The end of MacGregor sailboats

T

thataway

Active member
There is an article in Nov. Pacific Nor'West boating:
http://www.digital.turn-page.com/i/203700/100 Roger MacGregor has retired and is ending the long history of MacGregor sailboats. His daughter is starting a new line, with the same molds the "Tattoo 26" motor sailor, which will reach about 20 mph under power. The simple version is about $38,000 and the fully loaded version is $43,000. For $500 you can upgrade from the 60 HP to the 70 HP engine.

These sailboats ranged from a 15 feet cat to the 65 foot monohull; 20 different versions in all. At least one of our C brats owns an older MacGregor 26, and although there are short cuts taken, the boats seem to work. The 65 was a contender in the Tranpac a number of years ago.

Interesting that a 26 foot sailboat, with rigging and motor, ready to go--so to say--can be marketed for that price--substantially under the price of a C Dory 25 or 26. The price includes a VHF radio Garmin Chart plotter and Sony sterio. I know, volume of production, hull molds written off long ago.

My apology if this was already posted..I didn't see anything about this in the search function.
 
I had all the brochures, videos, and had talked to the owner about my order. He was a very nice man and he included the price of the boat with a 70 hp motor. Coming off a 32' sailboat that slept 7 and that was extremely stable I was leaning very heavily to order this boat.
One big negative about my sailboat was that it max speed was about 7 knots. I liked the RV aspect of my boat but remembered how long the trip took from NC to the NY harbor.
I decided to go see the MacGregor in person.
All of the deck hardware and fittings looked so small. The whole boat looked like a day tripper not a place to spend a rough day or night at sea.
I found the C-dory and it was everything I was looking for. Not rapid but able to make a lot of miles in one day. It was a camper and a fishing boat.
I have had the C-dory out in some good sized chop and swells and she was fast and able.
The MacGreggor is a nice lake boat and also a good day sailor or motor boat for the bay and close inshore.
After looking at both I was sold on the CD-22
 
I probably would not take a MacGregor 26 (any model) out to sea in a gale, but Roger MacGregor did take videos of a 26 in 42 knots steady gusting to 51 knots off S. Calif, in what would be described as very rough seas (I doubt the 18 feet claimed by MacGregor...)

There are many--maybe well over 100--MacGregor 26's which have gone to the Bahamas. Most likely many more than C Dory's. I do believe that the C Dory line is far better bullt than the MacGregor line is/was built. No matter what, the MacGregor 26 is a boat which has sold well, and has been in business about as long as Frank Butler's Catalina series of boats....
 
I have to agree with Lanlocked on this one. I too looked at a MacGregor 26 for a long time. I really liked the general concept and the room in a MacGregor is quite nice. However, everything seemed so flimsy i just shied away from it. If someone built a MacGregor with construction more akin to a C-Dory, I'd have another look.
 
Roger Mc built a decent cheap boat. When I first started sailing, there was a Venture 21, then a 24 and then a 25. In the San Fernando Yacht Club (as the name indicates a trailerboat club,) several racers upgraded the fittings, bought good sails and really went fast; light boat, good shape they knew how to sail. The trailers were really cheap, they won any light trailer contest.

Then he started the 26. I saw one, under sail north of Bowen Island (Vancouver BC,) looking good; I assume they must sail decently. In fact a 26 won the cruising class in the Newport to Ensenada Race, up on plane with it's 70 horse motor. They fixed that rule the following year.

He also built a trailerable catamaran (32 ft?) that I really wanted, but he quit building those before I could afford one.

But then I found Catalina. Frank Butler built a good boat cheaply that I could cruise in. Ventures/McGregors were small inside for their length.

There's still a Venture 21 sitting in a front yard around the corner from me.

Boris
 
They are the proverbial clorox bottle. But they get the intended job done. The earlier version of the 26 from mid 90's I sailed hundreds of miles mostly on demo's in 20 knots or more. People were sceptical of the water ballast so most demos were done in small craft warnings or more by customer request. I can say we never broke a thing and impressed a lot of people. Customers would find the biggest waves to jump. Noisy and rough but still hung together. One thing Roger did was put the mast far enough forward to create massive weather helm in really strong winds to force reefing sails. Impossible to sail into a knockdown, you can't hold the tiller hard enough. We happily sailed in strong winds with reefed main and jib and being all alone. Roger never wanted to drown anyone on his boats and the record of safety is strong. He did ok for a lot of families. George
 
We also checked out a MacGregor -- but wanted a more secure (but small) boat for ocean cruising -- so bought a Pacific Seacraft Flicka and loved her.Lived on her for years.
 
El and bill,

The Flika was a 20' sailboat and you're the only two people who could have lived on one. And enjoyed it. I say that in awe and amazement.

There are times Judy has trouble living with me in a 2000 sq ft house, as a reference point.

Boris
 
I really liked the 26 they had at the seattle boat show last year. I thought they were very very nice for the money, but the c-dory felt like the better 'jack of all trades' in terms of fishing, boaterhoming, etc so that's why we made our choice. I thought they looked nice though.
 
Ah Boris, the tricked out Venture 26 --I was head of the race committee way back for the Midwinters and one of the Venture 26's cleaned up the PRHR fleet. There was a controversy about some flaps over the swing keel orifice during a protest, but they won--as I remember they were from that San Fernando club. Also the boats were well sailed.
 
I learned to sail on a Venture 22 in 1968. It was a nice boat, though minimally finished out. It was fun to sail and inspired my love affair with sailing that lasted over 40-years. I put the finish of the Ventures/MacGregors with mid production Hunters and Gemini catamarans. They have survived the years well though, I see '60s and early-'70s MacGregor boats for sale fairly often. MacGregor had an impressive career. I considered one when I was trailer-sailing on lakes in Arizona in the mid '90s with two young kids. I decided on a Catalina 250 water ballast instead because Frank Butler built boats with stronger rigging that we're finished out better. I still have fond memories of sailing that Venture 22.
 
We owned a MacGregor 26x for a couple years. The ribbing I always heard: it was too much of a compromise, didn't sail well, didn't motor worth a darn. The facts: it sailed better than any powerboat, and it motored faster than most sailboats (about 17 knots on our boat). Very basic inside, ours came with an alcohol stove, a cooler that fit under one of the dinette seats, and a 5 gallon plastic jug that was the fresh water tank.

Other sailors frequently commented about the rigging being "too light." It was designed for the weight of the boat, and nothing ever broke while we owned the boat. The water ballast, for some reason, infuriated some people ("Water in water isn't ballast!"). More misinformation - the water ballast definitely works; the boat is tender initially, then stiffens up as the boat heels. Draining the ballast makes the boat much lighter for trailering. (All up, about 4,000 pounds on the trailer.)

The trailer was inexpensive: painted steel (prone to rust), single axle, also made by MacGregor. It was barely enough capacity, even with an unloaded boat. Some people added a second axle. It was designed to keep the boat low on the trailer, making it easy to launch.

In my opinion, the boat was lightly built (compared to a C-Dory); you could "oil can" the sides in broad areas. But, I know of no hull problems. Part of the problem with the boat having a reputation of being a slow sailer has to do with technique: sail it like a big dinghy and it would move. We consistently saw speeds under sail of 7 knots, with a downwind high (remember, not a traditional sailboat hull) of 11 knots. The big problem, and one I couldn't get around, was sailing into a chop... being a light weight boat, it didn't have the inertia that full keel boats have, and the chop would slow the boat. With 2 to 3' close waves, it was hard to get the speed above 3 to 4 knots. And, yes, it was a pounding.

Under power, you had to raise the rudders above 7 knots or so; this made it steer more like a flat(ish) bottom dinghy, but adding just a bit of centerboard gave better control... up to about 10 knots, when the drag from the centerboard trunk felt "squirrelly." Pull that bit of centerboard up, and it was fine. With a full water ballast tank, the best I could get, with a 50 hp Honda, was around 13 knots. With the ballast tank empty, I could get to that 17 knots mentioned above. You could empty the water ballast tank on the water by opening that tank and motoring fast.

We equipped ours with a 130 genoa, also improving the sailing. Cockpit cushions made that a comfortable place. A bigger helm wheel made it easier to steer "from the high side." A decent stereo. Some 12v power outlets.

The cabin height was adequate for us at the galley, but you had to stoop as you moved forward. An enclosed head with a porta-potty. A king size bed under the cockpit area (a bit enclosed feeling for my tastes), but we slept in the v-berth.

The worst conditions we were in with the boat occurred during a 61 mile race. Conditions at the start weren't bad (wind gusting around 20), but built to gusts over 40 midway. Sailing with the wind wasn't bad. Punching into the wind on the way back was brutal: spray, pounding, and slow going.

For the shallow water in the Laguna Madre, it was a decent boat. We frequently took it into the Gulf, as well.

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Over the years, the EPA made it tougher for Roger MacGregor to maintain production. I heard about him ending production and his daughter starting another company last year. Kind of the end of an era. His 65' boats (some 70' with a sugar scoop) were fast. His smaller boats introduced a couple generations to small boat sailing.

Our neighbor has a 36' MacGregor catamaran. His was built in 1979 and is still going strong (sailing a couple times a week). I've been on that boat a bunch. It sails great; daggerboard in each hull. Rudders connected with a steer bar. "Coffin berths" in each hull, and enough room on the tramps to hold a bunch of people (think: GIANT Hobie-type catamaran).

I think the X and M are good boats, often misunderstood. At that price, people new to sailing are drawn to the boats, since you get a lot of cabin for the money. If you learn the boat, and get comfortable with how to best sail it, it is pretty capable. I seem them frequently in the PNW, often sailing when other heavy keel boats are motoring. Some good designs for dodgers and other cockpit canvas make them more comfortable for that environment. We had a bimini on ours - kept you out of the sun, but also blocked your view of the sails. My memories of that boat are mostly fond.

Jim B.

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In Corpus Christi, a snooty sailor with a heavy 34' boat asked if we wanted to race... "Absolutely! Can we pick the course?"

"Sure."

"Here to the southern tip of South Padre Island - any way you want to go to get there." (about 130 nautical miles)

I could see him considering it: offshore or running the ICW?

I said, "Title for title?"

He didn't like that idea. I figured 15 hours at best for him, IF the conditions were perfect. I figured an hour to pull our boat out, de-rig it for trailering, and rinse everything with fresh water. An hour for a nice leisurely lunch. 4 hours to trailer the boat to the ramp at SPI. Another hour to leisurely rig the boat, then a short jaunt to the southern tip of the island. (6 1/2 hours total)

Different usage. :wink:
 
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