Macgregor Owner Reviews

Serving sailors online since 1997

Review of the Macgregor 26D by Brian McCabe

Year built	1965
Location of boat	Kitimat. B.C.
The boat is sailed on	Bays, sounds, or protected salt water
How the boat is used	Day sailing
Normal wind strength	16-22 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?	No.
Gear that's been added	Boom Vang.
Structural or complex improvements	No.
The boat's best features	Does not have any.
Problem areas in terms of design, materials, maintenance, etc.	Boat leaked so badly from above when it rained, that no storage was available in the storage area below the bunks. In a steady rain, water accumulated at the rate of about a gallon an hour. I finally re-caulked the hull to deck joint and discovered that a considerable amount of caulking had been missed at the time of manufacture. As best I could measure, the actual length of the caulking should have been in the region of 60', but my boat had only about 42'. As to the bolts which secured the joint, a considerable number of these had not been tightened, and some did not even have any nuts attached. There can be no doubt whatsoever also that, because of their condition, many of these were not new.The Mainsail was faulty and could not be fully extended.All ropes required replacement because those that came with the boat were of such inferior quality.One of the electrical connectors on a wire to the battery was too large, so, rather that attach one of the correct size, someone decided to simply add another piece of wire to fill in the gap.
Sailing characterisitcs	Similar to a conventional keel boat, but when comparing the 2 types, the MacGregor 'heels' first then moves forward, whereas a keel boat 'heels' as it moves forward. I believe the correct term for a boat with this characteristic is 'tender'(?), or something along those lines.
Motoring characterisitcs	Satisfactory.
Liveability	Not possible.
The owner's experience in dealing with Hunter (if any)	MacGregor have totally ignored all my correspondence, which I would ^expect^ from a Company that considers their obligations to be at an end when they have received payment.
The owner's experience with the boat dealer or broker, if any	No comment.
Other comments	My boat has been in storage for 6 of the 9 years I have owned it because of the problems I encountered. I have tried to sell it but it is known to be a "lemon", or as one prospective buyer put it, "Oh, that's the MacGregor boat that doesn't float".We are situated at the end of a channel and, as such, the sailing is excellent, whether it be day sailing or otherwise. These boats are very affordable and one would expect that the market for them in this area would be very good, but since my problems, and the fact that MacGregor decided that it was my 'tough luck', became public knowledge, not a single MacGregor boat has been sold to anyone here.

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