this weekend I'm out of the area. And I also will be out of town at yellowstone during the PT gathering. Sounds like it would be a blast though. I will PM you?

SKideep-I definitly plan on stopping by and talking to BWY and checking out a new boat as well, I have been looking at used oned for a couple weeks and just missed a killer deal, the guy sold it to a freind who had already seen it, I was the first to respond and had priority but as soon as his freind saw he posted it he called. It was a 98 with 50 tohatsu 200 hours, great shape , bimini, head never used etc.. 10G..... I was so ready to jump on it... Oh well another will come along, I want a newer fourstroke preferably anyway.
And as to launching on the Slough...thats my back yard, I live upriver towards lake Sam. Just off Wayne golf course near the round house if you know the area.

Sark

Sark,

If you get up to Camano or points north.... I'll extend the invite also after this weekend, After being downsized last week I have a little more time to spend on the boats.

|>arren

IF you have a dock on the slough, I have probably gone by your place. Right around Wayne there, it is tough to turn the boat around, Stirs up the silt a bit. But X'sl ike the Slough.

Sark, yeah I've lost my balls in the slough (golf balls) but it's been a couple years. I am ordering new storm jib and genoa sails with new halyard lines/sheets from Kelly Hanson today or tomorrow as I am taking boat to Sequim for 4 days on the same weekend as BWY get-together (2day golf tourney at Dungeness), i will drive over to Pt Townsend and walk in to check out the boats(like I need more mod ideas). If you have not been able to do a test run on an with BWY or somebody else in the area stay in touch here. I have limited sailing experience but we could probably get you an idea of versus . I would definitely try to set up a demo sail with BWY, it would most likely be on an but they may have an on consignment. Plus you could see the differences in cabin setups.Give them a call.