MacGregorSailors.com

We (my wife Zoe and I just purchased a 96 26X last week and are getting it ready for the water. We live in Newport Oregon and have a slip about 5 minutes away from the house, so it will tie up at the slip for the spring summer and fall. Yaquina Bay is an estuary and has lots of shallow areas, as well as an inlet to the Pacific Ocean, and we think the 26X is going to be a bunch of fun.

It has a low hour Tohatsu 50hp 4 stroke, and the rigging including the mast is fairly new. PO installed twin 12 gallon fuel tanks and a water separator. Fabric down below needed a good cleaning and the hull will take a bunch of elbow grease for sure, but it looks as though it will shine up well. A crispy hank on Genoa and a decent hank on storm jib, both Doyles. Plus a very nice Rolly Tasker Main. Nothing fancy yet, but possibly fitting a B&G system including MFD, wind speed and direction transducer, a triducer, an autopilot etc. I ordered an arch to mount the wind instrument and vhf antenna plus a small solar panel. Already have a couple of SOK Lithium batteries and a bunch of other stuff for it.. It was all going to go on our Ericson 32, But we decided the 26X would be more useful given the conditions where we are. So we will be selling our Ericson and equipping the Macgregor with all the goodies.

This site has been very helpful to us as complete newbies to Macgregors, Thanks for all who post here!

SandZ ( Steve and Zoe)

On behalf of everyone who post here, thank you.

I look forward to seeing posts of your future adventures. Photos will be nice, including photos what you have been doing.

Sounds like you've got a good boat, and a fine list of projects to go with it! Looking forward to future posts of your work and sailing adventures!

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!!

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures and mods. Post photos.

Welcome to the forum. I look forward to following your journey!

Pizza?

SandZ wrote: ↑Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:00 pm We (my wife Zoe and I just purchased a 96 26X last week
SandZ ( Steve and Zoe)

Thanks for your comments, will be posting some photos for sure, and will share with the forum not only my questions but also any answers I might come up with.

Pizza? Have not eaten pizza for a few years (currently on a ketogenic diet) but sure come on out to Oregon and we will have pizza!

Still cleaning and polishing the hull, doing some small gelcoat repairs, tracking down some leaks (it rains a lot here!) and trying to figure out how to get the liquid out of the rudders. Heard some sloshing.

Any thoughts on where to drill a 2" hole through the hull for my airmar triducer? Or would a transom mount be a better idea? Nice to have no holes below waterline but want accurate speed and depth readings at any speeds the might attain.

No need to drill holes for a transducer. The Mac hull is solid fiberglass with no core. If you get the transducer tightly coupled to the hull, it can read depth right through the relatively thin fiberglass. It has to be located in an area outside of the ballast tank. Mine is off to the starboard side of the ballast tank below the dinette table. I bedded it in a big lump of wax from a toilet ring. Others have used putty of various types or glued a short piece of PVC pipe to the hull, filled it with mineral oil or water and positioned the transducer in the pipe. What''s needed is to get the face of the transducer in intimate contact with the hull so the sonic energy can transfer through the hull to the water. The transducer should be pointing straight down if you want accurate depth readings.

As others have said "Welcome". We put our transducer on the stern (starboard side). We do not like the idea of drilling a large hole below the water line on a Mac. We do not even have a small hole below the water line. Because of disabilities we use the Mac as a trawler. This is a great forum, lot of Mac knowhow is found here. Enjoy your boat!
Richard

Not a fan of holes through the hull. The Mac's ballast makes cutting holes, especially challenging.

How important is the speed sensor? I've always relied on my GPS for over-the-ground speed. My transom-mounted transducer never really worked well for speed through the water. Would get jammed up with gunk etc.

There are many INSIDE the hull solutions. Last year, I mounted mine in a bed of caulk. Works well and I can remove it easily if I desire.

Cheap and easy no hole installation.

I agree, would rather not drill a hole, the triducer is part of the whole autopilot computer input, giving speed through the water, water temp and depth, and being B&G was expensive, but I can find a stern mount that is compatible.

Or I will make a mount for the triducer I have and hang it off the stern. Might work!

I bet you could fabricate a transom mount for it. Anything better than a 2" hole.

My transducer is one of those wide-beam Chirp transducers and is expensive. Mounting it in the putty, it seems to provide an approximate water temp. Not a big deal for me anyway.

Let us know how you end up mounting it.

Welcome Aboard!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

Russ wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 5:37 am I bet you could fabricate a transom mount for it. Anything better than a 2" hole.

My transducer is one of those wide-beam Chirp transducers and is expensive. Mounting it in the putty, it seems to provide an approximate water temp. Not a big deal for me anyway.

Let us know how you end up mounting it.

I agree, not drilling a big hole in hull is preferable. Going to try to rig up something. The dst810 just needs to be mounted where it is not subject to excessive turbulence. Thinking of fabricating a small “boat” to mount it in, then mounting the “boat” to the transom, starboard side between outboard and rudder. Probably shape it like the P66 transom mount triducer only a bit bigger. I will post an update when I get to that point, probably not for a while as I have lots of other stuff to do before I launch.

OverEasy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 10:14 pm Welcome Aboard!

Best Regards,
Over Easy

Thanks! I enjoy reading your posts and have learned a lot.