About to Buy an M~ Questions

jmann · Post by **jmann** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:33 am

Hi All,
I think this is the weekend, if all goes well, we'll be putting a deposit on a new M.
A couple of questions for the board:
Blue hull: Besides being faster, is it hotter in the summer. Does it fade to a chalky blue?
Water Ballast: Can you motor with the tanks empty like the X or must they stay full like Frank M used to rant about?
Opening Ports: I would really like to install some opening ports on the upper row. Something like on the Mast28. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Joel

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:39 am

jmann wrote:Hi All,
I think this is the weekend, if all goes well, we'll be putting a deposit on a new M.
A couple of questions for the board:
Blue hull: Besides being faster, is it hotter in the summer. Does it fade to a chalky blue?
Water Ballast: Can you motor with the tanks empty like the X or must they stay full like Frank M used to rant about?
Opening Ports: I would really like to install some opening ports on the upper row. Something like on the Mast28. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Joel

The blue is warmer in the sun. If you have ur back to the hull where the sun is..you can certainly feel it. Not sure how much more temp rise you get..but there is some. Make sure you get a good vent.

I havent motored with an empty ballast..you can..but it might be a bit unstable.

I would nix the opening ports...thats just me

Paul

Tom Root · Post by **Tom Root** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:57 am

Well good for you...congrats!

Blue hull, faster....

Maybe it is faster as you want to finish a race faster because it is too hot to be aboard, and ya just wanna get er' done....hmmm, great stategy actually!

DLT · Post by **DLT** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:57 am

I've got a white M, so I can't speak about the heat/fading of a blue hull, but I can tell you those were two of my concerns in choosing white...

Another reason other was the dings I KNOW I will inflict... I just seems that white gel coat has got to be easier to match... I expect that dings in the blue gel coat will be hard to hide...

I have powered at WOT with no ballast. It was windy, but there was no wave action. I felt reasonably secure. I wasn't worried. I had the mast lowered. I'm not sure I'd do it very much with the mast raised...

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:58 am

DLT wrote:I've got a white M, so I can't speak about the heat/fading of a blue hull, but I can tell you those were two of my concerns in choosing white...

Another reason other was the dings I KNOW I will inflict... I just seems that white gel coat has got to be easier to match... I expect that dings in the blue gel coat will be hard to hide...

I have powered at WOT with no ballast. It was windy, but there was no wave action. I felt reasonably secure. I wasn't worried. I had the mast lowered. I'm not sure I'd do it very much with the mast raised...

Gelcoat repair is not too difficult (for superficial damage). I have repaired a few white spots with amazing results, other than the west marine white was a bit brighter than the mac white. I just ordered some blue from Bill to finish a few blue damaged areas. Hope my blue repair is as good as the white. I will post some before and after pictures of the repair.....that is if this snow ever melts!

But the blue does show scratches, from fenders, etc a lot more than I would care for. Our last boat, blue as well, didn't show nearly as much rubbing scratch damage that the Mac does. with or without fender covers...it got scratched a lot more than I expected it would.

Love the Blue..but am seriously thinking it was a mistake for the long run. I would probably still get it...it does look striking when cleaned and waxed (as long as you are not too close)

Paul

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:11 pm

Moe wrote:Although I already had some West Marine white, I took Tom Spohn's advice and ordered some color matched MacGregor white from BWY when I was ordering some other stuff from them. Haven't used it yet.

--
Moe

I figured white was white.. the repair was small and you can not notice it...the glaring swirl marks are still there from initial delivery...that takes the attention away from noticing the slight shade difference in the 2 whites

richandlori · Post by **richandlori** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:28 pm

I have a Blue Hull 2004 26M and love it...BUT...I wouldn't get a blue hull if I had it to do over again. Sure, it is the best looking boat in my dry storage marina (personal opinion) as most others are white hulls. Then came the scratches! The blue hull shows every little scratch, ding, and flaw and I can tell you how every scratch happend and how my heart broke with each one. I think a white hull still would look good and lead to easier long tearm care.

CONGRADULATIONS and enjoy.

Rich
Bakersfield, CA

Paul S · Post by **Paul S** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:40 pm

RichandLori wrote:I have a Blue Hull 2004 26M and love it...BUT...I wouldn't get a blue hull if I had it to do over again. Sure, it is the best looking boat in my dry storage marina (personal opinion) as most others are white hulls. Then came the scratches! The blue hull shows every little scratch, ding, and flaw and I can tell you how every scratch happend and how my heart broke with each one. I think a white hull still would look good and lead to easier long tearm care.

CONGRADULATIONS and enjoy.

Rich
Bakersfield, CA

I have no idea why the mac blue is so sensitive to scratches..we owned a blue boat for 14 years...never did it have the scratches the mac has...even when we sold it a few weeks ago...the gelcoat looked super.

Paul

Moe · Post by **Moe** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:53 pm

Try this on your swirls and scratches. Works for me.

--
Moe

richandlori · Post by **richandlori** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:07 pm

Thanks for the tip Moe, I just ordered a bottle and will report back on how it does to sheild my eyes from the horrors of scratches on my baby.

Rich

Moe · Post by **Moe** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:11 pm

I guess I should also mention they sell it by the six-pack.

baldbaby2000 · Post by **baldbaby2000** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 4:02 pm

We looked at a blue hull at the dealer and it did seem to show scratches and dings much more than a white would. He wanted to give us the blue for the same price as the white but we went with the white anyway.

We motor with no ballast most of the time. The M has some fixed ballast so I guess it would be as good or better than the X for stability with no ballast. We always have the mast up. Haven't noticed instability but we try to be cautious. I've been told that leaving the dagger board and rudders down at high speeds can be disatrous especially during a turn.

There is a mod with ports into the cockpit to ventilate the aft berth. http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... record=294

Hope you enjoy your boat.

BB

mtc · Post by **mtc** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:47 pm

The double row of ports on te M make for a much taller boat - even if it's not really taller than the X. Even if it's an illusion, the boat seemed stockier to me. That's why I went to the blue hull. The long blue swath across the hull gives the boat a more elegant look and takes away from the 'tallness' of the freeboard.

As for the heat, well that will be something to contend with. I would imagine that the sun hitting that darker color will certainly absorb more heat than the white. Not sure if all that black on the deck will make the difference of hull color that significant. After all, for the sun to hit the hull, the coeficient will be low, but the sun on the decks - on those black stripes - that would be intense. I plan on fabing and installing some sort of UV block for the two forward ports. They will let in some heat for sure.

Scratches too will be much more apparant on the blue as well. I was planning on using some of that color-laden liquid filler I've seen like what's avaible for cars. If anyone knows of such a product for this color blue, let us faster hulls know.

All in all, I just liked the blue - it matches my Jeep and is my favorite color! Ah, our toys. . .

Michael

Moe · Post by **Moe** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:47 pm

mtc wrote:I plan on fabing and installing some sort of UV block for the two forward ports. They will let in some heat for sure.

I'm thinking of lining our curtains with either that foil bubble wrap, or that "space blanket" material. I wonder if you wet it, the latter would stick on over the black stripe and front windows, like a race car windshield tear-off?

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Moe

Chip Hindes · Post by **Chip Hindes** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:40 am

If all you want is UV block, dark color Sunbrella snapped to the outside is what they use on all the big money powerboats.

If you want something which will cut down the heat as well, light Sunbrella; the UV protection of the light colors is not as good, though.

Lining the curtains with mylar bubble stuff sounds like an awful lot of trouble, and I can't imagine it would be very durable. Space blanket stuff also mylar I believe, might work.

Wetting it to make it stick on the outside sounds like a really bad idea. All you need is one corner sticking up and the wind will peel it off and send it over the side. Plus eventually it will dry anyway. Screw in snaps is the way to go, but man those things hurt when you step on them with bare feet.

Or is this humor that I missed?

MacGregorSailors.com

MacGregorSailors.com

About to Buy an M~ Questions

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