Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 22 by Kent Mitchell

Year built	1976
Location of boat	Trailered, Vancouver, WA
The boat is sailed on	Rivers
How the boat is used	Racing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2004
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Sure. It's a good boat for the price. Good first learning boat for cruising...
Gear that's been added	Hadn't been used too seriously before our purchase.. added a lot that should have been there. Battery, 6 switch elec panel, bilge pump, depth finder, window in the 140 genny, spinnaker pole, various small things and changed some of the deck/running hardware to make the sail handling more manageable
Structural or complex improvements	had to reset almost all the deck hardware. Removed and inspected the keel - hull and keel slot. Changed out the keel winch. Total rewire.
The boat's best features	Price, ease of setup and take out for trailering. Mostly, just a good easy trailer sailer at an entry level price.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	A previous owner must have drug keel "hard" with the keel lock pin in and it cut a slot in each side of the hull about 7-8" long... it's above the water line so we're waiting til winter to repair it... does get a bit of water in the bilge and we don't sail any where near the point of risking a knock down for fear that the keel would flop back into the slot. Forestay came unscrewed while running fast downwind.. (an amatuers lesson learned - monel wire to be used every time)Mostly, the problems have been due to a learning curve about bigger & older boat sailing
Sailing characterisitcs	Columbia river sailing... strong and erratic currents. manageable winds. Lots of hazards including other boats. This boat is one of the slower boats out there but also more forgiving than most I've seen. a bit squirrly... doesn't hold direction too well - probably because of the bottom design. (Fairly flat bottom with a narrow but long keel)Main sail handling is awkward at best. Raising and lowering with any wind at all requires 2 people. Also main sheet rigging is a bit of an odd design with it being right at the stern of the boat - gets in the way and can tangle with the tiller - but it works
Motoring characterisitcs	Seems to motor good with an '82 8 hp Johnson OB. It appears that the Gas tank placement was never in the design planThe swing keel makes it convenient for beaching but the rudder needs to be pulled up too.
Liveability	Ok for 2 people overnite... definitly not a live -aboard. Good little boat for short cruises. We've slept 4 but one was a small kid..Pop top makes it nicer.. can sail with it up but we generally won't do it with the cover on. Wish we had some kind of small mini galley. Have a "porta potty" built in but it sets a bit too high so is really tough for anyone taller than 5'.No storage spaces planned into the design but there are several open areas to use.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	bought directly from an owner
Other comments	nice little boat for inland sailing.. rigging, sails and such are too light to even consider crossing the bar even for a short day sail off the coast

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