Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 26S by Steven Shenkel

Year built	1995
Location of boat	Phoenix, AZ
The boat is sailed on	Lakes
How the boat is used	Weekends and longer
Normal wind strength	less than 10 knots
Average size of crew	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	1994
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Actually, I would have found a way to buy the boat earlier than I did. I have owned a lot of trailerable sailboats and by far the M26S is the best all-around compromise boat I have had. It is light weight to make towing and handling easy. It is roomy given its size and weight. The aft berth has made great strides in liveability as we do not have to knock something down (dinette) to get ready for bed. And it performs very well in almost all conditions I sail in. On top of that, it has good lines and looks good on the water.
Gear that's been added	I have yet to buy a boat that has the equipment, or at least the quality of the equipment installed and installed where I want it. My choice then, would be a boat with minimal equipment that I did not have to pay too much for. Then, I would be free to outfit the boat as I saw fit.The list is fairly lengthly and to minimize, I will group by general titles: Sails: 150 Genoa, Criusing and Racing Spinaker, Storm sail and related handling gear.Instruments: Knotmeter, Depth Sounder, Loran, GPS, Compass, VHF Internal and HandheldElectronics: Dual Batteries, Solar Charger, 110VAC Charger, Shore Power, Propane/Gasoline Detector, Numerous lights and 12 VDC outlets, Bilge Blower, CD PlayerCooking: Barbeque, Stove, Gimballed StoveAnchoring: Three anchors, Bow Roller,Exterior: Cockpit cushions, Bimini, Dodger, Backrest, Folding diving platform/boarding ladderAuxilary Power: 6HP outboard and 12 Gallon internal tankTender: 8'-6" Zodiac with 2HP motorNote: With all this, it still floats
Structural or complex improvements	I have replace all mooring cleats with larger aluminum cleats and good backing plates. Additionally, when I added the bow roller, I added backing plates to the bow pulpit mounts and intend to add backing plates to the stantions.There was no electrical panel with the 95 model, so I basically started from scratch.Added 26X spreader bracketsAdded after market chicken-head fittingAdded internal halyard and internal jiffy reefingAdded internal mast halyard silencers (pipe foam insulation)
The boat's best features	For us, the light weight, performance, and the liveability, given the large aft berth are all equal. In my opinion, I have not found any better sleeping arangements in a boat under 30".
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	The mainsails of my vintage boat had the luff bolt rope pre-stretched before the luff tape and sail panels were sewn in place. This would not allow you to draw the luff tight with halyard or cunningham tension to pull the luff wrinkles out of the sail. I cut the leading edge (luff) stitching apart and had it resewn. In the process, almost 10" of bolt rope disappeared into the sail when the luff was pulled tight. Naturally, I had to add this rope before it was sewn back in place.Rudder-there are a number of posting on this site showing how to modify or make a new rudder to balance the rudder. Although this was not the first modification I made to the boat, it should have been.
Sailing characterisitcs	This is a water balast boat. I have talked to owners of other water balast boats and all share the same experiences. The boat is initially tender but stiffens up more and more as the boat heals over. As the effort went into making a light boat, it is naturally, far from a blue water boat. I believe the PHRF rating (216) speaks of its performance. However, it takes a little doing to sail it to this rating successfully.
Motoring characterisitcs	The light weight allows my 6HP outboard to be very capable. I would like an 8-10 HP, 4 stroke, electric start, with cockpit controls if cost were not an issue.
Liveability	Human nature is seldom satisfied for long. As previously mentioned, the aft berth makes living aboard the best we have experienced in a trailerable sailboat. We usually spend a week visiting Catalina Island or slip it in San Diego on our annual summer vacation. With the two of us, it is very liveable for 7-10 days. It would be nice to have permanent standing headroom and more room in the head so you would not have to "step outside to change your mind". However, that will only come when I want to give up some of the other features I love about the boat-namely ease of hauling.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	Other than picking up the boat from them and the factory tour, I have not had to deal with them.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	I bought the boat from The Sailboat Shop in Tempe, Arizona. I got a great price and all the help I could ask for. They have been a long standing Mac dealer and I would highly recommend them.
Other comments	In the sailing community, there seems to be a "cheap" stigma attached to the MacGregor line. Certainly' as I have documented, I have made a number of modifications to get the boat to my liking. I knew that going in. However, if you look at the boating industry, MacGregor has survived the years and probably put more people in boating than any other brand-probably a reason that Roger MacGregor was inducted into the sailor's Hall of Fame.Although there may be instances where MacGregors have sunk, come off trailers, or contributed to life threatning situations; I am not aware of them. I have witnessed these instances from other brands of trailerable sailboats.

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