MacGregorSailors.com

Hello everyone, i have recently joined this forum but have been a reader for a long time 3+years, i have always wanted a boat to go cruising on my local lake (lake murray s.c.) thought about and almost bought a 21' cuddy cabin cruiser but at 5000 lbs and a 350 inboard with a 70 gallon fuel tank and a nissan pathfinder tow vehicle it wasnt feasible. So my questions are why do people bash this boat? is it because its easily trailable? can cruise at a moderate speed under power? and 5 to 7 knots under sail if im not mistaken? sounds great to me. i'm not financially able to buy a boat untill 4 or 5 years from now and i'm doing research. i have a newborn baby and want to be able to spend time with him and my wife on the water, are these the boats for me? p.s. I'm partial to the x's interior. I have lmited boating experience ranging from jon boats with a strong river current in the congaree river in s.c. (no problem) bass boats in lake Murray. and a particular outing in a pontoon boat in lake Murray where i was asked to load the boat on the trailer in a t storm 3' swells on the lake pretty nasty for our parts. So im wandering is this the boat for me? i hope it is is there anyone in my area that could show me and my wife their boat? These boats seem so great i do not see what the downside is i know i cant cross oceans in it but thats not what im looking for in a boat i'm a blue collar guy looking for family fun with an affordable price tag. Thank you in advance to everyone on this forum and happy sailing. P.S. i have never sailed i ask about taking a class at a lake murray club and they simply turned their noses up at me and said they offer classes for children. I only hope this was a local snobbish thing and this activity isn't that hard to get into. Thanks, Jamie

That must have been a local snobbish thing? It's not hard to learn to sail - - - especially on a Mac. Before I bought my M, I had owned powerboats all my life, but had never set foot on a sailboat until I took a demo ride - - - that finally sold me. I had been looking at Macs for 15 years but never pulled the trigger!

Wind up was I sailed my Mac out of Marina Del Rey over 250+ times a year for three years. It's a pretty neat, very versatile boat - - - and very easy to sail!

Rick Less

Jamie79 wrote:... i have never sailed i ask about taking a class at a lake murray club and they simply turned their noses up at me and said they offer classes for children. I only hope this was a local snobbish thing and this activity isn't that hard to get into. Thanks, Jamie

So kick him in the tiller and call him a boogerhead!

Or...check out this Introduction to Sailing Program or contact their Club Mentors.

Welcome aboard!

As a boat it is difficult to fault.

Loads of little details can be improved to the owners taste which keeps them affordable.

I've heard of Macbashers, I think they're folk in little cliques who feel threatened by being outdone.. 'I've spent a fortune on my Superfast sail boat therefore I'm better than you because you've got bad windage[[and cabin headroom]] and cheat with that [[delicious]] huge engine on the back and I've got to pay a fortune to keep my boat on the water n anti-fouled etc etc....
They got to justify to their admirals the amout of resources blown on their p**** extensions after all

You don't need to know how to sail to go out on a mac... power out, put a sail up n see what happens

Enjoy.. I reckon you'll be chuffed to bits when you start making some distance on your own under sail!

Sailboats tilt easily, and the Mac, even more. People who are used to the stability of powerboats may be ill at ease on a sailboat. Since you have no sailing experience, I would first recommend you get out on a sailboat (as a passenger) of any type in order to see if this is something you would enjoy. Try listing your location to see if there is anyone on this board who is close to your location. Sailing and power boating are not the same, and you really need to see if sailing is something that you and your wife are comfortable with. If sailing is for the both of you, then you will not go wrong with a Mac.




Ray

If you want a Demo Sail, on a Mac, from any member of this board then just post that you have a very well stocked liquor bar & a frig. full of beer. You'll be amazed at the offers you'll receive. In fact I can see Ray (Nice Aft) is packing his gear already ! I'd come down but Ray has a 2 1/2 hr. headstart on me. :

Frank L.

Jamie,

I think the "worst" thing about the MacGregors, from my viewpoint as a MacGregor sailor, is that they are a bit more tender ("tippy") than a more traditional sailboat with a heavy lead keel. Ray's painting illustrates this pretty well. You can handle this by being ready to reef your sails when the wind gets heavier, and release them quickly in a sudden gust.

The "worst" thing about these boats, from the viewpoint of the non-Mac sailor, is that we get a lot more boat for the money AND that a Mac can do things that "Captain Crunch" wouldn't even be able to contemplate. The Mac is also one of the most "care-free" boats out there, with no teak "brightwork" to keep varnished and very simple systems all around. She lives happily on a trailer, and she's very easy to launch and retrieve; I can lower and secure tha mast in an hour, haul her 500-plus miles in a day, sleep on board in a truck stop or a Wal-Mart parking lot, and be in the Florida Keys before Cap'n Crunch and his Admiral have sailed to Norfolk, VA.

Ray makes another important point - get out sailing before you put any money into a sailboat. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find someone on Lake Murray (or even Lake Marion, though it may be farther from your home) who would take you out sailing.

As for that Lake Murray "Yacht Club," they sound like the worst kind of snobs. Moon 'em as you drive past.

I got started with a book. Buy a "Sailing for Dummies" or some other "Learning to Sail" type book. Then look for an ASA course or something similar...maybe not at your local lake. The Mac is great...give it a try. Don't worry about the snobs

And here is the original photo from Ray's great painting...



Good Luck.

Cheers,
Jim

So my questions are why do people bash this boat?

Because they dont own one and/ or it doesnt conform to there personal standard of a sailboat.

It is what it is and it does what its supposed to do very well.

I'm the only beautiful blue hulled 26M in my marina and people regularly ask me if they can take a picture of it and have a look inside.

The power boat guys all think it looks good and the sailor guys ou and ah aver the 50 hp Honda and the mast raising system. When I haul it out of the water and the last few gallons of water come gushing out of the ballast tank I tell them I had to take it out cause it was sinking
Q1

p.s. The best thing about the MacGregor is that it is inexpensive to maintain. My dock buddies have to roll out thousands of dollars everytime they have to do something I haul out hundreds. Thats a big difference. They just didn't believe me when I said that my new main sail cost me 250$.

Jamie,
As a relatively new owner of a (April 09), let me second the earlier observations about what a great boat the Mac is. The ease of sailing the Mac and ability to move from one body of water to another are great. The Admiral and I looked at several brands of trailerable sailboat, and none compared to the interior layouts and brilliant use of space down below. [The Admirial was sold on the boat when she saw the interior relative to other makes!] If you still doing research, let me recommend a book to you. Sailing Big on a Small Sailboat by Jerry Cardwell is a great resource on what to expect and look for in a small sailboat. He also has a section that describes seven common trailerable boats (including the Mac). Bottom line: we are super pleased with our Mac. Best of luck! Randy

I love our Mac, but we didn't start with it. We first went as guests on a small sailboat, found out we really loved sailing, then bought a 24' sailboat with a brand new trailer and new sails. We moved up to a Mac because we wanted more interior space. There are lots of trailerable sailboats on Craigslist that are 24' or less and cost only a couple thousand dollars--even less! Make sure you get one with good sails and a motor that runs well and you can hardly go wrong. You can sail it for a few years while you are saving for your Mac. Then, you can sell it for about what you have in it and have a bit of money to go towards the Mac. You also have some real experience sailing a smaller boat. I think our little 24' boat was easier to sail than the Mac--the mast was lighter and easier to raise. The 500# keel made it less tippy and the wind didn't blow the sleeker body around much. Once you can afford a Mac, though...there is no comparison. The Mac is so comfortable and roomy and the big motor takes away most worries.
Good Luck.

SILK

If power-boating is your thing, you will find that rigging a Mac is a major pain. You can be on the water in 10 minutes with a power boat. In a Mac, you will need to spend 45 minutes to 2 hours (depending on how many extras you have to rig) to get the boat ready to launch, and the same amount of time to break everything down after you haul out. For those who primarily wish to sail, this is an acceptable chore. For those who keep their boats on the water full time and occasionally haul out for a special trip to other locales, it works out well too. But the the key is; do you want to sail the boat? If not, the time and hassle to rig all the sailing stuff just isn't worth it. Some on this site use their Macs as a power boat and just remove the mast and rigging altogether. Of course, you need a place to store it. As others have pointed out, see if you and your significant other enjoy sailing. If you do, the Mac is an excellent choice. If not, get a power boat.

PS. Jim, Love that photo and painting!

Leon

I agree with Leon that if you don't want to sail, get a power boat. It is easier to control my son's 26' powerboat than the Mac. The real beauty of the Mac, though, is that one weekend, we leave the mast and sails at home and explore the Mississippi river as a powerboat, and the next one we can take a sail on one of our pretty Missouri lakes. The guys with the big Keels are stuck on the lake where they are docked, sailing back and forth on the same water. We met a guy when we were in the Apostle Islands that had a keel boat on a lake back in Colorado. He wanted to sail so badly we took him and his son out in our Mac for a day sail to see some sea caves. You could tell that he was really beginning to understand what it meant to own a Mac. The Mac is so USEFUL!
SILK

What's wrong?

The Purists hate the fact that it will motor fast.

The sailors hate that you can actually run faster than a sailboat.

The motorboaters hate it cause its a sailbote.

Mostly they hate it cause it's different from what they believe is the right way to sail.