Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 22 by David

Year built	1982
Location of boat	Clinton, CT
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
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	2004
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	The boat has been in my family since it was new. We've really enjoyed it and gotten our money's worth out of it. It was in Texas in Grapevine Lake until 2004, when I received it in exchange for some work for my parents. I brought it to Connecticut and have been sailing it in Long Island Sound ever since.
Gear that's been added	I've added a motor, a portable GPS with mount, clamp-on running lights, a battery-powered searchlight, and other portable gear such as an anchor that you would typically have on a boat of this size.
Structural or complex improvements	I've mostly made improvements to the rigging to make the boat safer to handle single-handed and to make the sails perform better. I've added Harken winches for the jib. I've added blocks near the main stays to correct the angle of the jib sheet under sail, which is way too horizontal without the blocks. I've set up a jib down-haul which I can operate from inside the cabin, and added slugs to the mainsail to make it easier to raise and lower. I've added tell-tales to make setting the sails easier. My friend reworked the rudder pivot point so that the rudder no longer has any play.
The boat's best features	The boat handles well under sail for 1 to 5 people. It is large enough to keep these people comfortable for the day. Positive flotation always made us feel safer on the boat. The retractable keel makes access to shallow areas easier and has saved me a fortune in marina fees. The pop-up cabin top makes for much more cabin room and enables enclosed access to the main and jib halyards, so that you never have to go up on deck in rough weather. The pop-top when raised also makes a nice furling spot for the mainsail and boom while motoring. The boat motors sufficiently well that you can enjoy it even if you have no wind.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The motor mount pad was plywood that delaminated after a few years. I ended up replacing it with a solid wood mount pad that has held up much better. The teak rails for the hatches have deteriorated after 30 years and need to be replaced. Steel cables have been replaced as needed. The electrical lighting system was never very good and kept shorting out. I've abandoned it and use battery-powered lights, radio, and GPS. Finally, after 20 years of use, I replaced the sails, which improved upwind pointing by 15 degrees on a tack.
Sailing characterisitcs	Sailing characteristics of the boat are good. They are better on reaches or runs than tacking upwind. The boat will get a steady 5 knots on a broad reach pretty easily in a 15 to 20 knot wind. I've never really had the boat plane. With new sails, I can tack at a 45 degree angle to the wind. With the old blown out sails, the angle was more like 60 to 65 degrees, which was very frustrating when you had to go upwind to get home. One person can keep the boat sufficiently level going upwind up to about 15 knots, after which you need to reduce sail or get a crewman. The boat does sail well under mainsail only even at 25 knot winds, which enables you to avoid having to do roller reefing. Because of the swing keel bouncing around, I don't sail the boat in waves much higher than 3 to 5 feet. Supposedly the keel can be pinned in the down position but I've never found where that is done.
Motoring characterisitcs	The boat has had 3 motors, at 6, 8, and 9.9 HP. For lake use in smooth water, 6 HP is fine. The 9.9 HP motor is recommended for bay or ocean use - the extra horsepower is a big help in heavy seas. The boat does have excessive roll response to lateral waves, even with the keel down. That is especially a problem when a 40' deep hull motor boat decides to pass by at full throttle when heading into the harbor. Finally, a pivoting motor is really useful for tight turns. By pivoting both the motor and rudder, I can pivot the boat 90 degrees within its length. If you often single-hand the boat and dock in a marina, get a slot where the slip is on the port side of the boat. Doing that makes it much easier to operate the rudder, motor, and grab the dock at the same time.
Liveability	I would say it is very similar to a pop-top camping trailer. A couple of people could stay in it overnight, particularly at the dock in the marina. The little sink is an afterthought and we never used the portable head since we didn't want to deal with emptying it. When my family stayed overnight, we'd run an extension cord to the dock for power, bring prepared food and drink, and use the marina bathrooms.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	I've never dealt with them directly.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	The original dealer was very good, even providing training on prepping, hauling and sailing the boat. However, that was 30 years ago, and I don't even know if the dealer is still around.
Other comments	While it is definitely a trailer-able sailboat, hauling the boat in and out of the water is a pain. It generally took us an hour each way at the boat ramp, which isn't all that practical for day sailing. It is much more practical to keep the boat in the water during the sailing season and trailer it to and from the winter storage area once per season. The boat was also much better quality than the trailer. The resistance to rust is very poor, and the lights never worked right without repair once they made contact with the water. The trailer is rather short for the length of the boat. When the boat is on the trailer, it needs to be blocked to prevent it from tilting backward. A 100 pound person in the cockpit will tip the whole boat and trailer assembly on its stern unless blocked up properly.

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