Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 22 by Doug Rodrigues

Year built	1972
Location of boat	Berkley, California
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	10-15 knots
Average size of crew	solo
Liveaboard?	No
Owner bought the boat in	2001
If the clock could be turned back, would owner buy again?	Yes, because I have used it as a training platform. This is my first boat ever, and trained myself how to sail. For the price, size, use, and transportability, it's perfect.
Gear that's been added	VHF Marine Radio, deep cycle battery and solar charger. The boat came already equipped with navigation lights but was unwired. I rewired everything to a fuse block and toggle switches. Also use a hand held GPS.
Structural or complex improvements	No.
The boat's best features	Easy to transport, launch, and recover. Also easy to sail in fairly calm waters and light wind.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Had to replace old plastic pully hardware which had become brittle over time. Also, the rudder wood had developed a vertical crack, probably from all the force needed for weather helm control.
Sailing characterisitcs	Very easy to sail in light winds, however, in heavy winds it can be a handfull. In the San Francisco Bay, the term "protected waters" really doesn't apply. In 15-25 knot winds, the boat heels excessively without gaining proportionate speed beyond approximately a 30 degree from vertical heel angle. The main sail has to be reefed to control the heeling or sheeted out. It becomes almost impossible to maintain a constant heading as the boat plows through swells and wind waves. The bow will yaw 15 to 20 degrees or so with each swell encounterd every few seconds. The boat feels like it's on a rollar coaster ride when on a close reach into the wind and plowing through the wind waves. Rough water almost makes sailing the boat too much work. In such rough seas, water will splash over the boat and also up through the cockpit drain. Everything in the cockpit becomes wet. A strong pull on the tiller is required to counteract the weather helm effect.
Motoring characterisitcs	Nothing worth mentioning. I use a 6 hp outboard, but occasionally can maneuver into the dock area using only the jib sail.
Liveability	This boat has all the comforts of a 4' X 7' pup tent on water. To expect anything more would be unrealistic. The location of the "head" makes it impossible to use standing up, so men would have to take a seated position for everything. The bow V-berth is perfectly sized for anyone below the height of say...4 feet tall? The dinette converts into a bed for anyone less than 5'5" tall maximum. The quarter berth on the port side is useless for sleeping but great for storing gear. The "galley" takes-up space unnecessarily. A two burner portable stove for use on the dinette table and bottled water would have been more logical than the sink, stove, and storage cabinets. At least for me, this is a marginally liveable boat for one person for a couple of days only.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	N/A They don't support a boat this old.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	N/A Private party purchase.
Other comments	It's worth every dime I paid for it. I have no complaints about the price.

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