Was at the boat show set up yesterday and it was great to see a pristine new MacGregor 26M arriving on its trailer just as we were leaving.
It was great to see the the Mac represented at the show after a few years abscence. The world's best selling power sailor needs to be seen in the UK !I will certainly go see the new Mac and have a chat to the importers.
Very excited as I will be helping my pal Roger from World marine at the show with the lovely Yarmouth 23 http://www.yarmouth23.co.uk/yarmouth23.html . If you are at the show, don't forget to come and see us on berth M347.
It would be great to meet some Mac fans, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be sailing now.
I can remember my first MacGregor boat seen, and it was at the Houston Boat Show, many years ago. I and the Admiral climbed aboard. We liked what I saw. I had no idea that years later I would own a Mac 26C (the older classic), and now a Mac 26X.
I've been grateful since, and feel convinced, the MacGregor X or M, and even the older C, (classics), are the best boat for the buck available if one is searching for a sail boat (or a dependable motor boat). The factory video of this boat is also, very convincing.
Much has been said about the versatility of this boat, which amazingly, all is correct. It'll go almost anywhere if you have at least 12 - 18 inches of water.
It's a keeper. And, ALSO, the friendliest and nicest folks own MacGregors (but, anyway, that's my observations).
Totally agree Louis, I do find it Incredible that all the MacGregor owners I have met without exception are friendly, knowledgeable, enthusiastic types who not only talk the talk they have walked the walk!
I briefly looked at a Super Seal sailing yacht in the UK. Seemed just right for me but getting it to the USA was problematical. They have some real pretty boats over there. Also loved some production gaff cutter at nearly 40 grand. Thought about buying one of those and sailing it back. No headroom in that particular boat though.
The layout of the boat linked to in the original post of this thread has what I consider to be the best layout for ocean cruising.
The macs have a layout better suited to somewhere you won't be getting drenched continuously with salt water. Parked on a secluded beach in a tidal estuary would be my preference
Well, I did eventually find the Macgregor at the Southampton Boat Show. I had walked right past it once! It was tucked up in the RIB section and although it had its' mast up and some banners flying off it, somehow it just didn't show up on my radar, or many other peoples either apparently. The Director of the importer, Pacific Marine, seemed like a nice friendly guy, but to my mind, seemed to lack the essential enthusiasm for the boat, but maybe that was just his general character.
When Macgregor were exporting directly to the UK a few years ago, their guy at Falmouth, Richard Hallowes was brim full of enthusiasm for all things Macgregor, and rumour has it that he used to sell at least one boat a day from a show like that, of course that was in the good ole days of plenty.............I fancy the world recession was the reason they stopped importing directly into the UK and appointed an agent. I don't think that many new Macs have been sold here for a year or two, which is a shame, it would be interesting to know what the numbers are now. Are Macs still selling well in the States?
The belief is that Macgregor has consistently sold every boat produced, and is actually capped in production by local regs at his facility. Thus there is little incentive to market the boat to up sales, since he would have to move production to do this.
Maybe Rodger could come up with a beam under/or equal to 8.5 ft in a 26 that would be great for US. I think the main reason for him to build a narrow beam was for the box cars for over seas shipping.
I would even like a harder chine like the Mac.19 in the Mac.X.
Also have headroom for 6 ft.
Rodger is a shorty and I am sure he design the Mac. X or M for His height.
Dave
Catigale wrote:The belief is that Macgregor has consistently sold every boat produced, and is actually capped in production by local regs at his facility. Thus there is little incentive to market the boat to up sales, since he would have to move production to do this.
Catigale wrote:The belief is that Macgregor has consistently sold every boat produced, and is actually capped in production by local regs at his facility. Thus there is little incentive to market the boat to up sales, since he would have to move production to do this.
Move to China?
A Mac with a Junk rig, there's a thought.....................
I too have heard that production is resin limited (from Mike Inmon). While that's likely true, it is also true that there's no problem getting a boat and no waiting list, which means that production is actually sales limited and the factory is good at being "just-in-time" regarding production. They're producing at a rate of about 25% of what their factory capacity is and probably about half of what their resin limit is, which bespeaks a global drop-off in demand due to the economy and increased competition in the market segment more than anything else. The similar Corsair trimaran business has basically been destroyed by these factors--that factory has been moved to Vietnam and is a ghost of its former glory. It's difficult to impossible to get one of those boats here now.
If sales shot up for some reason, their best bet in my opinion would be to move production to Rosarito, MX, which is just 90 minutes south of their current factory and suffers from no resin limitations. Labor would not be as cheap as China, but it would be vastly easier and less expensive to control quality and to back-import the boats to the U.S. overland on a boat-by-boat basis. NAFTA also helps control tariff costs compared to China, and overall it should be cheaper to produce a trade item of this size in Mexico. The Costa Mesa factory could then be put to use producing the 70-foot boat, where sales limits will be way lower than resin limits.
My opinion is that Roger is at retirement age and he's just going to keep running the factory in place as is, basically retired, and likely pass it on to his kids in the future to do with as they see fit. He is currently working on the 70 foot boat architecture, which is frankly a hobby endeavor rather than a volume business.
A yacht builder is a very difficult business to sell to a competitor, since they can simply design their own similar boat, and unless you're getting the naval architect with the factory you're just buying a brand, a warehouse, and a set of molds. These days with large-scale CNC and 3D printing of molds, the tooling cost to build a hull is much lower than it was even a decade ago. So without Roger himself, there's little in the way of intrinsic value to a buyer other than brand, which is very difficult to value.
The design is well suited to its market and there is little in the way of major improvements that would improve utility without dramatically increasing cost, so there's little reason to do a re-design of the 26 foot boat. There's also no reason to re-design the boat when a new design isn't going to sell better than the current design due to global economic and competitive factors--unless the design was revolutionary in some important way as some previous models have been. The trailer sailboat was innovative. The centerboard/daggerboard and lifting rudders were revolutionary. The water ballast was so revolutionary that it's still not entirely accepted. It would take an invention as revolutionary and important to ease-of-use as these to make a new model sell well. I think there may be something in a heavier dagger-board/bulb-keel that acts as a counterweight to a mast that swivels up on an A-frame pulpit that might be convenient and innovative enough to drive new sales, but there is no way that would be less expensive than the current boat.
The M does not sell as well as the X did, largely because there are now many other trailer sailor's aping the X design on the market, and that has to be a huge disincentive to further design changes.
In my opinion, won't see another model of this boat until there's a new architect and some new technology to integrate. In some ways that's kind of a sad analysis, but on the other hand it means that current models will hold their value for a long, long time.
The unconfirmed rumor was that regs on VOC emissions for Orange county capped the amount of resin they could handle to limit production at400 boats per year
I had not heard they were down to 100 boats per year. I doubt this is true since based on competiive pressures. We could easily confirm this with event serial numbers of course.
It's not just "sales shooting up" - but demand signficantly increasing for a sustained period. Nice overall analysis. I personally think the next design breakthru will be a "pop-up" Mac26N - like a pop-up camper. You can either sail it or go camping.
mastreb wrote:If sales shot up for some reason, their best bet in my opinion would be to move production to Rosarito, MX, which is just 90 minutes south of their current factory and suffers from no resin limitations.
Catigale wrote:The unconfirmed rumor was that regs on VOC emissions for Orange county capped the amount of resin they could handle to limit production at400 boats per year
I had not heard they were down to 100 boats per year. I doubt this is true since based on competitive pressures. We could easily confirm this with event serial numbers of course.
Yes, sales would have to be a "business changing event" before you'd make a move, any short term increase would just smooth out.
My guess is that they are currently building 250 per year--about one per day. According to their public sales information, they were building four boats per day, or 1000 per year, in the heyday of the X. Based on the fact that 35K boats have been sold to day with the MacGregor nameplate, the annual production average would be 800 per year, but we don't really know what the curve over that period looks like.
In any case, until there's a waiting list for boats, resin limits are not limiting sales. Perhaps they did before the economic downturn, which would seriously impact a business, but they aren't currently.
I was told that Macgregor can only pruduce one boat a day due to Ca. envoriment protection. This has been last 2-3 years. Currect me if I am wrong.
Polyester Resin / verses other resins .(this could make a way for boat builders to comply, but cost would be higher)
Dave
mastreb wrote:I too have heard that production is resin limited (from Mike Inmon). While that's likely true, it is also true that there's no problem getting a boat and no waiting list, which means that production is actually sales limited and the factory is good at being "just-in-time" regarding production. They're producing at a rate of about 25% of what their factory capacity is and probably about half of what their resin limit is, which bespeaks a global drop-off in demand due to the economy and increased competition in the market segment more than anything else. The similar Corsair trimaran business has basically been destroyed by these factors--that factory has been moved to Vietnam and is a ghost of its former glory. It's difficult to impossible to get one of those boats here now.
If sales shot up for some reason, their best bet in my opinion would be to move production to Rosarito, MX, which is just 90 minutes south of their current factory and suffers from no resin limitations. Labor would not be as cheap as China, but it would be vastly easier and less expensive to control quality and to back-import the boats to the U.S. overland on a boat-by-boat basis. NAFTA also helps control tariff costs compared to China, and overall it should be cheaper to produce a trade item of this size in Mexico. The Costa Mesa factory could then be put to use producing the 70-foot boat, where sales limits will be way lower than resin limits.
My opinion is that Roger is at retirement age and he's just going to keep running the factory in place as is, basically retired, and likely pass it on to his kids in the future to do with as they see fit. He is currently working on the 70 foot boat architecture, which is frankly a hobby endeavor rather than a volume business.
A yacht builder is a very difficult business to sell to a competitor, since they can simply design their own similar boat, and unless you're getting the naval architect with the factory you're just buying a brand, a warehouse, and a set of molds. These days with large-scale CNC and 3D printing of molds, the tooling cost to build a hull is much lower than it was even a decade ago. So without Roger himself, there's little in the way of intrinsic value to a buyer other than brand, which is very difficult to value.
The design is well suited to its market and there is little in the way of major improvements that would improve utility without dramatically increasing cost, so there's little reason to do a re-design of the 26 foot boat. There's also no reason to re-design the boat when a new design isn't going to sell better than the current design due to global economic and competitive factors--unless the design was revolutionary in some important way as some previous models have been. The trailer sailboat was innovative. The centerboard/daggerboard and lifting rudders were revolutionary. The water ballast was so revolutionary that it's still not entirely accepted. It would take an invention as revolutionary and important to ease-of-use as these to make a new model sell well. I think there may be something in a heavier dagger-board/bulb-keel that acts as a counterweight to a mast that swivels up on an A-frame pulpit that might be convenient and innovative enough to drive new sales, but there is no way that would be less expensive than the current boat.
The M does not sell as well as the X did, largely because there are now many other trailer sailor's aping the X design on the market, and that has to be a huge disincentive to further design changes.
In my opinion, won't see another model of this boat until there's a new architect and some new technology to integrate. In some ways that's kind of a sad analysis, but on the other hand it means that current models will hold their value for a long, long time.
