Are we all on the same page here???
This is a Macgregor 26. 
Looks like a fine vessel for extended coastal cruising but I do not think that or any other outboard motor is going to get it up on the plane.http://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/macgregor-26/170410
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
Select to expand quoteMorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
yeah but .......... maybe they put some loktight on them !!!!!! 
Select to expand quoteMorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
Select to expand quoteJolene said..MorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
I take it you have seen an S&S34's chain plates? They weigh the same as the Macgregor with trailer. :-)
Select to expand quoteJolene said..MorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
Christ Joelene,
An S&S 34 is an icon for safe passage making and all round bulldog toughness. Any sailor would trust his life with an S&S 34 mate....they've been barrel rolled in the Southern Ocean and haven't even lost the rig. Respect.
Having more sailing experience than most people on this forum I have decided I would have a say and be blunt. To sail a MacGregor 26 on the trip you are looking at is stupidity. The boat was never designed for such a trip and to think you can just run the boat up the beach in WA like a Hobie Cat is not possable due the the extensive fringing reef down the WA coast. 35 To 35 knots of wind is not uncommon off shore, have you had the boat off shore in these wind and sea conditions? Put a little tide against it and you will have conditions like the Sydney Hobart just gone, I think you would **** bricks.All I can hope is you intend to do this trip single handed so as you are not endangering any body elses life. If I was you I would hope that AMSA don't hear of this venture as they may want a please explain before letting you go. It is ventures like this that make the authority's over regulate our sport. If you want to do an adventure like this, go and get a boat that is designed and built for such an adventure. Eg. An S&S 34. When it all goes Turtle, literally, you won't' get any sympathy from me. There is a line between adventure and stupidity and I believe you are about to cross it.
Hands up everyone who has commented here that has actualy sailed the whole length of the WA coast at least once.
Navy doesnt count
Select to expand quoteRiffRaff said..
Hands up everyone who has commented here that has actualy sailed the whole length of the WA coast at least once.
Navy doesnt count
I have not sailed it but have fished most of it from a boat from Darwin to Perth. As I said lots of fringing reef and great fishing.
Select to expand quoteRiffRaff said..
Hands up everyone who has commented here that has actualy sailed the whole length of the WA coast at least once.
Navy doesnt count
Bugger!
Select to expand quoteShaggybaxter said..Jolene said..MorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
Christ Joelene,
An S&S 34 is an icon for safe passage making and all round bulldog toughness. Any sailor would trust his life with an S&S 34 mate....they've been barrel rolled in the Southern Ocean and haven't even lost the rig. Respect.
Sadly,, I wasn't actually referring to chainplates as they weren't mentioned. I was commenting about what I mistakenly figured Morning Bird was talking about, that is ,T- terminal fittings that retain shrouds into the mast. Backing plates and retainer straps that are held in place with pop rivets or screws that appear to be holding in shrouds.
And just to go one step further, in regards to ss34 comments , Pink lady had these shroud T- terminals and yet Seaflight had the old original retaining 3/4" bolt set up to fasten the hounds.Which boat had a failure.???
Now, if and only if, a Big Mac has T-terminals, would that in fact be a better set up than an externally bolted on hound like an old ss34, which was my original thoughts.
And yes, I do feel for People who have their boat constantly attacked, belittled and spoke of like a piece of ****.
Select to expand quoteJolene said..Shaggybaxter said..Jolene said..MorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
Christ Joelene,
An S&S 34 is an icon for safe passage making and all round bulldog toughness. Any sailor would trust his life with an S&S 34 mate....they've been barrel rolled in the Southern Ocean and haven't even lost the rig. Respect.
Sadly,, I wasn't actually referring to chainplates as they weren't mentioned. I was commenting about what I mistakenly figured Morning Bird was talking about, that is ,T- terminal fittings that retain shrouds into the mast. Backing plates and retainer straps that are held in place with pop rivets or screws that appear to be holding in shrouds.
And just to go one step further, in regards to ss34 comments , Pink lady had these shroud T- terminals and yet Seaflight had the old original retaining 3/4" bolt set up to fasten the hounds.Which boat had a failure.???
Now, if and only if, a Big Mac has T-terminals, would that in fact be a better set up than an externally bolted on hound like an old ss34, which was my original thoughts.
And yes, I do feel for People who have their boat constantly attacked, belittled and spoke of like a piece of ****.
I do not believe people are belittling the MacGregor 26, they were designed and built for a market which they fill very well. They were not designed for the open ocean cruising market. When I was in the Whitsundays last year there were a couple there having a great time.
i have sailed fremantle to tweed heads over the top end in 2006. relentless wind on the nose against current. it is not a walk in the park all though im glad i can say i did it.i had to sail solo from gove to cairns as my young fit crew were too frightened to cross the gulf.i saw many yachts turn back for darwin. my yacht a x-yacht x372 loves sailing windward but against the current and those huge tides i was lucky to achieve over 2kts an hour if the tide was going against me. god help this macgreggor man as he has every thing against him. beach the boat every night? ha ha ha ha ha. wa was the easy coast to sail, leaving the kimberlies to cairns will certainly sort out the men from the boys oh and their toys, good luck
what i remember the most is 1 2 3 bang 1 2 3 bang and that goes on and on. you will break things including crew
Select to expand quoteJolene said..Shaggybaxter said..Jolene said..MorningBird said..
My neighbor MacGregor 26 was alongside the jetty when I got up to MB this morning. I had a close look at her and noted the shrouds appear to be held in by self tappers.
They may appear to be but are probably not. Are the screws just locating backing plates,?? Possibly a better set up than an old ss34
Christ Joelene,
An S&S 34 is an icon for safe passage making and all round bulldog toughness. Any sailor would trust his life with an S&S 34 mate....they've been barrel rolled in the Southern Ocean and haven't even lost the rig. Respect.
Sadly,, I wasn't actually referring to chainplates as they weren't mentioned. I was commenting about what I mistakenly figured Morning Bird was talking about, that is ,T- terminal fittings that retain shrouds into the mast. Backing plates and retainer straps that are held in place with pop rivets or screws that appear to be holding in shrouds.
And just to go one step further, in regards to ss34 comments , Pink lady had these shroud T- terminals and yet Seaflight had the old original retaining 3/4" bolt set up to fasten the hounds.Which boat had a failure.???
Now, if and only if, a Big Mac has T-terminals, would that in fact be a better set up than an externally bolted on hound like an old ss34, which was my original thoughts.
And yes, I do feel for People who have their boat constantly attacked, belittled and spoke of like a piece of ****.
I wasn't looking up the mast, just at the deck fittings. I am sure you are right on the hound fittings.
My point was the deck fittings and chain plates on the 26 are very light indeed and clearly not intended for offshore conditions.
There are too many factors to put Seaflights rig failure down to any particular reason nor to make a judgement about a boat design because of it. Seaflight was one of the early Swarbrick boats (round fore hatch), Pink Lady one of the later ones (square fore hatch). Lionheart was also an earlier boat. MB a very late one.
A major factor could be that Seaflight being a family owned boat (David's mum's boat) maybe didn't get the preparation that the later two boats did. Especially Pink Lady which of course lost her mast before the trip and had a new one fitted.
The only other 34 I know to have broken its rig was a Macalpine built S&S34. It lost its mast off Norah Head in light airs when a chain plate parted. They made the piece in two parts and it was welded together below the deck level.
I know of two Swarbrick boats that have rolled 180 or 360 and were still intact afterwards. Can't see the 26 achieving that distinction and nor should it be judged on such a criteria.
This isn't attacking, belittling or speaking badly of the MaGregor. It is just a fact it was designed for a totally different use than this thread was intending it be applied to.
GDAY Sectorsteve the trip should be fantastic or may be life ending if u believe some of the post on this forum ,im going to go up as far as i can and just see what i can expect.If conditions become unpalatable i will turn around there's no worries about it ..some people on this forum are right these boats are light weight ( not like s&s 34 ) ,But they are capable coastal cruisers which is what i intended to do all along .
cheers
Cheers felixdcat thanks for the input ,i already have the salt water soap and the solar hot water 20 l bags .as i said on a previous post i am in no hurry at all cant wait cheers mate
This is the main reason (amount MANY others) I would not attempt an long distance coastal voyage on a M26, especially on one of the most exposed and remote coast lines in Oz.
Took this at my local club, a M26 chain plate set up.
Issues are, IMHO as a someone who has done a fair bit of yacht rigging, set up a number of yachts from scratch, has 10 years in the industry and more than double that sailing/racing/cruising.
- Why use crimped swages, and if you do why use a hand tool and double swage? If done properly with a hydraulic press there is no need for a second swage, someone is cutting corners and covering their arse here. A minor weak point.
- Standard thimbles. Thimble should be hi-load eg, be a complete loop of have a bar welded across them. You can see these have already started to elongate, causing the wire to turn a sharpers corner than it is designed to. A major weak point.
- The connection between the thimble and the shroud adjuster is a hard point with not much S/S thickness. A major weak point.
- On the chain plate itself there is only two 1/4" bolts holding 2 x 4mm shrouds, seems way under to me.
We rigged up a 5.4m trailer sailor from scratch (built the boat) and our setup was at least twice as strong as this. We also rigged up a Shaw 650 Sports Boat which only weighs 350kg with a 100kg bulb and our setup was 4 times stronger than this.
And this was only looking at the chain plates. The forestay, the backstay and spreader attachments also looked just as weak.
I would be suspicious sailing one of these in a reasonable Freo Doctor seabreeze in cockburn sound, let alone how strong the SE'stly can be at Geraldton.
It's all well and good to have a bit of adventure, but not something I would attempt.....ever.
GDAY RUMBLEFISH
u have made some really good points .it is people like u that i listen to as u r in the industry ( rigging boats )when i bought this boat some 2 yrs ago i had no real idea to be perfectly honest as to what was good and what was bad as my last 30 yrs on and off was on a 14 foot hobie cat just hacking around . I bought this boat brand new 2yrs ago to cruise around , i sort of wish i had of come on this forum before i purchased it .further down the track i MIGHT yield to the relentless criticism of these poor little things and get a ( real ) keel boat ,however the fact remains this is the boat that i have at the moment and i would like to do a bit of long distance cruising ,so since u would recommend that i not take it out to even cockburn sound which by the way i reckon i have spent a few hundred hrs cruising around i winds sometimes up around 25 knots ( according to a anemometer ) with no apparent problems .what would u suggest ? .have u cruised or raced up the w.a coast line or traveled up the top end and is there aannyy way in your opinion that it can be done safely
cheers
Select to expand quoteFreeRadical said..
That thing would be perfect in shark bay, lots of shallow areas to explore and relatively flat. Also lots of little breaks in Ningaloo that you could duck into for protection. Beach it in Broome, no worries. Up past Zuytdorp cliffs could be interesting though.
heading south to exit South Passage Shark Bay.
Exit from South Passage and the start of the Zuytdorp Cliffs
Somewhere in Shark Bay
Maud's Landing (Coral Bay), inside Ningaloo Reef.
very nice
Select to expand quoteYara said..
The McGregor 26 is an extremely successful solution to the need for a spacious trailer-sailer for sheltered waters. They fetch high prices, far higher than your typical 26ft keelboat.
So my solution would be to sell the McGregor 26, and with that money you could buy a 30+ foot solid keelboat, suitable for offshore work , and off you go!!
GDAY Yara
don't keel boats break to ,look what happened to Ballymore off i think the Geraldton coast i think he lost his keel
Select to expand quoteYara said..
It is one thing having an adventure, but another choosing the right tool for the job. Clearly the M26 is not the best boat for this adventure. The problem comes if you get out there with an unsuitable craft, and it causes you to get into trouble, and then expect the taxpayer to pay for your rescue.
Many of the examples listed above of adventurous people, were careful to select a suitable vessel. Size is not the issue, seaworthyness is.Select to expand quotebyf said..
Sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Go for it Steve.
CHEERS BYF
Will be life changing or if u believe half the post on here life ending ? lol cheers
I din't say i wouldn't sail one in Cockburn sound, I said I would be 'suspicious'!!
Difference there to say, somewhere 100nm north of Gero, is that help is readily at hand in Cockburn Sound, not so in other places.
I have sailed alot in WA, lived there for 6 years, did a few Gero and return yacht races etc.
I also raced a fair bit on the river and have seen a M26 take about 30min to tack up Blackwall reach into a seabreeze, decent sailors on board too.
If it was me I would want a boat that I could 100% trust sailing me off a lee shore in 4m seas if the motor gave up the ghost, and for mine an M26 is not that.
Select to expand quotebyf said..
Sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Go for it Steve.
cheers byf got to at least have a look /
Select to expand quoteTrek said..
What a good challenge. If you did it I bet Mac Gregor yachts would like you in their ads.
There is great wisdom from the sailors on this forum about such a trip so far. For my 2c I reckon if you did it carefully you could do it. Im a bad one for adventures, I always take them on.
As mentioned be really careful with the stores and water. Watch out for the weather big time. I guess being a trailer yacht you could pull in at any old beach if you saw weather coming. You don't have to do huge ocean passages. Just a bit at a time. Run and hide if weather appears!
And as Toph said adventurers have made this World. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for James Cook being willing to find out what was down south. And James Cooks boat couldn't point at all though he would have done better if it could! I read an article where the odds of Neil Armstrong and Co. landing on the moon and coming back were calculated as 50:50 by statisticians at the time based on knowledge and equipment reliability.
I reckon plan it well taking the advice of the wise sailors and go for it if you really want to.
Good advise Trek cheers
Select to expand quoteCharriot said..
This is a sailing forum, and that's the way we look at Mc26, but there is more..
I am very impressed, the boat can manage 22 knots, how b strong must be.
this is from the boat review
The point of the plus-motor reservation is that the power range of this boat is from 5 to 60hp, or nothing at all of course. Five will give the sort of performance usually acceptable in an auxiliary, and 60 is good for 22 knots.
trailable sailing boat whose most distinctive attraction is not its ability to sail. Instead it is its great ability as a fast power cruiser. That it sails well too and has a mass of clever features seems almost like a bonus.
Yes not a great sailing boat not a great power cruiser does everything sort of half good has definitely got its limitations thanks
Select to expand quote26Mac said..
I love this **** . You can sail around the world in a 19ft plywood boat, with a daggerboard, if you have the balls and the time, so anything is possible .
"They are a crap boat that can't sail!" Or "I have never been on one but you can see them motor past my birth at the marina."
Inexperienced owners think the boat's going over because the water ballast only really works from 15deg of heel to a solid 35deg (they sail with a rail in the water at 45deg) and because of that they think that they have experience they can hand on. They had no idea when they picked a Mac and they have no idea
My firsthand personal knowledge is that a 26M is a bay/coastal light cruiser and is unconfutable in blue water. They sail quit well at speeds up to 7knts (at best) and will motor at over 17knts (18+ONLY IF you have a larger motor than the max recommended size of 60HP). You can get some excellent mileage from the 60-ETEC motor but only at about 5knts. You can go 200NM on 90lt or motor sail a hell of a lot further. Pack everything low in the under seat storage down below and you'll be fine in everything but a roll (these boats don't capsize, they just roll). As for not being strong that crap too everything in it has been designed to strengthen the hull including the ballast tank chamber. There are tricks you'll need to know to get the best out of them and there are a few good facebook pages that have knowledgeable skippers (not armchair experts, lol!) who have taken them on trips over thousands of miles. I want to get up to the King George River and the twin falls. We'll do the up trip on a falling tide over two days and two days to return to Wyndham. The one key item that I can see will be getting a water maker. Not having to carry the weight of anything but emergency water will really help.
U RAISE SOME VERY GOOD POINTS MAC 26 I LIKE U CHEERS
Select to expand quoteTrek said..LMY said..
Trek said..
What a good challenge. If you did it I bet Mac Gregor yachts would like you in their ads.
There is great wisdom from the sailors on this forum about such a trip so far. For my 2c I reckon if you did it carefully you could do it. Im a bad one for adventures, I always take them on.
As mentioned be really careful with the stores and water. Watch out for the weather big time. I guess being a trailer yacht you could pull in at any old beach if you saw weather coming. You don't have to do huge ocean passages. Just a bit at a time. Run and hide if weather appears!
And as Toph said adventurers have made this World. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for James Cook being willing to find out what was down south. And James Cooks boat couldn't point at all though he would have done better if it could! I read an article where the odds of Neil Armstrong and Co. landing on the moon and coming back were calculated as 50:50 by statisticians at the time based on knowledge and equipment reliability.
I reckon plan it well taking the advice of the wise sailors and go for it if you really want to.
yes, we can quote Cook's spirit of adventure, but don't forget that the Endeavour was purchased specifically for the voyage, and given an extensive refit to give the enterprise the best chance of success. Cook was one of the best navigators of his time, and on the trip to Australia he had available the latest technologies, in particular the time keeping equipment available to Cook was leading edge technology for the time. The technology used may not be at today's standards, but it was as good as was available.
There is no comparison between what Cook achieved and setting out to sea in a boat that is unsuitable while arguing that this is OK because it would be an "adventure".
I may be incorrect about the Magregor 26, and would love to hear some detailed feedack that answers the concerns about supplies, fuel, water, sailing to windward etc.
If the voyage on each leg chosen is calm the boat is not unsuitable is it?
A while ago I met some sailors from Tasmania who had just motored a 60ft trawler they bought in Auckland all the way across the Tasman to Broken Bay near Sydney and they said the seas were calm the entire way.
I think a motorised vessel with GPS, marine rescue available in many ports, proper charts and chart plotters, satellite weather reports an EPIRB, SatPhone comms, VHF and HF radio makes taking a MacGregor 26 out to sea on calm days a much better bet for staying alive and making it to the destination than the Endeavour was.
They didn't even have a depth sounder on the Endeavour and nearly crashed on the Great Barrier reef. Cook had to throw everything heavy off the boat to get it through!!
A personal friend of mine "drove" a 36ft power boat ALL the while way around Australia. Broken Bay to Broken Bay. It was top heavy and a fuel guzzler. He said they loved the trip and his only complaint was the cost of fuel!!
TREK i agree mate just a matter of time and patience cheers
