Just got a new 26M!

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

I've got 26M # 673 and # 674 being shipped this week. I've sold every 26M (16 so far this year) I was able to get before it even arrived, except one, which sold in a few days. I've got deposits on two more. I'm still waiting to get one that hasn't sold.

[Moe]

The M won't be "fixed" until Mac goes back to a swinging centerboard, and puts the head back at the companionway.

If we'd had to deal with foam, I'd have made a long hole saw by cutting teeth, with a Dremel, in one end of 1" conduit, and putting a threaded cap with a hole for a drill arbor on the other end. The threaded cap would be removable to use a rod to push out foam packed up inside.

--
Moe

[Paul S]

The M won't be "fixed" until Mac goes back to a swinging centerboard, and puts the head back at the companionway.

If we'd had to deal with foam, I'd have made a long hole saw by cutting teeth, with a Dremel, in one end of 1" conduit, and putting a threaded cap with a hole for a drill arbor on the other end. The threaded cap would be removable to use a rod to push out foam packed up inside.

--
Moe

There are pros and cons to the centerboard/daggerboard issue..which has been beaten to death here since the M was introduced. Not going to go off on that tangent.

Installing the tube was not as bad as it seemd at first. The dealers installer did it in just a few (maybe 10-15) minutes with just a pvc pipe with a sharpened end. Rammed it in, twisted, pulled out, removed core, repeat until cleared. Pretty simple. I believe earlier Ms had more foam. Ours (#360) had little foam.

Paul

[Moe]

As we near two full years of production, what hull number are the new M's on now?

I've got 26M # 673 and # 674 being shipped this week.

IIRC, we're right at 18 months of actual M deliveries, so Bill's #674 puts M dealer purchases at about 450 per year, Also, IIRC from previous posts, that's a bit up from the annual number before the '05 came out.

We can come back to this post a year from now and see how '05 sales are doing... unless someone knows the hull number and date the first '05 model was shipped?

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Moe

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Yes, I meant to say 18 months, although I'm sure that prototypes were being made well before that. Actually, I had looked into this about 6 months ago in a previous thread.

The run rate wouldn't be consistant over 18 months because production would ramp up progressively. Based on board input at the time, I calculated the run rate to be 33.3 hulls per month for the first 12 months. For the last 6 months, the rate has picked up to near 45.67 per month which would put the yearly rate close to 550 boats. Thats good news for M's.

This acceleration is supported by Bill's comments:

I've got 26M # 673 and # 674 being shipped this week. I've sold every 26M (16 so far this year) I was able to get before it even arrived, except one, which sold in a few days. I've got deposits on two more. I'm still waiting to get one that hasn't sold.

Which proves that supply is not exceeding demand. But the bad news for M's is that I would think that after this long, they would be able to produce them as fast as they were producing X's (60+ per month). If you accept that statement, then that would mean M production is at least 24% lower than X production. Seems like the bean counters wouldn't like those kinds of figures much.

[Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL]

26M # 640 was built 8,23,04
26M # 223 was built 8,12,03
417 built in approximately 54 weeks
Averaging about 33 boats a month for the past year or so

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Hmm, if it were still averaging only 33 boats per month, that wouldn't be much better than 50% of the X production at its hay day. In this thread, ezaction says he picked up hull number 401 on Feb 20th. Using Bill's figures, that would mean approximately 178 hulls were made from 8/12/03 to 2/1/04 which is about 28.5 hulls/month. And about 239 hulls from 2/1/04 to 8/23/04 which is about 37.3 hulls a month for the approximate second half of the year...a bit less than I thought before Bill's data. That's about a 31% increase in production but still well under the X production rate.

I understand that sales volume probably varies a lot between different dealers, but if you look at the total production trend and note that on average, 25 more X'es were produced per month than M's, you are gonna have to increase your profit margin to stay level. Of course, most companies strive for positive growth so that pretty well explains why Roger is making design changes.

My prediction...if the growth rate really is 31% over the last 6 months and that same rate of growth continued for the next year, M production levels could meet or exceed X levels. If X levels are exceeded, then they would probably stay with current design. If growth levels off or declines, then I suppose we might see another major design change. I suppose the time to wait for that depends on how long it takes to pay off the design and production of the current molds, etc.

[Moe]

Dimitri, on something with seasonal sales, as with a boat, you can't draw any conclusion that sales are increasing, when the higher production period of 37.3 hulls/month is the Feb-Aug demand period, and the previous lower production period of 28.5 hulls/month is the Aug-Feb slack period. You have to look at annual numbers.

The 18 month period that we're looking at for M production includes two demand periods and one slack period, so the 450/year I calculated above is probably inflated, and Bill's 33/month or 400/year is more accurate.

--
Moe

[baldbaby2000]

I was out of town for a week and am now just reading the replies to my original post. I appreciate the feedback. We were able to take the boat out last weekend and have a few more impressions.

We like the galley location. I've only seen pictures of last year's layout but I think the new arrangement is better. My wife really likes being able to slide it.

The motor behaviour does puzzle me. Another dealer near here says that the Tohatsu 2 stroke injected motor is in fact limited to low altitudes. He's disappointed that they haven't fixed the problem because he says they make good motors otherwise and this effect limits his sales. We stayed the night at Granby in the mountains. Early in the morning the engine ran great but later it was back to 2000 rpm max. Maybe the cold air being more dense caused it to run better?

I suppose we should have done more research on motors but we're going to go with the carburated version at least for now. It is also a 2-stroke and we're told that it's almost identical to the one we have which will make changing it out easy; same controls, tach readout, etc. The dealer says that when we go to lower altitudes we should change the prop and adjust the mixture. I'm not too keen on messing with the mixture but he claims that it's not too hard.

We still didn't get real good sailing in because the wind was shifty and gusty. A couple of times we got a good gust and before I could react the boat rounded up. I think I'm used to the quick reaction one can apply with a tiller and still need to get used to the wheel. We have a 150% genoa and were overpowered on the gusts also.

The boat did seem to point OK. The manual claims that when pointing with the genoa one can run the sheets between the upper and lower stays and be able to point higher. I'll probably add quick release shakles on the sheets so I can quickly switch to this configuration.

I still need to tune the rigging better. Since we were entertaining friends I didn't want to spend a lot of time adjusting shrouds. I set them to the hole positions recommended in the manual and the rigging seems way too loose. There's a turnbuckle in the roller fuller that may need adjusting too.

I was a little leary about the daggerboard when making the decision to buy the boat. We like to sail on Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and Canada: a lake famous for rocks below the surface. We're told the board and trunk are pretty strong. Nevertheless I was considering getting a spare board but the dealer says that in a pinch a piece of plywood cut to size will work. I hope to not have to test that theory but it sounds like it might work to get by for a short time.

One of the best things about the boat compared to our Mac 25 (advertised on this site by the way) is how quick it is to launch. 3 of us had the boat rigged in less than 13 minutes ready to launch. The mast raising system is nice. With the Mac 25 we had to put the motor and rudder on each time we rigged the boat which caused backaches and time.

Other than maybe the motor (we'll see how the carburated version works out), We're happy with our choice.

[Frank C]

bb,
Not trying to pester, but please be sure that your motor dealer warrants that you'll be able to use that motor on your favorite lakes, especially after January 2006. My understanding (poorly researched) is that a carbureted 2-stroke will become illegal for all lakes in the USA.

Just hoping you've got the bases covered, & good luck with the new boat.

[baldbaby2000]

Frank. Don't feel your pestering. I'll check into it with the dealer and see what he says. I wonder how I can find out for sure on the legality of using 2=strokes in the future. I figured they would be grandfathered.

I did notice that the one we have now doesn't put out any noticable smoke whereas my old 2-stroke did so maybe they meet the emission requirements.

BB

[TonyHouk]

Hey All,
I know Tahoe has a restriction but I am almost sure that the ban does not apply to all lakes. I think the emmissions applies to the oily water that gets spit out the exhaust. I will look further to see if the ban applies. I plan on retiring in Charleston, Sc. I can't see all the Rednecks giving up their big motors just to go catch a fish. Well on the other hand I can. Happy sails, Tony

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Dimitri, on something with seasonal sales, as with a boat, you can't draw any conclusion that sales are increasing, when the higher production period of 37.3 hulls/month is the Feb-Aug demand period, and the previous lower production period of 28.5 hulls/month is the Aug-Feb slack period. You have to look at annual numbers.

The 18 month period that we're looking at for M production includes two demand periods and one slack period, so the 450/year I calculated above is probably inflated, and Bill's 33/month or 400/year is more accurate.

--
Moe

If you only use annual numbers, you will need a lot more than 1.5 years to notice valid trends.

I wouldn't be too quick to assume that this boat does not sell well in the winter months or has a "slack" period..these aren't snow mobiles. For example, Bill points out that he has two deposits in late September and I believe he is a Northern dealer. Also, in Florida, our seasons are reversed and we generally do a lot more boating in fall, winter and spring. Feb/March/April are probably the biggest boat selling/buying months and there are a heck of a lot of boats down here. Furthermore, this boat sells all around the world, including the Southern Hemisphere. The numbers definitely show an increase, which would be typical in the second year of production. I guess we will see in another 6 months if its a seasonal trend or not.

[Chip Hindes]

I know Tahoe has a restriction but I am almost sure that the ban does not apply to all lakes...

It doesn't apply to all lakes, only Tahoe. To the best of my knowledge that is the only decent sized lake in the entire U.S. with this ban. There may be a few somwhere could eventually ban them. Can't say about California, but the chances that it will ever apply to all lakes in other states are pretty close to zero.