Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 26S by Jack Vandelinde

Year built	1995
Location of boat	Turkey Pt. Lake Erie
The boat is sailed on	The Great Lakes
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	5-6
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	1999
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Definitely
Gear that's been added	Solar cell ,Depth sounder,Flexible furler.Will add knot meter this spring.Have added 2 inches of aluminum to leading edge of rudder blade , does wonders for weather helm.Last summer added a main sheet traveller,mainly to improve race sailing.
Structural or complex improvements	Cut hole in galley counter and made removable top to access electrics and battery.
The boat's best features	Ease of launching and retrieving, Trailering.Simple to sail, Great for shallow water parking , especially with small children. Yet has respectable speed if you sail it hard enough,don't worry too much about heel ,just let her rip,she won't tip!Also loads of room inside for whatever you want to do.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	In shallow waters the rudder blade can hit and break the hold down cable,I like the twin rudders on the X and M models
Sailing characterisitcs	The best point of sailing is beam on or pointing .Don't over tighten the sails and she handles fine.
Motoring characterisitcs	My 8 horse Mariner gets me home and in and out of marina when needed. No great speed but adequate
Liveability	Have never spent sveral day on boat, but should be no problem.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Never dealt with them
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any
Other comments	Great boat for the purpose it was designed for,Easy to handle on or off the water. Easy to rig.Boat will take a lot of hard use and banging around and come back for more.Ocean crossing? Not recommended although it may work but I would'nt try it.

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