Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 26X by Scott Malsom

Year built	2001
Location of boat	San Jose, CA
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
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	2001
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	I would most definately buy this boat again.
Gear that's been added	I have added a GPS, depth/fish finder, compass, second battery (with accompanying change in the fuse panel) and LifeSling.
Structural or complex improvements	I have extensively modified the life lines on the boat to make it easier to raise and lower the mast.I also did some fairly extensive rewiring when I installed the second battery.The next project is to remove the under galley black molded front that comes with the 26X and replace it with shelving and sliding doors so I get some truly useful storage room.
The boat's best features	It is very easy for one middle aged man to get out of the driveway where it is stored, rigged, into the water, have a great time sailing or motoring her alone, returned to the trailer and broken down for storage and then back into the driveway at home.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	I have two very minor complaints. First, the deck gel coat is not holding up as well as I would like it to. Especially the gel coat on the seats where I step down from the foredeck into the cockpit is starting to crack. Second, the swining door/molded storage compartments that are under the galley are pretty well useless as far as actually storing anything is concerned. Fortunately, the latter problem is easliy solved by replacing the stock front with a custom one and shelving.
Sailing characterisitcs	She sails like a dream in almost any wind up to about 20 -25 knots. After that her owner chickens out pretty fast and goes to motor. San Francisco Bay has heavy winds and rouch chop most of the time and she holds up and handles very well here.
Motoring characterisitcs	I motor when it's too flat to sail or too rough for the skipper. In either case she handles well. Worst case so far was 18 foot swell on 20 second centers for two and one half hours to get home. No problems at all.
Liveability	We routinely have 4 single adults eat and sleep on the boat on weekend outings and there have been no noteworthy complaints so far. I have also had 6 adults on deck for very fair weather motoring in an inland lake.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	I have called MacGregor directlyon several occassions using the information on their website. I have found them to be friendly, but less than useful. In all cases I wound up getting what I needed from some other party.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	I bought my boat from Inmon yachts in Marina Del Rey, CA and have gotten most of my additional hardware/replacement parts from them also. All in all I would say it was a very good experience and I reccommend them to anyone looking for parts, assistance or a new boat.
Other comments	I love all the other cool MacGregor owners I meet while setting up and tearing down my boat. Its kind of funny, when there is no one around I can set the boat up or tear her down in about 30 minutes. When others are there, well the clock says as much as two hours have gone by, but my heart said it was only a couple of minutes.

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