MacGregorSailors.com

Mac is a great compromise of sail and motor, but it fares poorly dedicated as a motorboat.

I strongly urge you to wet-test one at low-speeds and at high-speeds before purchasing. See for yourself if you can live with it.

I've never seen a cabin cruiser with equivalent interior volume as small as the Mac at even twice the price. Sure, it's not fantastic power only but for the price I'd challenge someone to post a link to a new cabin cruiser that has more interior space.

While you are wet testing it, I would also suggest anchoring in shallow water next to other anchored power boats. I always like seeing the look on power boater faces when they realize they no longer have exclusive rights to the shallow water. The X by the way, drafts in about 9 inches of waters if I recall correctly. Compromise isn't always bad!

A suggestion, forget it if you are trying to recommend a "one size" fits all boat. I'm enjoying my "compromise".

I agree with " For the buck" its hard to beat... depending on what you expect out of it.. Remember ...we used to call them Water-Bagoes.. Its a nice trawler/sailor/camper for under $30K New ....and can be towed easily enough and it sleeps 4 pretty nice.. Cockpit is small even on the X but its a LOT dryer in the cabin than on the deck of a Pontoon or Party/deck boat and again for overnights ? What could you honestly compare it too?
Lose the mast and the rear mast support and it begins to open up a lot.. Fuel is cheap with its small 50 to 70 HP 4 stroke engine.. Don't load it down like your following Magellan and she moves pretty well across the water under power.. My motors in 2 feet or less of water.. If I was never going to sail it again? Either remove the rudders for re-sale or cut them to half their length for docking and close maneuvering..

Three (3) easy to do additions to convert a Mac to a pure motor boat would be to add a Smart Rail http://www.thesmartrail .com , a full length keel, and a Power thruster http://www.powerthruster.com ---lots of enclosure stuff available too. E-tec 75 is worth looking into as it has tons of torque to power thru any sea with full ballast at 20+ knts and uses very little gas at trawler speeds.
If I didn't enjoy the sailing experience so much I might convert my and ditch the rigging
BTW, you'll never get a 26' cabin cruiser to handle slow speeds as well as the does with the foils down and the Power Thruster

Bob

So what are the disadvantages of smart rails/fast rails? If they uniformly increase mpg and RPM and decrease both planing speed wetness, why aren't they stock on all boats? I'm not doubting their efficacy under typical power boat conditions, but there must be some reason why the geometry is not standard for all planing powerboats.

I'm unable to think of a disadvantage though, even under sail. Does anyone have these installed and can report?

Tony Hauk and Gazman--search Smart Rails and you will see some videos.

Bob