Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 22 by Thomas

Year built	1976
Location of boat	Ventura, CA
The boat is sailed on	Open ocean
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2005
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Overall, probably yes, but having owned her for a few months, I have a better idea of what the weaknesses are and the strengths are. Might have gone for a slightly larger Mac 25 of about the same age to handle ocean sailing better.
Gear that's been added	Replaced all lines and blocks.
Structural or complex improvements	None.
The boat's best features	Easy to trailer, easy to launch, easy to maintain.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The keel is difficult to handle, as the clutch seems to need a good rebuild, it drops suddenly and will not easily stay raised up. The keel trunk also seems to let in a bit water into the bilge, requiring running the bilge pump periodically when sailing seas larger than 2 ft swells.
Sailing characterisitcs	We got a surprise 8' steep swell at the harbor mouth during a day that was running 4 to 6 ft seas, with absolutely dead air, no wind, and she took it very easily and smoothly. On another occasion with 4 ft seas and 15 knots breeze she sailed through no problem though the crew voted for a return to harbor. On yet another day, with 3 ft seas and 10-15 knot air and a crew of 5 (3 youngsters) she sailed in good control although it was too crowded to enjoy the skippering.
Motoring characterisitcs	The Mac/ Venture 22 moves easily with a small 4hp outboard, and seems to be very forgiving in seas.
Liveability	Wouldn't even consider it. The headroom is low, and at best it's OK for an overnight camp out.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any
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