Any news on the Tattoo 22?

[RobertB]

I anticipate the will NOT be cheaper. It really seems like from all the conversation, that the was not turning the profit needed. The has to make up all the engineering and tooling costs, much of that already paid for long ago on the . Add to that the fact the will still have all the hardware, fittings, and engine of a - the only savings is material for four feet of hull, labor for this four feet is minor.
My guess is that they are hoping the reputation of the will help sell the . That and the idea that the market for the is already saturated, maybe. Personally, I think this is a gamble. I hope it pays off. I agree that most people are interested in a larger boat and this is where the market is really limited for a trailer sailer, smaller boats are easier to design for trailer mobility.
As far as tooling for the , yes this was probably old but is not that hard to make new molds in that all the contours exist, they can use an existing hull as a master gauge (if master gauges/molds do not exist) to make the new molds. Tooling refresh is standard in any industry.

[rruyack]

I was just wondering how big is the cockpit is on the 22, in relation to the cockpit int the X or smaller M. Most of us spend most of the time topsides, so will be interesting to see the relative dimensions. If larger might be a selling point and sway some on the fence people?

[Russ]

The front windows remind me a bit of earlier small multihulls where they were also trying to squeeze big space in a small package.

Yes, you're right. It does look like you could put two together and make a nice cat. Hey..wait a minute.

[mastreb]

I wonder what the factory was doing when they took that mold of a MacGregor 26D, and upgraded the mast to rotating as compensation.

Too bad that project doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. I'd kind of figured it was going to come out as a subsequent model, a return to true sailboats rather than power-sailors. But obviously that's not the case.

There was some scuttlebutt that they were licensing the hull design to someone else (Hunter?) to produce a new boat based on, but Hunter isn't making anything between 22 and 31 feet at the moment.

[BOAT]

I think your on the right track Matt - I bet it was a legit splash-off (as opposed to the dozens of stolen ones). Someone out there knows who paid for the splash-off.

The D boat is the fastest boat in the fleet - whomever has that mold now is probably just waiting for the M boat new and used inventory to dwindle and then see if their gamble paid off? I think someone out there is sitting on a mold. (Who could it be?)

[Russ]

I think your on the right track Matt - I bet it was a legit splash-off (as opposed to the dozens of stolen ones). Someone out there knows who paid for the splash-off.

The D boat is the fastest boat in the fleet - whomever has that mold now is probably just waiting for the M boat new and used inventory to dwindle and then see if their gamble paid off? I think someone out there is sitting on a mold. (Who could it be?)

Interesting.
Mike Inmon seems to be the closest to the factory that is willing to talk. Maybe he knows what went on with that boat. Is a hull patented/copyrighted? I would think so.

You'd have to update the transom a bit for today's market. Maybe add a sugar scoop. But for a water ballasted 26 footer it was a great boat. Put a new deck on it and voila.

--Russ

[dlandersson]

Just glad I've got my

I think your on the right track Matt - I bet it was a legit splash-off (as opposed to the dozens of stolen ones). Someone out there knows who paid for the splash-off.

The D boat is the fastest boat in the fleet - whomever has that mold now is probably just waiting for the M boat new and used inventory to dwindle and then see if their gamble paid off? I think someone out there is sitting on a mold. (Who could it be?)

Interesting.
Mike Inmon seems to be the closest to the factory that is willing to talk. Maybe he knows what went on with that boat. Is a hull patented/copyrighted? I would think so.

You'd have to update the transom a bit for today's market. Maybe add a sugar scoop. But for a water ballasted 26 footer it was a great boat. Put a new deck on it and voila.

--Russ

[Russ]

Just glad I've got my

If you think about it, I don't believe there is any production water ballasted powersailer on the market. So the inventory is a finite amount of X/Ms and a handful of Edge's. A well cared for X/M should be increasing in demand.

S/D Macs should also be in demand.

[BOAT]

The X and the M as a used boat is going to become a Corvette in the used car market. Even now, just this past Monday I was pulling into the harbor and people were pointing at 'boat' as we slowly (very slowly 3.5 kts) motored past the fuel dock to the restaurant deck tie up at the Oside Broiler. The M boat is a rare thing in these parts and those that know about them like to tell the story of the sailboat that roars to life peeling off at over 20 miles per hour. "What is that?" people say and others go "Oh! I have have seen those things before, see that big engine on the back? Those things go faster than a cabin cruiser!" Usually it's people in small power boats that are doing the pointing or land lubbers on the shore. There are people who expect and want to see the boat take off real fast but I always keep it really slow, purposely slower than the other sailboats putting along on their diesel inboards or tiny 7 hp outboards because I want to make the point that 'boat' is a SAILBOAT, NOT a ski boat. The other sailors appreciate that.

'boat' really does go really fast under full throttle and sometimes if the ballast is still empty and the boards are still up I will throw the throttle wide open at the mouth of the harbor leaving the marina causing whistles and whoop from the groups of people that are always standing on the breakwater rocks at the opening to the harbor. The power boats always throttle up at that point where the harbor meets the ocean just to create large wakes for the sailboats to get knocked in but I have put quite surprise in a few large cabin cruisers skippers in the mouth of that harbor when I throw the throttle to full and overtake them and pass right by them and leave a wake for THEM to bounce on! (Albeit a fairly small wake) but they get the point pretty good much to the delight of the folks watching from the rocks.

The hybrid performance of the M boat is going to become legend like the Amphibious car or the Flying Boat, or like many other things that used to exist in the past that are such novelties now. That novelty will become very rare and sought after as the legend starts to build, but that is still a few years away yet.

[Russ]

The hybrid performance of the M boat is going to become legend like the Amphibious car or the Flying Boat, or like many other things that used to exist in the past that are such novelties now. That novelty will become very rare and sought after as the legend starts to build, but that is still a few years away yet.

Could be a legend.
Could be the Corvair of boats.

With the X/M gone, that leaves a vacuum. I'd love to hear what demand dealers have seen. Especially the past 6 months as the economy seems to be gaining steam. Could be an opportunity for another company to step in. Hunter could try again without competition. Maybe lighter materials could produce an easy trailerable boat. I've often thought the Mac needed a more modern look. Perhaps there is opportunity for some entrepreneur.

--Russ

[BOAT]

I like the look of the MAC. From the rear it looks like a WWII submarine and from the side it looks like a 1970's Corvette. From the front it looks like a sailboat.

What could be better than that?

[RobertB]

Boat, I think you need glasses

[BOAT]

Boat, I think you need glasses

Huh? You think someone my age is too old to drink from the bottle?

[Signaleer]

The hybrid performance of the M boat is going to become legend like the Amphibious car or the Flying Boat, or like many other things that used to exist in the past that are such novelties now. That novelty will become very rare and sought after as the legend starts to build, but that is still a few years away yet.

Could be a legend.
Could be the Corvair of boats.

With the X/M gone, that leaves a vacuum. I'd love to hear what demand dealers have seen. Especially the past 6 months as the economy seems to be gaining steam. Could be an opportunity for another company to step in. Hunter could try again without competition. Maybe lighter materials could produce an easy trailerable boat. I've often thought the Mac needed a more modern look. Perhaps there is opportunity for some entrepreneur.

--Russ

How about a different business modoel? Sell 'shells' and let people finish them as they will (which is I guess what an M / X is sorta anyways [full disclosure I still have my Pearson and have only been on an M here in the SF Bay]).

If we could get orders for say 10 or 20 'hulls'... maybe we could get them laid up in carbon, push the water ballast wider, put a bulb / weight on the db and get a corvette doner-car and put the engine in it... (I know I know.. go home... I'm drunk)...

[BOAT]

Your sort of making my point for me. We are not typical people. I think there was a time when there were a lot of us that had no problem with the idea of "building our own boat". Here where I live half the guys my age built their own surfboards 40 years ago. The surfers today don't even know what resin is or they think it's something you smoke.

We are a different generation. I was with Brady yesterday, the guy that owns the POWERMOVER company (the one that builds those cool electric tractors that can tow your boat or RV all over your property) and he is a self made guy, our age, entrepreneur, inventor, you know, like a lot of us. He told me a lot of things. He said he can't hire regular 20 to 30 year old American born people because they are lazy and will not work. He said the "millennial" generation (20 to 30) are lazy, highly educated, want everything handed to them, live at home with mom and dad, and have no clue how to work hard. Brady said the saving hope of the current millennial generation is socialism - they want a utopian society where everyone works 4 hours a day and all is provided to all. They hate anything that smacks of "effort".

The continuing re-depression of 2008 was hard on a lot of small manufacturing businesses. Brady moved his shop 16 miles from San Clemente to Oceanside last year. It's cheaper here and there is still a blue collar workforce available in this little corner of California. As you know, San Clemente is in Orange County where MacGregor boats was. The same 'gentrification' that happened in Costa Mesa that pushed out Roger is spreading even to the sparse hinterlands of places like San Clemente and San Onofre right up against the border of Camp Pendleton. The only thing protecting Oceanside from this wave is the Marine Base. American upper class do not know that the lower middle class are still in a depression. Rich people are doing better and they think the depression is over because of the stock market, but this is a trick created by Federal reserve pumping. People who NEVER own stocks (the blue collar people) are poorer than they have ever been. The future of a "cheap sailboat for the masses" is bleak. The party is over on that front. No one is going to build that anymore. There will be no market.

I hardly doubt the current upcoming population of boat purchasers from this "millennial" group are going to want anything to do with "MODS", no way: MODS smacks with 'effort', which is anathema to the new generation. I think boat builders are just adjusting to the current reality.