MacGregorSailors.com

A new boat owner is not going to want to build their own, they're going to want one pretty much ready to sail.

Don't confuse the people on this board with the majority of Mac owners. There are LOTS of Mac owners around the southern Lake Michigan area, and fairly few post here.

Yes, what he said. We are the minority (we on this site) in the sailboat world. Like he said, most boat owners are not like us.

I think we on this site are different and that's why we are having such a hard time understanding why the MAC 26M is coming to an end. It does not make sense to us. But we here are a tiny minority - most of the boat buying public are not like us.

I have to agree with the assertion that most boat owners are not much like the members of this board, even MacGregor owners. I see numerous Macs in the Marinas down here in San Diego just languishing in the water, under-used, growing a bottom forest, and un-modified from how they were delivered. Makes me kind of sad, but most people really do just want a "turn-key" experience with a finished boat.

I'm going to heavily mod our Beneteau for cruising when I retire, but until then it'll be bone stock, mostly because it came with all the needful things I had to put on the Mac but also because you can't really sell a heavily modified boat anymore. People aren't looking for custom or anything that has to be surveyed and learned. They want a 10 year old boat to look just like the 10 year old brochure they fell in love with.

Now, all that said, people like us do constitute a market, it's just not turn-key market. I think selling fiberglass shells based on the 26M for $10K each, along with a functional parts supplier (like BWY, presuming they remain) would be a viable but small business, especially since the boat can be build as a pure sailor, power sailor, trawler, or cabin cruiser as the buyer decides.

But its definitely a smaller market, no doubt about it, and shipping costs would wind up dominating the price.

Maybe the right thing to do for the DIY market is to double down: Create a set of "stitch & glue" plans based on the 26M and sell pre-cut marine-grade plywood and hardware for people to assemble their own boats, so you could ship-flat as freight. Customers would then source their own trailer locally, and the kit could be assembled directly on-trailer as you build. With all the wood precision CNC machined in advance with all the holes drilled for copper wire, the maker doesn't have to have skill, just time.

mastreb wrote:Maybe the right thing to do for the DIY market is to double down: Create a set of "stitch & glue" plans based on the 26M and sell pre-cut marine-grade plywood and hardware for people to assemble their own boats, so you could ship-flat as freight. Customers would then source their own trailer locally, and the kit could be assembled directly on-trailer as you build. With all the wood precision CNC machined in advance with all the holes drilled for copper wire, the maker doesn't have to have skill, just time.

Those stitch and glue plans already exist - the Dudley Dix DiDi26. I was about to build a modified version when we discovered the already built with most of what we wanted.

Oh yeah--I remember looking at that and being impressed with it from one of your earlier posts. Their kit for the DiDi 26, including plans, foils, and shipping, is something like $7,000 so yes, that's the price-point.

"Kit Boat" . . . just the name smacks of effort.

Okay, how about "Boat kit"?

BOAT wrote:"Kit Boat" . . . just the name smacks of effort.

Hello all,

No longer sailing a mac but still following along and awaiting the Tattoo 22, just noticed pictures on the website of the first hull moving along:

http://tattooyachts.com/tattoo-22-photos/

francis joshua

Wow, how many of you guys would like to have a dock right in your back yard?

Nice

BOAT wrote:Wow, how many of you guys would like to have a dock right in your back yard?

Nice

I would, mine is nearly 4 miles away!

I HATE HATE HATE bottom paint. If I were a wealthy wealthy guy I would have a house on the water with a boat house and a lift for 'boat' because even if I had a dock I would not want the boat in the water all the time. I would want it lifted out of the water when not in use so that nothing would grow on the bottom. And I hate bottom paint (did I mention that?) so I would not paint the bottom so I would need a lift or my own launch ramp even if my back yard went to the Ocean.

If I was rich enough to have a place on the water with my own dock in the backyard I probably would be able to afford a lift - so my hatred of bottom paint would probably not be a big deal if I was a rich guy. (Cuz I hate bottom paint - I said that, right?).

BOAT wrote:Wow, how many of you guys would like to have a dock right in your back yard?

Nice

Would be nice. My uncle lives on a canal in Louisiana. Beautiful to look out at the water. However, he has to have a lift because boats go screaming down the canal at 60mph making wakes (and noise). Wakes beat up the boat unless it's lifted out of the water.

We now have a 90 minute drive to the marina. Sure would be nice to have a 90 second walk.

Just for you -if I were a rich man...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc

BOAT wrote:I HATE HATE HATE bottom paint. If I were a wealthy wealthy guy I would have a house on the water with a boat house and a lift for 'boat' because even if I had a dock I would not want the boat in the water all the time. I would want it lifted out of the water when not in use so that nothing would grow on the bottom. And I hate bottom paint (did I mention that?) so I would not paint the bottom so I would need a lift or my own launch ramp even if my back yard went to the Ocean.

If I was rich enough to have a place on the water with my own dock in the backyard I probably would be able to afford a lift - so my hatred of bottom paint would probably not be a big deal if I was a rich guy. (Cuz I hate bottom paint - I said that, right?).

I would have been interested in an M kitboat.

Custom layup more glass
No liners
Basic bulkheads glassed in
Basic rigging kit with Hyde sails
Cruising deck hardware package installed.

The hull would have to be slightly re engineered to be strong enough without the liners.
It might actually be lighter.
The underside of the deck mold and inside hull surfaces could just be rolled on gelcoat. Better then the fabric which is hard to clean.

The above assumes some care in the finished moldings, sans glass shards and rough edges on the current boats.
The advantage of no liners means being able to glass the hull deck joint from inside.
Once you got your boat you could tab in more interior structures for exactly what you wanted.

There found also be several deck options. Daysailor extra big cockpit with just a cuddy cabin
A blue water option with maybe standup headroom in a small doghouse and the current deck option could be the family option.

There could also be an inside lead ballast option maybe for the blue water deck package. The kit builder would furnish the lead.

All models would benefit from a slightly wider daggerboard. It could even be tapered.
I understand why Roger did not want to offer any options but I think he missed out on a lot of sales.
Ix

What is going on with the Tattoo 22?
Are they in the new factory yet? Has production started? It has been SIX MONTHS since the pictures of the first one were posted and still no news.

I sold my 26s last summer thinking that before this summer, I would have my new Tattoo 22 to sail around. If someone has some answers please share. I am starting to worry the Tattoo 22 is a like a unicorn, I will never see one in person.

Thanks,

A frustrated sailor.