How much are you willing to pay?

[Chip Hindes]

This is definitely a nice boat, but its "trailerability" is primarily in the eyes of the marketing department. Lots of bigger boats are "trailerable" in the sense that, yes, you can at least theoretically put them on a trailer. The practicality of doing so is another question. There's also a substantial practical difference in the largest size powerboat that is easily trailerable, compared to a sailboat, and that's the ability to raise and lower the sail rig.

Maximum beam without special permits is 8' in some states, 8'6" in many states, it might be 9' in a few, but are there any where it is 9'7"? The advertized tow weight is 5500 lbs with an aluminum trailer (of course not included). With a dry weight of 4400, not including the trailer, I think we can surmise that this is roughly equivalent to showing the Mac being towed by a Taurus. Add in the sail rig (will the center section require beefing up to handle the mast compression loads?), some gear, fuel and water and you're almost certainly going to be up in the 6500-7000 lb range. Unless you like to live dangerously, that's fullsize, heavy duty V-8 truck range, and for many of us that in turn means either a dedicated tow vehicle or at the very least one we wouldn't otherwise own. So the money you save on mooring and boat maintenance you'll instead spend on the tow vehicle.

Even without the permit requirement, hauling this monster down the road any appreciable distance is going to be a special treat.

The advantage of a cat compared to a monohull is the ability to pile on the sail. Otherwise, it's just a big, slow sailboat. For a boat of this size, the sail rig will have to be way bigger than that on the Mac, so there's a real question as to how easily the rig will go up and down. The mast will probably be at least 40' long, also adding yet another dimension to the towing problem.

As I said, nice boat, but I just don't buy the idea you're going to be able to sail something this big out of your driveway on a regular basis.

[deacm]

You got that right Chip. Even the designer of the Telstar 28 is careful to call his boat "Transportable", not "Trailerable"....as raising the mast is something you would not want to do very often. THat may change once they figure out an easier way to raise the heavy mast system on that boat.

I CAN say that having just finally launched my Odin 820 (Mast 28) that at 2 feet longer than the Mac, it is a breeze to rig as well as storage space to die for. As soon as I figure out how to make a cheap and dirty web site on AOL or Yahoo, I will post alot of pictures and my first impressions. (I know, I know, I've been promising that for months, but it's been a lousy summer thus far between the weather and my schedule...be patient...it'll be worth it). Anyone have any experience with creating such web locations? If so, please email me at [email protected]

[Mark Prouty]

Can't wait to see the pics and your impressions. That powersailor is similiar enough to a Mac it would be interesting to morph something into this website for the Odin 820/Mast 28. I wonder if Heath would consider it? I'd think it would be worth asking him in a private message.

[Sibyl]

I must be the only one who'd buy a new 19 if they made them. I love the X but it's more boat than I need, being single.

My retirement home dream boat is a 40-45' catamaran.

[Frank C]

I must be the only one who'd buy a new 19 if they made them. I love the X but it's more boat than I need, being single.

Maybe ... maybe not. You need to climb aboard a Mac 19 before deciding that the Mac26 is too much for you.

Some 19 owners write that lack of standing headroom gets real old, real fast. The same critique applies to the competing trailerables - Catalina 25, Hunter 24, maybe even the H-26. A very big element of Mac 26 livability is standing headroom in the galley section, and simply the ability to stand up when getting dressed, etc.

[Janusch]

Well I'm kind of surprised. When I put in

couldn't give me another boat

, I kind of did it as a tong and cheek thing. I thought nobody would have voted for that. Don't get me wrong love my 26X, but if someone was to swap my 26x for a Telstar. I think I would be hard press not to give it up. But like a lot of people have indicated, even the Telstar would not be as family orientated as the Mac. Plus I have a little 6 years old that would not talk to me for a week if I gave up the her Mystery Machine .

I voted for the 40-50 thousand (not that I have that type of money laying around, but if I could get a Telstar for that I would have to go to the first mate and at lest talk about it.

Oh and the reason I didn't go higher with the price range is it seems that most people on this board start looking cross eyed when we start talking about a boat over $70,000 .

God Speed
Dave

[Sibyl]

Frank, I'll agree with you I need to see one in the flesh. Unfortunately there just don't seem to be too many around. But since I'm only 5'4", I find headroom in boats that supposedly don't have any.

I'm taking trips down to both the DC area and the Panama City, FL area next month; I plan to take a look at the owners list on Macgregorowners.com and see if there's any one in either of those areas I might take a peek at. The DC trip may be too tight as far as time constraints go, since that trip is work related. We'll see. I'm no longer in a big hurry.....I'm being too traumatized by the boat selling process.

[jcairy]

I'm the new guy, not yet owner of an M. This is the boat I want. Haven't even been in the water on one yet but have been on an X and know this boat meets my needs. I'm delivering my Morgan 383 to its' new owner in IL Monday or Tuesday and picking up my new M from Bill at B4S later in the week. I've kept logs for the past 4 years and am spending 70% of my time with diesel assist or just flat out motoring due to lack of wind, time constraints and distant destinations. Originally thought we would schedule "all sailing" summers but children, grandchildren, and other committments haven't let this happen. I've bought a new tow vehicle, having the M equipped just the way I want it and have several thousand dollars left over from the sale of my boat to play with. Speaking from "no experience", I vote for the existing boat. Oops, I forgot all about the continual maint. of 38 feet of boat with a ton of teak! Jack

[mark,97x]

say what you want to the mac26 is the largest trailerable sailboat ,anything else is too big to reasonably handle and some boats like the mirage 5.5 that i had previously was more of a hassle then my it stood 2 1/2 foot taller on the trailer and was alot harder to launch and rig,and it was only 19-20 ft range,,,boats like the eagle 32 and norsea 27 are like the telstar transportable but not really trailerable,,and while i'm being vocal this is a mac site,,thanks heath,,,and i quess that is just my opinon