Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 25 by Frank Vacha

Year built	1982
Location of boat	Calgary Alberta
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
How the boat is used	Weekends and longer
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2003
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes.As any other boat McGregor 25 is a boat built for a certain purpose. This boat has been built for lake or coastal water sailing with trailerability in mind. It is one of the lightest, if not the lightest 25 footers around: ~3000# with the trailer. I pull it around with my old Mazda MPV. It can be ready to launch only 45 min. after I floated my 16' Wayfarer, 1:20 in total. Others may take less time, or more.It is light and fairly fast in day sailing (if you know how to make it go) Day sailing and long summer weekends on the water are its long suit. Heavily laden it settles down but it is still a very enjoyable boat for ocassional use and for the beginner. It is good value if you can get one in good shape.Yes it is bit tender when lightly loaded and yes the stock rudder 'sucks'. I built a new one and it works nice. The rigging will need an upgrade if not done yet. But if you want an inexpensive boat to get introduced into the weekends on the water in some measure of comfort for two two situation and still be able to pack it up and move it in one day, nothing really beats this boat for utility and value.
Gear that's been added	Rigging for single handlingboom vangcunningham /downhaulouthaul two reef lines on main lazy jacksjib dousing linenew longer rudderTralier coupling extensiontraler guide barsNew gelcoat and keel finishnew pillows
Structural or complex improvements	No
The boat's best features	-Trailerability; probably the easiest 25 footer around- Simplicity - easy on beginners- adjustable/low draft- low cost
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	It is a light boat so the hull will flex under heavy rigigng loads. Lightly loaded, the boat will tend to heel initially. Reef early to keep the speed up and to prevent her swinging into the weather.Stock rudder is short and will not work well when heeled. Many much better ones are available after market or can be built at home.I still need to figure out what to do with the main anchor and the 150% genoa it came with. Original equipment supporting these two concepts is pretty useless.
Sailing characterisitcs	Points & goes well with new sails and controls installed.Good light wind performance;difficult to keep on course dead down wind;very responsive when lightly loaded. To reduce weather helm and healing it needs the first reef when winds get over 12-13 knots.With improved sail adjustments/controls and new rudder it can be balanced and sailed hard in moderate winds.I have no experience in heavy weather(20+) yet.
Motoring characterisitcs	2HP would be adequate for moving in and out of marina and in light to moderate weather. 6HP is needed to handle heavier weather and to get about 6 knots; it is probably the right size engine for the boat. 8 HP outboard and low pitch prop will push it to ~6.5 knots. Easy maneuvers in tights quaters, it turns well with keel down.Will drift in side winds more than heavier boats
Liveability	OE is pretty spartan; but there is no end to clever improvments one can do. Two adults and two mid size kids are OK for an extended weekend as is if some sense of humour is present. Possibly three adults. Things can get crowded down under rather quickly.Raised pop-top with a shroud and well designed boom tent can aleviates lots of stress on a rainy weekend. 4 days max. between re supplying 4 people; a full week on water is possible if two resonably organized prople are on board. (Those who can paddle across the Atlantic in a 14 ft kayak are not included in this estimate)
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	No experience yet
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	Private sale
Other comments

Contact
About
Terms of Use