MacGregor 26M Boat Moulds

[Russ]

I do too Russ, I think it would be great if one of you guys got the molds and started a small shaper shop doing one boat a month like they did in the olden days. A hand crafted 26 slightly customized to meet the customers desires would fetch a pretty good wage for a months work. They all don't have to be exactly alike when you build them like that, and you can focus on the hard core customers that are willing to pay bigger bucks for a MAC cuz that's what they want. It's a one of a kind boat - and to a smaller customer base it could be very profitable.

Problem is our environmental laws are worse than California all our boat manufactures have moved to China or Thailand transport is a killer and labour cost are high. The MACH 28 when it was made here cost over $125k new a similar new even after import shipping duties tax etc. cost $70 (our $ was only worth 60cents US then) so $55k for an extra 2 feet and better build quality did not cut it, they went broke.

And that is Rodger's secret foremost he is a smart business man and he knew his market well, a middle class family men without a lot of money who would accept marginal quality for a price point And crazy Scottish Canadians like Highlander with more money than sense that would turn the boat into anything they wanted

Wow! $125k for a 28' boat? Yea, prob not a good market. That's where Roger had it figured out. He managed to churn out an affordable boat. Especially when the volume was up there. 1 boat per day makes the fixed costs impact the final price. I suspect Laura is discovering that.

I wouldn't think Oz to have higher enviro laws than California. Interesting. I still think about it as a retirement place. Beautiful coast and great people.

[Mac26Mpaul]

There's a couple of those Mackman 28s on the beach here with the Macs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOiru5i-zxE

It would be way too expensive to just make a few boats from those moulds.

[bahama bound]

I have a friend that bought a 42 foot cat salvage and cut it apart stretched it 7 feet and built a 49 foot catamaran mold out of using it as a male plug .believe he built 12 of them before quiting .the hull was fairly cheap in the scheme of things ,the money was all in the finishing ,sails ,rigging ,two diesels I begged him to co-op the molds or do a few more boats and sell them as hulls for people to buy and finish for them selves but they were monsters at 49 ,beam was 25 feet .he built him under the name ocean cat ,I guess the miles are sitting in a field out here .like I said before I would like to see a 32 foot ,center cockpit mac ........ Trailerable of course.

[BOAT]

I do too Russ, I think it would be great if one of you guys got the molds and started a small shaper shop doing one boat a month like they did in the olden days. A hand crafted 26 slightly customized to meet the customers desires would fetch a pretty good wage for a months work. They all don't have to be exactly alike when you build them like that, and you can focus on the hard core customers that are willing to pay bigger bucks for a MAC cuz that's what they want. It's a one of a kind boat - and to a smaller customer base it could be very profitable.

Problem is our environmental laws are worse than California all our boat manufactures have moved to China or Thailand transport is a killer and labour cost are high. The MACH 28 when it was made here cost over $125k new a similar new even after import shipping duties tax etc. cost $70 (our $ was only worth 60cents US then) so $55k for an extra 2 feet and better build quality did not cut it, they went broke.

And that is Rodger's secret foremost he is a smart business man and he knew his market well, a middle class family men without a lot of money who would accept marginal quality for a price point And crazy Scottish Canadians like Highlander with more money than sense that would turn the boat into anything they wanted

Wow! $125k for a 28' boat? Yea, prob not a good market. That's where Roger had it figured out. He managed to churn out an affordable boat. Especially when the volume was up there. 1 boat per day makes the fixed costs impact the final price. I suspect Laura is discovering that.

I wouldn't think Oz to have higher enviro laws than California. Interesting. I still think about it as a retirement place. Beautiful coast and great people.

Geeze! and I thought MONTANA was the retirement place!! ??

[kadet]

I wouldn't think Oz to have higher enviro laws than California

When you have a few weeks to kill you can read all 893 pages of them
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/legi ... rota94.pdf

[Wayne nicol]

i know a fair bit about glass and moulds etc- back in the old country we had a company that designed and built high performance kayaks, and all the accessories. in our countrys first year back in the olympics, we supplied the national Olympic team with their boats etc. any way i digress- just some background.
but i am not a professional NA, but speaking to quite a few- the mac hull could be improved on quite a bit.
some of the design features in the mac hull are related to the ease and simplicity in the mould making and part pulls.- reducing defects- increasing productivity etc- and that was his main focus high production!!

i do agree however that a better topsides could have been devised/designed- but that is only my opinion- which is obviously not a very representative one, as too many boats have been sold that would prove me wrong.
but personally i would have preferred something just a tad more traditional looking , i find the "kevin Costner mega yacht" lookalike too pretentious and loud- but like i said i am only one voice in the wilderness.

but i do know; that with the moulds, a few affordable boats could be produced- a huge amount of time and money goes into plug creation and mould building- the costs of these moulds are so cheap- that amortized over even a few boats- it would still be negligible!
remember the costs in the moulds- would normally inlude a Na's design- say 25 k, building the plug- another 25k, building a good set of moulds, 10k.
this is all going as a package, for the princly sum of $500.
if i could get my hands on those moulds- i would snap them up!!
remember roger kept material costs down, by buying in huge volume- and so negotiated better prices with suppliers!

but i also realize that there is heaps of hidden costs in all the small details and fixtures.
oh and dont forget : covered factory space???, an office??? marketing team???
as said above- wouldnt it be cool though to be able to buy the bare boat for say 10k- then the individual can finish the fit out- an achievable dream for a home builder- but there are enough used macs out there to hardly justify even that!
what the industry needs is a totally new and revolutionary boat- yes ... maybe using some of the mac "innovations" but also some new ones too-
the boating world does not start and stop with macs!!!!
but hey... i love my mac too- not for what it looks like(sadly) but rather for what it can do for me and my family.

however, i would love a boat that offered the freedom of the mac- but was also kind on the eyes!!

[Mac26Mpaul]

"but hey... i love my mac too- not for what it looks like(sadly) but rather for what it can do for me and my family."

+1 - My wife reckons its the best looking sailing boat she has seen, I'm not too big on the toy Euro trashy super yacht type look myself and much prefer the lines of a traditional sailboat - if it looked like say, a Westsail 32, I would love it even more than I do. Still, when it comes to seeing a sailboat scooting past on the plane, Traditional sailboat lines would look really silly and the Mac's look kind of seems to pull it off quite well.

[dlandersson]

Not sure Roger ever had a "marketing team" - the boats and dealers pretty much kept the product in demand.

Most boat owners (to start) want something that will at least be minimally sailable right out of the gate - hence the dealer "add ons".

oh and dont forget: marketing team???

as said above- wouldnt it be cool though to be able to buy the bare boat for say 10k- then the individual can finish the fit out- an achievable dream for a home builder

[Wayne nicol]

Dl, that was his "marketing team " right there- and it did cost him, like all marketing does- instead of commissions, he was giving wholesale prices to them.
but anyway i aint gonna split hairs here- was just making some broad and general statements.
i do agree about the out the gate - ready to go boats- like many back yard builders, a vast majority of boat projects get abandoned.
alot of commitment to finish a project like that.
for many, the mods are a great way to create an individual boat, and to add something real to your own boat, without a huge commitment in time and money for a major build from scratch or to finish from a bare hull.

you are right though Mac26, the euro styling does lend itself more to the high speed portion of the boat, but i do believe that there could be some kind of compromise in the design, more of a salty look- yet still stylish- she dont need to look like a square rigger

[Ixneigh]

As I said before I love the look of the M. This after having traditional boats all my life including wood ones.
It's a nice switch.
Re molds, with a bit more length and a removable mold plug near the stern it cound be made into a strictly sailing model. Outfitted with a ten or fifteen hp motor.
I'd consider a bare hull if I could specify layup. And I'd lose the liner inside, nothing but a pita

Ix

[Russ]

Not sure Roger ever had a "marketing team" - the boats and dealers pretty much kept the product in demand.

Ya think?

[Mac26Mpaul]

Les, the guy selling the Machman 28 moulds (he doesn't seem to know much about them and was told they were Macgregor moulds) has told me he needs to get them out of the shed asap. I have just suggested he flog them on Fleebay or similar. If any local wants a project and a half, get onto him now and I'm sure you can pick em up for a bargain price.

[Highlander]

Guy,s u need to get ur heads outa the chicken coupe , u can easily do things to make ur boat more traditional with lots of diff. mods
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u119 ... 09dvie.jpg

Let the sun shine in
https://youtu.be/I8JGckmN5n0

U just gotta work @ it
https://youtu.be/oSGOgWrpezs

The Mac,s r special because they can be modified to ur own preferences , u can make ur own traditional modified boat that no one else would have , we r leader,s not traditional follower,s , doe,s not take much to be a traditional follower anyone can do that . But it doe,s take incentive & initiative to be a traditional leader & make ur own tradition stand out above everyone else,s to have gone & tred where other,s have feared travel , remember that,s what make,s us macr,s so diff. & above the regular traditionalist,s alot not all talk a good story about tradition where as we made our own tradition stand out. So be proud of it & make ur stand ur MAC. tradition stand out above everyone else Idea of what they think tradition is !!

Just sayin thats all Folk,s be proud of ur Mac Gez I do rant on don,t I

J

[mastreb]

I do too Russ, I think it would be great if one of you guys got the molds and started a small shaper shop doing one boat a month like they did in the olden days. A hand crafted 26 slightly customized to meet the customers desires would fetch a pretty good wage for a months work. They all don't have to be exactly alike when you build them like that, and you can focus on the hard core customers that are willing to pay bigger bucks for a MAC cuz that's what they want. It's a one of a kind boat - and to a smaller customer base it could be very profitable.

Sounds like you should buy the molds....

Back to the drift: "Stole ideas" is a very strong statement. All innovation is actually based on prior inventions of other people. Yes, sometimes the inspiration is direct, but XEROX didn't patent their OS for the Star and Steve Jobs didn't actually "take" anything from them: He implemented a different vision of the GUI with his own team. Similarly, While Roger wasn't the very first with water ballast, he was mere months behind and clearly already in development at the time. Besides that, water ballast has been used in tankers for decades prior to stabilize less than full cargo ships.

In America, we have a true love for stories of novelty and for inventors. Roger was more of an integrator, which is actually a far more important role: The person who combines numerous inventions into a working, practical whole.

[dlandersson]

Reminds me of the ancient Greeks. In one of Plato's lesser known works he makes a statement — "he says that the Greeks never invented anything, but everything they borrowed they improved upon."

I do too Russ, I think it would be great if one of you guys got the molds and started a small shaper shop doing one boat a month like they did in the olden days. A hand crafted 26 slightly customized to meet the customers desires would fetch a pretty good wage for a months work. They all don't have to be exactly alike when you build them like that, and you can focus on the hard core customers that are willing to pay bigger bucks for a MAC cuz that's what they want. It's a one of a kind boat - and to a smaller customer base it could be very profitable.

Sounds like you should buy the molds....

Back to the drift: "Stole ideas" is a very strong statement. All innovation is actually based on prior inventions of other people. Yes, sometimes the inspiration is direct, but XEROX didn't patent their OS for the Star and Steve Jobs didn't actually "take" anything from them: He implemented a different vision of the GUI with his own team. Similarly, While Roger wasn't the very first with water ballast, he was mere months behind and clearly already in development at the time. Besides that, water ballast has been used in tankers for decades prior to stabilize less than full cargo ships.

In America, we have a true love for stories of novelty and for inventors. Roger was more of an integrator, which is actually a far more important role: The person who combines numerous inventions into a working, practical whole.