Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 25 by John Huberty

Year built	1983
Location of boat	Elk iver, Minn.
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
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	2006
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Absolutely! I got into sailing one year ago when I bought a Johnsons M-16 Scow. Taught myself how to sail on the scow then moved up by buying the Mac 25 last spring. Got it for a song: $2,400.
Gear that's been added	Boom vang. Mast raising system. Thinking about leading all lines aft.
Structural or complex improvements	None
The boat's best features	Very good value. Easy to sail. Don't have to be afraid to make mistakes, since the investment is so small. It sails well as long as it is rigged properly. Can go into shallow water and not worry about much since keel will swing if you bottom. Trailers fairly well. Pretty easy to launch and retrieve.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The lack of a boom vang was astounding, as is the lack of a real traveller system for the main. The reefing method, i.e., wrapping main around the spinning boom, is poorly thought out and just plain cheap, not to mention that adding a vang makes it impossible to reef this way.
Sailing characterisitcs	When rigged properly, with proper mast rake, it sails very well with little weather helm. However, if you get the mast raked too much and get into more than a light breeze, it has a lot of weather helm. The boat is a joy to sail and moves along well.
Motoring characterisitcs	n/a
Liveability	I doubt I could "live" on it, though I would not hesitate to spend a long weekend on it.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	n/a
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	This boat was on consignment at Hoopers Yachts in Afton, Minn. They were not all that involved in the sale other than communicating offers and counter-offers between me and the previous owner, and collecting the money and doing the paperwork at the time of sale. They have, however, been very helpful with any questions I've had and with setting me up with the boom vang parts.
Other comments	It sails well as far as this neophyte knows, and you cannot go wrong for the money. Great boat to extend learning on, and a good stepping stone to the ultimate goal of cruising the world.

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