You Yours wrote:Those were great photos Mark, and love your taking the pup along. I was going to make a sly little comment about some of those gals out there getting rid of their cheap Xs and slapping on one of those big Ars motors!
Took me a second.
I had some incredible fun with that boat last summer. Just uncovered her today for another season.
Okay, just when I thought I could stay out -- you all sucked me back in. Duane A had a great write-up why he preferred his x to an m (obviously becuz his is an x!) It centered on the old ms causing a traffic jam underneath with the table down, because access to the front vee berth, head, etc. would be dificult if not impossible.
The redesign of the new m's interior to be more x like speaks for itself. The x's bathroom cannot be dismissed. Don't kid yourself--if you're out for a 2 night sleepover, the head is going to be used -- sometimes vigorously. The x's little head is tight but functional, and minimum 5 gallon holding tank a must. I love the m, its just that I discovered the x first back in 1996, procrastinated for 7 years, then found one of the last "new" ones left after I learned(somewhat shockingly) that they changed designs. Hard to let go of something you've been drooling over the video and brochure for 7 years...
Besides all the obvious side by side comparisons, the main issues for me are the cockpit, where everyone spends 75% if not more of their time, and storage. The x's table-down twin berth is the best seat in the house, tho I have used the port aft bunk comfortably many times. Now we use all that aft bunk space strictly for storage--enuff for a week-- and all of it clean and out of the way looking due to the low profile that makes it impractical for sleeping more than 1, unless you have small kids of course.
Aesthetically, I love the x's looks like a powerboat that also sails--especially with mast off. I initially was turned off by the m's double windows, but now that I've seen them on the water I think they look great, too. Apples and oranges, I will force myself to stop now. Lets just all admit MY boat is the prettiest, most practical, all out best out of all of youz.
Rolf
Maybe as a Mac 26 owner, I am too close to the boat to see its similarities M to X, but they now seem totally different to me, and not even similar enough to be usefully combined in the same discussion threads. See it happen all the time on here, an idea is presented that confuses the other family cause an X question or mod doesn't apply to the M, and vice-versa.
I am not really trying to be divisive, as it is clear that friendships cross the X/M lines at every turn, and all sailors have commonality, so i can forsee visiting the OTHER Mac family's threads for curiousity, and those issues that are M/X common, just as you can now visit "Mods" or "Performance",
BUT i think the M and the X should have independant discussion headings, for several reasons. Save time and possible confusion, keep the pertinent information better organized, and
MAINLY - to reduce the constantly recurring bloom of "X vs. M" stuff that attaches to almost every issue. A separate M thread would allow the M owner to ask and recieve pertinent info from other M owners, and not get the X noise. NOW i do see a good reason to keep the threads combined so that the pool of knowledge stays maximized, but let's think about the advantages of separating the M and the X threads before discarding the idea.
I suppose I could spend a lot of time depunking longwinded comparisons of my M vs " the peace in our time" X, but I would rather go sailing.
Get over it already and enjoy your decision based clearly on personal preference.
