Mac 19 vs Mac 26M vs just about anything else under 33ft

magnetic · Post by **magnetic** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:38 pm

I just got back from the Southampton Boat Show - for those of you without the benefit of living in Europe, this is the big one over here.

The Show Special on the

is now £18,495 without an engine but with a new twin axle trailer, which is exceptional value by European standards.

Having spent 30 minutes on board the

looking at and reflecting on everything in detail, I am satisfied that I made absolutely the right choice in going for the

; not that there is anything wrong with the 26, just that the

knocks the socks of everything else I saw under 33ft and from a singlehanded perspective is 100% more manageable. The Germans have an adjective - "handhablich"- which literally means - "handy", as in ergonomically convenient. The

is superb in this regard - does anyone know why they stopped building it?

Sure, the 19 has its limitations; however, these are by and large the same limitations as the 26, and to achieve any real kind of bluewater / stay-onboard-with-the-family-for-a-week capability, I am going to need to step up way beyond the

.

Or rather, I'm not.

When I want to spend more time with more people on a larger boat, I can always charter something like the Jeanneau 37 we used in Greece last month, or the Athena 38 Cat which I have just booked for Christmas in the BVI, and that way I get some fairly exotic locations and decent weather thrown in on top of the bargain.

On the other hand, when all I want is to either go for a spot of fishing in the English Channel, or have a bit of fun with my daughter - whether at sea sailing in a Force 4 or cruising down the river on a lazy Sunday afternoon - the

can do that just as well as the

or the

, and I can "bully" the 19 much more easily singlehanded than I sense I could the 26.

So, I am a very, very happy camper today! Sure, there's lot's still to do to on the

(named "Emma Zeff") - new furling gib, sort out the silly fractional rig, put in some halfway sensible winches, jammers and other deck hardware, try to figure out how to erect the sprayhood when the boom is down etc - but this is tinkering with what is fundamentally a very clever little boat.

In closing, the rope mechanism on the

rudders is a far more sensible way of conducting business than I presently have on the 19 - took some photos and will try to copy it as soon as I see a spare weekend. Has anyone got any tips on this?

They Theirs · Post by **They Theirs** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:08 pm

MacGregor International at the show

Catigale · Post by **Catigale** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:08 pm

and to achieve any real kind of bluewater / stay-onboard-with-the-family-for-a-week capability, I am going to need to step up way beyond the .

Ill disagree here. In 2007 I did three 5-7 day trips with crew of 3-5 people, and was completely self sufficient on fuel, supplies and water on my

(Ill concede a meal or two on shore)

I dont think you could pull this off on a

...and compared to Duane Dunn, Im a novice at packing it all in....

bastonjock · Post by **bastonjock** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:29 pm

i admitt that i was very tempted to go but!!! id have given my credit card a real beating

so i decided to stay at home

as for the 19vs the 26 well i always felt that id struggle to get my wife,kids and 3 dogs into a 19

what i want from my 26x is its versatility,i was down at the marina last week and an experience sailing couple were very polite and asked could we look at your boat? they were amaised at all the plus points,"i can get her under the low bridge(2.3m demasted),i only need 9 inches of water etc etc,they loved the "roomy" interior,the lines etc

I told them of some of the trade offs in her design etc

they were a retired couple living on a narrow boat,they had about 120 years of sailing between them and they loved the Mac,on hindsight i wish i had invited them out for a sail

magnetic · Post by **magnetic** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:34 pm

I agree with all of these comments, with one reservation - I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with two adults and 3 dogs (or kids) on a

for any real length of time either. If it was for more than an overnight stay, I think I'd rather charter!

BTW for all of those of you out there in Enland-land; a 26X sold on Ebay.co.uk for £10k last week, and it seemed to be in pretty good nick. Someone must have got a bargain.

However, I stand by my guns - singlehanded, I think the

is "the dogs" - and, for our American cousins - that phrase typically denotes two spherical items, not three dogs

baldbaby2000 · Post by **baldbaby2000** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:38 pm

However, I stand by my guns - singlehanded, I think the is "the dogs" - and, for our American cousins - that phrase typically denotes two spherical items, not three dogs

hahahaha...I guess I'm never too old to learn new things!

Daniel

Deeseas · Post by **Deeseas** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:45 am

Magnetic
The reason they stopped building the

as told to me when the admiral and I went for a tour of the Macgregor factory a couple of years ago, was that it was just about money, it cost Roger $500.00 more to build a

and he could sell it for $ 5,000.00 more then a

.

Doug

They Theirs · Post by **They Theirs** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:29 am

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:57 pm

I think if one removed the sailing riggging from the 19 and used it with the full 50hp engine it would be a mighty fine power boat. I haven't seen too many power boats in that size and price range with the interior of a 19 Mac. An economy power boaters dream!

waternwaves · Post by **waternwaves** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:14 pm

Terry, down here stateside.......that seems to be the regular way they are sold..

I was at Blue Water Yachts a couple of months back, and they even had a mastless one on consignment there........

and the mothership still took it in.....lol.....

kziadie · Post by **kziadie** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:32 am

The Show Special on the is now £18,495 without an engine but with a new twin axle trailer, which is exceptional value by European standards.

hmmm... out of curiousity, do you know what trailer they were offering?

Kelly

Moe · Post by **Moe** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:33 am

magnetic wrote:took some photos and will try to copy it as soon as I see a spare weekend. Has anyone got any tips on this?

Sign up on PhotoBucket.com, make your album public (in the profile) and add pictures there. PB will give you different links for each picture for different purposes. For this forum, you use the IMG links.

You can divide your album up into sub-albums. Here's one of mine (scroll down past the ads).

--
Moe

They Theirs · Post by **They Theirs** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:19 am

tangentair · Post by **tangentair** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:42 am

The Specs pretty much make the point for single handing on a 19, but the 26 is better even crowded, messy, noisy, with dogs, kids and PMS in my opinion because single is just that and life is to short not to share.

magnetic · Post by **magnetic** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:11 pm

Tangentair - I agree about life being too short, but when you are a single parent the multiple-occupancy point seldom occurs!

I am intrigued that the beam measurement of the

is very similar to that of the

, but the overall weight 50% less. True, the sail area is greatly reduced, but as the guy who suggested mastless powerboating hinted, in a side-by-side drag race my money would be on the

The big downside - and Highlander has this base covered anyhow with his wheel steering mod - is trying to handle the boat at 25 mph with a tiller set way back and fairly low down. I am a dyed-in-the-wool powerboater with 25 years experience and an RYA Instructor certificate, so maybe old habits die hard, but I find having the throttle and the tiller so far apart really disconcerting, especially when running downwind at speed!

The Southampton boat show has left me a happy man; not only do I have a lot of new toys to install over the winter months, but - having had secret doubts about the

- I am totally convinced it is the best boat I have had, being right-sized, phenomenally ergonomic and offering an optimal compromise (if such a thing is conceptually posiible) between all of my hopes and requirements. God I feel smug

PS - the new trailer is quite a smart twin axle aluminium affair - it certainly looks a lot more robust than the old single axle job, but I'm far from sure about the blue hull colour.....

MacGregorSailors.com

MacGregorSailors.com

Mac 19 vs Mac 26M vs just about anything else under 33ft

Mac 19 vs Mac 26M vs just about anything else under 33ft

Re: Mac 19 vs Mac 26M vs just about anything else under 33ft