Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 36 by Don Cameron

Year built	1980
Location of boat	Last known location - Antigua
The boat is sailed on	Open ocean
How the boat is used	Blue water, extended passages
Normal wind strength	23-30 knots
Average size of crew	2-4
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	1980
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes I wish I still owned it
Gear that's been added	The boat was delivered to Merril Stevens in Miami and Myself and two others assembled and fitted her out for a crossing from Miami to Montserrat. Added tools for assembly, an Avon inflatable, 9.9 Johnson O/B with electric start and long shaft, alcohol stove, Seaspot, Horizon VHF, ELT, Windex, Tricolour light,!5lb Danforth, Knot meter, Life raft, Two Musto and Hyde wet weather suits (at $450 each in 1980, the best investment), an aluminum deck chair, charts, flush mounted compassetc.
Structural or complex improvements	We used a tapered plank to jam the floating centerboards in heavy seas.
The boat's best features	Light weight ,speed, price, concept, build quality, care taken by manufacturer to ensure assembly, desigh of centerboard system how they pull the boat to windward by angling themselves in their slots.For a boat to complete a crossing it probably was never designed for in 12' seas, 7'waves and 30 knot winds on the nose the entire trip is a credid to the maker.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	We lost a spreader outside Ariceibo, Puerto Rico, and probably because of only a reefed jib and the split backstay, didn't lose the mast.The spreader had simply slipped down the shroud.Also the electrics worked for about a day before electrolysis dissolved the copper Lamp cord wire taped to the aluminum cross tube
Sailing characterisitcs	Motored in 3 to4 ft of water for 10 hours coming around Providentiales, tacked to Hispaniola into shipping lanes with no electronics, thus no speed log only a sextant and an RDF, in a tropical depression, mostly only a reefed jib and no main.Spent 2 nights drying out waiting for the weather to improve which it didn't and set forth for Ariceibo steered as far north of the Mona Passage as we could but still felt its effects, the whole way with the wind on our nose.Averaged 8 knots to windward from Ariciebo to San Juan which demonstrated the effectiveness of the centerboard design. Also we noticed that to windward our bearing wouldn't change as we approached our destination, losing no leeway.The only time on the entire trip that the wind swung around to the north slightly was when making from off Nevis to Montserrat ( a distance of 36 miles) at night and we could see the lights we reckoned we were half way to Montserrat in an hour before the wind shifted
Motoring characterisitcs	Motored from Montserrat to Antigua running from a hurricaine and my friend in his fishing boat clocked her at 8.5 knots with a 9.9 hp outboard on a 36' boat! In anything other than flat water, motoring is not possible because the prop won't stay in the water.We entered San Juan harbour, a very busy one and it was blowing about 25 knots and ferries were dashing back and forth so we tried to motor. Of course it wouldn't start so we tacked back and forth dodging the ferries at the speed of a ski boat and sailed right up to the customs dock.
Liveability	Not liveable and sleeping down below and hearing the water rushing by while underway I would sleep about two hours and wake up thinking we were coming down off a 100 foot wave!We had a porta potty but used the bucket and chuck it metheod.The alcohol stove was a good buy and very safe because there was nothing to spill although the flame is almost invisible.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	N/A
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	I bought it from the manufacturer
Other comments	I used her as a charter, but you dont want alot of weight, max 4 guests.A great boat to fish for flying fish at night, simply shine a light on her sails and the fish fly into light, hit the sail and land on the trampoline.We also caught alot of barracuda when at higher speeds. To avoid the danger of sharp teeth cutting the trampoline, we simply threw a bit of alcohol into the gills, the fish wouldn't move again.I moved off island and stored her at Crabbs marina in Antigua and in 1987 sold her to a young Antiguan who had saved his mnoney teaching wind surfing, who planned on day charters. He promptly ran her on a reef, but with a MacGregor 36 all you gotta do is jump in the water and lift her off again.

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