Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 26M by stephen kenneth

Year built	2011
Location of boat	Seattle, Wa
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	2013
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	i bought her new from the factory in 2013. the closest date offered above was 2011?? YES, YES, Yes, I'd buy her again. I've owned many boat's up to 40 foot. I semi-retired last year at 44 yrs old and wanted to buy a brand new boat for once in my life. i researched these. then did a sea trial and BOOM i was hooked. i saved for 3 year's and paid cash. bought one of the last ones to roll off the line. i bought her basically stock. however, i did order the genoa, foller furler, shore power and 2nd battery wiring with switch and that's it. everything else i've added myself including the outboard witch i bought used from the bluewater yachts here in seattle. they were out of boats, i had to order mine from the factory and u-ship it to seattle. they did have two boats left but would only sell them if i paid $43k for it because they were already outfitted with all the bells and whistles.
Gear that's been added	outboard motor (50hp), spinnaker (whith sock), gps mapping 78, floating vhf, 5gal porta potty, butane stove, 2 sets of fender's, stereo, inflatable w/ electric o/b, logbook, brought my chartbooks for all of puget sound from olympia up through the gulf islands, solar panel kit (45 watts with regulator and stuff) 2nd and 3rd battery, inverter, battery charger for AA's and AAA's, dvd player, bought new samsung galaxy 2 4g phone w/ hotspot(so we have internet throught the puget sound and san juan islands) switching cabin lights to replacement LED bulbs asap, brought my 900watt lunchbox genset, added 10gallons extra water stowed as low as i can get by using 2 litre bottles and placing in bildge, propane lil buddy heater, life-sling, throw cusions, recycled cockpit cusions w/ new foam, bulkhead mounted compass, raymarine x5 wheel pilot w/ power head mounted on bulkhead next to companionway door, mainsail cover, dodger, sail tape UV protection on genoa. sail slides and grommets to mainsail and 1st reefpoint (only came with rope in sail that fit in track and it only had the 2nd reefpoint in her.) stowabike foldeable 6spd bike on amazon and put my kids foldeable scooters on her. she's about done for me for now. my plan is to make this my family boat for the rest of my life! i used to buy a new boat every year...new meaning a fixer that i'd sail and work on and then at the end of the season sell and make a huge profit on...i can still do that too..but it's gonna be awhile if ever that i do
Structural or complex improvements	only thing like that i added was a line from top of mast back to the boom. ;)
The boat's best features	i love the fact that she takes off and sails like a frikin little rocket ship! these 26M's sail great! when i switched from power (i owned a 36ft trawler), to sail, i bought a macgregor 22 on a trailer so i could learn to sail...within 3 month's moved up to a 27, then about a year later to a newport 30 and then to several boat's a year over the last 10 years while the economy was shit, i'd buy, fixup and sell boat's and eventually wound up with a Cal 34. sailed her for a 3 month straight trip in the summer sold her and bought this macgregor. i notice that a lot of people assume that a macgregor is a first boat only type vessel...for me it's a 'LAST BOAT' i'll ever need....I LOVE HER! she's light for trailering! i'm out from under the friking moorage that i've had for my adult life...for at least 24 year's straight i've paid at least a couple hundred bucks a month on moorage for at least 1 boat and a lot of times here and there i'd have to have 2 moorages while i worked on a boat to sell...it's such a relief to have my boat at home...i can work on her here...i can look at her everyday and be proud of the fact that i met my goal of buying a NEW BOAT! and she sails great! and i love her layout! i didn't used to like the dinnete. however, on the macgregor ther is still plenty of room for everything and i also love the sliding galley...what a great feature. pissing is kind of a trade off for me though because im 6'3" and so im basically folded in half pissing in the head...but that too works out okay because in rough sea's i can push my back against the top of the cabin and that holds me up while i do my business! ;)
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	everything has been well thought out as far as i can tell and i mean everything...these guy's thought about a lot of different angles on this boat. neatest thing i think is the way everything works together...like when i bought my spinnaker...you don't need any extra hardware! they even figured that instead of adding aft blocks, you just run your lines through the center of the aft cleat and back up to the block! the mast raising system hooks right into everything that's already there...the roller furling line has a hoop built into the first stantion post already in there on both sides...there are a ton of little things like this that make a huge diffderence to a guy like me on a budget...my boat woulda cost over $45k for what i have on her...im still under $32k including all my upgrades.
Sailing characterisitcs	i'm norwegian. i've owned boats since i was 8. i commercially fished in the bering sea, russia, south east ak, iv'e sailed all over those areas..everywhere i go i sail there...even the middle of the desert (3 different times) lk meade, pyramid lk, and lk tahoe nevada, norway, st johns river, fl, pacific and atlantic oceans, inside passage, gulf islands, san juan islands, puget sound, all over the place...in my macgregor i've sailed her all over the puget sound and inside the locks, lk union, duwamish waterway, etc
Motoring characterisitcs	i've actually only motored her twice at any sort of 'crusing spd', i motored from edmonds to everett, wa once and from everett, part of the way to langley once. both times at about 4k rpms and both time's she was cruising about 14 knot's with full ballast tank. i could easily get her up to 17, or 18 knot's with full ballast if i redlined her...but i didnt't see the point. if i let out the ballast im sure she'd do 19 or 20 and that is with all my gear. im sure if it was just me and she was completely undloded of all my extra gear she'd do 22 no problem.
Liveability	i could live on her and i will. with my two kids. every summer we sail the entire summer. we have lived aboard our other 27' boat before when they were much smaller. when we take off it's alway's for at least the weeekend and there is plenty of room for all of us to be very comfy. first thing we did is they picked a berth and i took what was left. older boy gets the under cockpit berth. younger son gets the whole vberth and i take the salon. i sleep in what to me is basically a pilot berth. port side with the galley pushed back under cockpit. works great for me and i can still keep my table up for looking at charts, or putting my dvd player on and watching it or having dinner etc etc...
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	i bought my boat from the factory! they were great! even after my few upgrades and extra's my boat only cost me $22,700.00!!! because they had to charge me $2k for the trailer. macgregor was great! they gave me a bank account number and told me to put money in it to pay it off whenever i wanted. that's how i bought my boat for cash. i first put in about 9k, then another 6k, then another 4k, then like 3k in the course of 3 weeks i'd payed it off...i wanted to lock one up because i new they weren't making them anymore...i litterally got one of the last one's off the line!
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	bought from the factory....it was my pleasure..they were great! saved me a ton of money. being single dad on a budget i needed someone that understood that. they gave me free stuff and breaks all over the place! free cusion that go's where the dinnete is, free genoa sail, only charged me $100.00 for a two bank battery system. threw in 2 free outlet's when i added the shorepower input. they were great!
Other comments	her name is s/v VALHALLA. i sail outta Seattle, Wa. i'll rendezvous with anyone anytime. i'm starting a youtube channel ValhallaSailingTv at youtube. im just learning how to take video's and how to upload them. however, im going to video all my trips and document them up there...check it out later in the summer 2012 and beyond and see our adventures. thank you! Stephen Kenneth s/v Valhalla

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