# any other good power sailors besides MacGregor 26M?



## GlenDC (May 11, 2007)

a sailboat that sails good and can handle a powerful engine? 25hp or something... Trailerable between 19' and 26'


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

"any other *good* power sailors besides MacGregor 26M?"

Oh Lord, please don't go there.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

That's kind of an oxymoron.... most sailboats aren't good under power.... just not done... 

If you want a boat that can handle a 25HP outboard and still sail well, you might want to look at the Corsair F24 trimaran. With a 9.9 HP outboard it probably goes faster than hull speed for a boat its length. The sailing performance will be much better than that of a Macgregor 26.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

I do not believe I am posting this........BUT............

If you look at the 07 Sail new boat and accessary rag on the newstands, there is a being brought over from Europe an equal to the MacGregor as far as power goes, not sure how the sailing part is........but it does fall into the same bracket!

WIth that, I need to go wash my mouth out with soap for posting this! Along with a self imposed keel haul!

marty


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## CaptKermie (Nov 24, 2006)

How about the Tide 28 at:
Tide 28
or the Odin 28 at:
odin 820 yachts odin 820 , odin odin-marine.com HOME
Both from Europe


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## tenuki (Feb 11, 2007)

Gig Harbor Boat Works - 15' Maine Lobster Boat

A little smaller than you asked for but 20mph top speed with a 15hp motor, plus rows and sails like a real boat, unlike just about anything else that will be posted here.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Tenuki-

A Corsair F24 will put a 15' Maine Lobster boat to shame and sails very well...


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

PLEASE, just buy anything *but* a MacGregor 26M. How about a nice canoe????? Walker Bay??? Anything!!!!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

> How about the Tide 28 at:
> Tide 28
> or the Odin 28 at:
> odin 820 yachts odin 820 , odin odin-marine.com HOME
> Both from Europe


They both have a bad case of uglyitis ...


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## Sabre66 (Feb 3, 2007)

MacGregor makes a sailboat?  I always wondered what that aluminum stick thing was for.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Sabre-

What really frightens me about the MacGregor 26 is that one is sitting next to my boat at the moment, in the marina storage building... and the mast on the MacGregror 26 appears to be about the same as or a bit smaller than the boom on my 28' trimaran.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

SD, you are forgetting the mast is stiffened by shrouds and stay, the boom is not.

If I had no boat, or could not sail mine or for some other reason needed a boat to trail around. I would gladly have one. Nothing wrong with it.

Inside its sailing enevelope it can be a decent sailboat..

Be nice guys, ok?


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## poopdeckpappy (Jul 25, 2006)

Giulietta said:


> ..
> 
> Be nice guys, ok?


OMG, Aliens have got ahold of Giu and scrambled his brain


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Giulietta said:


> SD, you are forgetting the mast is stiffened by shrouds and stay, the boom is not.
> 
> If I had no boat, or could not sail mine or for some other reason needed a boat to trail around. I would gladly have one. Nothing wrong with it.
> 
> ...


Yes, I know that.. but my boom isn't all that big... and we're talking a 26' sailboat...which isn't much smaller or lighter than my boat is. My mast is probably three times the cross sectional area of the one on the MacGregor.


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## tenuki (Feb 11, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> Tenuki-
> 
> A Corsair F24 will put a 15' Maine Lobster boat to shame and sails very well...


That does look slick.

Manufacture lists max hp at 8, and motoring speed at 6 knots for the F24, so unless they are wrong the lobster boat ( 15hp, 20mph) would beat you to the pot hands down. However, lists sailing speeds in excess of 20 knots for the F24, so maybe not if the wind is blowing. lol. 

But can you row it, tow it with a chevy neon, and buy it brand spanking new with all the options for 8k? ;P


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

If you want something a bit smaller and more affordable, look for a Farrier Eagle/Tramp. It's basically the same thing as a Corsair F24 in a 19' version.  Lovely boats, and fast as greased lightning....Probably goes a bit faster than the F24 with a 9.9 HP engine on it.


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## CBinRI (May 17, 2004)

I wonder if Denr has any thoughts on this.


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## captron400 (Jun 28, 2000)

I get a kick out of the word "good" in "good power sailers". Actually, it's a hard thing to build because the design specs are almost totally at odds with each other. There are exceptions - As noted before, the Corsair Trimarans are very fast under sail and reasonably good on power. Perhaps the best is the Telstar 28, also a Trimaran, and built by Performance Cruising in Annapolis (also makes the popular Gemini catamarans). With the Honda 50 (same motor as the MacGregor) it will do close to 20 knots under power or sail. Getting a monohull to do both is a lot harder.

There are several much larger cruising boats that manage both reasonably well, but they are normally out of this price range.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

Sabre66 said:


> MacGregor makes a sailboat?  I always wondered what that aluminum stick thing was for.


All this time I was hoping it was a lightning rod.


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## foxglove (Dec 27, 2002)

*Waaaa!!*

Hey you guys, you're hurting my feelings. I've owned and sailed a Mac 26s for 15 years all over the east coast and Great Lakes. The old ones like mine (not power sailer) sail great, trailer easily, launch easily, are inexpensive, and are quite comfortable.

Unless you know about the boat from first hand sailing experience, then, well, you know the rest.

In fact, the picture above is my wife serving Baileys and coffee in the cabin. Doesn't she look happy?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

captron400 said:


> I get a kick out of the word "good" in "good power sailers". Actually, it's a hard thing to build because the design specs are almost totally at odds with each other. There are exceptions - As noted before, the Corsair Trimarans are very fast under sail and reasonably good on power. Perhaps the best is the Telstar 28, also a Trimaran, and built by Performance Cruising in Annapolis (also makes the popular Gemini catamarans). With the Honda 50 (same motor as the MacGregor) it will do close to 20 knots under power or sail. Getting a monohull to do both is a lot harder.
> 
> There are several much larger cruising boats that manage both reasonably well, but they are normally out of this price range.


I would have mentioned the Telstar, but it sounds like it is both a bit out of his price range and also a bit bigger than he'd like to go. Have you ever seen one in person... it dwarfs a Cape Dory 25, even without the amas spread out... and it's pretty big compared to even a MacGregor 26.

A true monohull sailboat, won't generally motor well, since the things that give a monohull its stability detract from its ability to motor... A monohull that motors well, will generally have poor sailing performance, as seen by the MacGregor 26, which has a very small mast and relatively small rig for a boat its size.

Multihulls can get away with doing both well, at a cost... They tend to be a bit more expensive, and their beam can make docking them, unless they fold in some way, much more expensive.


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## tenuki (Feb 11, 2007)

PHRF rating of the Mac 26M looks to be around 240-250, which puts it in the same race as boats like the Albin Vega 27, San Juan 26, Ericson commander, Bahama 25, Baha 30, Dolph23, Cal 24, Clipper Marine 30, Contessa 26, cheoy lee 27, columbia 26-1, Dana 24, IN Folkboat, Islander 24,26b,29-1, Morgan 25 and other such 'poor sailers'.

Just had to stir up trouble.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Tenuki—

Most of the boats that you're comparing the MacGregor to are older, full-keel, bluewater designs... the Albin Vega, Folkboat, Contessa 26, etc are often common choices for a smaller bluewater cruising boat... not quite the same category as a MacGregor 26.


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

*"Multihulls can get away with doing both well, at a cost... "*

Like their looks!!! 

Sorry SD- couldn't resist.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Hey T34C-

I like the way my boat looks... GRRRR


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## Johnrb (Sep 21, 2002)

"PHRF rating of the Mac 26M looks to be around 240-250"

Is that with the 50 hp motor on?


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

sailingdog said:


> Hey T34C-
> 
> I like the way my boat looks... GRRRR


I, uhhhh, like the way it looks too!!!
(All three of them!)


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## GlenDC (May 11, 2007)

I have a family and I want to sail with my family, every now and then. My teenager sons want some power and do not care about perfectness of sailing. My wife wants roomy downstairs, a shower and head, acceptable for ladies, cares neither about power nor sailing perfectness. I do windsurfing for few years with jumps and trick and anything that has a sail looks inferior to me unless it's a better windsurf board (that would be a 90lb sinker). If we want (and we do) to be together we have to compromise. Yes, I know that Mac26 is a bad sailor, but besides Mac 26 that is roomy and can have 50hp OB is there any other options to have compromise between us? That was my question...
PS
World Speed Sailing Record is 48.70 knots (or 56.05 mph). Yep, windsurfer.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

To answer your question - No - the MacGregor is in a class of its own (in North America at least)...

But you should be aware that the reason that there are so many negative comments about the MacGregor is not the fact that it can carry a 50hp engine, it is the fact that they are not very well built. If you do get one, try to avoid placing it under any stress, or else upgrade all of the hardware..


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

GlenDC said:


> I have a family and I want to sail with my family, every now and then. My teenager sons want some power and do not care about perfectness of sailing. My wife wants roomy downstairs, a shower and head, acceptable for ladies, cares neither about power nor sailing perfectness. I do windsurfing for few years with jumps and trick and anything that has a sail looks inferior to me unless it's a better windsurf board (that would be a 90lb sinker). If we want (and we do) to be together we have to compromise. Yes, I know that Mac26 is a bad sailor, but besides Mac 26 that is roomy and can have 50hp OB is there any other options to have compromise between us? That was my question...
> PS
> World Speed Sailing Record is 48.70 knots (or 56.05 mph). Yep, windsurfer.


Have you thought about getting a good quality sailboat (one that really sails) and an RIB with a decent sized outboard as a tender. That would keep everyone happy and give your son a chance to get away alittle.j Other wise your going to compromise yourself into a boat that doesn't do anything well.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

T34C's suggestion has a lot of merit to it.


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## tenuki (Feb 11, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> Tenuki-
> 
> Most of the boats that you're comparing the MacGregor to are older, full-keel, bluewater designs... the Albin Vega, Folkboat, Contessa 26, etc are often common choices for a smaller bluewater cruising boat... not quite the same category as a MacGregor 26.


Sure they are, they are in the category 'sailing speed has been compromised for other concerns' 

The fact that more people motor than go bluewater would tend to imply that macgregor 26Ms are a better compromise....

( Of course you'll never catch me on a 26M, they are just too ugly for words and my sailing snob friends would never let me live it down. )


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

tenuki said:


> The fact that more people motor than go bluewater would tend to imply that macgregor 26Ms are a better compromise....


Aesthetics aside, yes, the MacGregors are ugly, sailing performance is not the only compromise the MacGregor makes though.

IIRC, the newer ones have some serious stability and performance problems if you forget to empty the water ballast and motor, or sail and forget the water ballast.... I think it is not a good idea to compromise the seaworthiness of a craft that way. This means you have to remember to charge/empty the water ballast when switching modes... which you may want to do in a hurry, say if a summer squall is coming through...or if the sails or mast get damaged... which seems pretty likely, given how weak a spar they use for the mast.


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## captron400 (Jun 28, 2000)

sailingdog said:


> I would have mentioned the Telstar, but it sounds like it is both a bit out of his price range and also a bit bigger than he'd like to go. Have you ever seen one in person... it dwarfs a Cape Dory 25, even without the amas spread out... and it's pretty big compared to even a MacGregor 26.
> 
> A true monohull sailboat, won't generally motor well, since the things that give a monohull its stability detract from its ability to motor... A monohull that motors well, will generally have poor sailing performance, as seen by the MacGregor 26, which has a very small mast and relatively small rig for a boat its size.
> 
> Multihulls can get away with doing both well, at a cost... They tend to be a bit more expensive, and their beam can make docking them, unless they fold in some way, much more expensive.


I've sailed a dozen trimarans in the past 5 years, and I'm on the Telstar waiting list (but penciled in because I'm trying to sell a 40 foot Catalina first). Yes - It's pretty big (wide), but this one is stable enough for motoring (at close to 20 knots even) with the floats drawn in. This, and the very easy mast raising system) is why it moved ahead of the rest of the 3 hull competition. The skinny water down here in SW Florida has sent me in this direction. My 6 foot draft C400 (still in NJ) has about as much chance of getting into my inlet during the winter as a Nimitz class carrier.

I figure that I'm paying about 20 percent more than a comparable monohull. But, with it's 1 foot draft, I'll be able to use it regardless of what the tide is doing, or how the wind is affecting it. The extra 10+ knots of boat speed under sail or power is a 2nd plus. And it's much easier to trailer, launch, or retrieve than a 25 to 30 foot keel boat.

There's absolutely no way to do all of the above with a monohull.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*New Trailer sailor*

You might keep an eye out for the KIWI 280C. It's brand new, designed in New Zealand, cast offshore ?, then commissioned here. It has a daggerboard, 28', standup shower, and was designed by racing naval architects. I've seen their 28' carbon racer run away from everything on our lake, so I suspect this is a sailor's sailboat.


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