An old man's idea?

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I thought he was only going out 20-25 miles... guess I got that wrong... "On a calm day we can fish 10-20 miles out and then run in. The better fishing is 30 to 50 miles out, and I don’t try that in my boat."

I stand corrected non the distance.. All my math can be halved at no charge

[boatman61]

If its a relatively smooth sea drain the ballast and blast out under motor... once in your area re-ballast, raise the sails and heave to... altering tack every few hours will reduce your drift...
Keep a good check on the weather allowing yourself 3-4hrs to reach safety and you should be fine...
Do not overload the boat with more than 3 people... leave a passage plan and rough location/area of operations... do not operate if the winds on the nose to your safe haven...

[cal40john]

As Ozskipper has been saying the 26S is a completely different boat than the the 26M, or X. The S is sailboat with a swing centerboard, the D has a daggerboard. They haven't made the S or D for many years. The M and X models are the big engine motorsailers.

The 26S is a sailboat that you can only hang about a 6 HP engine on. The manual for this one says never operate the boat without the ballast tank full. Surprisingly MacGregor says that the water ballasted 26S has more righting force at 90 degrees than their weighted swing keel 25 footer.

Brochure of the 26S
M-26S Brochure


The San Diego accident had a lot of mis-information from people confusing the sailboat versions with the motorsailor versions.

John

Originally Posted by boatman61

If its a relatively smooth sea drain the ballast and blast out under motor... once in your area re-ballast, raise the sails and heave to... altering tack every few hours will reduce your drift...
Keep a good check on the weather allowing yourself 3-4hrs to reach safety and you should be fine...
Do not overload the boat with more than 3 people... leave a passage plan and rough location/area of operations... do not operate if the winds on the nose to your safe haven...

[MacG]

It is therefore that I asked if this concerned the 26 S - according to what I know is the 26S the notorious version. Boat design had more than 1000 pages on it some years ago.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by walt70

Now for the Macgregor, if we go out 50 miles with a weather window, we would plan to stay out for 2-5 days. I would plan to ride the night on a sea anchor and sail back to the fishing area the next morning. If the wind came up, it might get a little un-comfortable but dry and safe enough. IS THIS A REASONABLE IDEA???

In a word, "no." A sea anchor is pretty much a last resort used to survive heavy weather.

You are required to keep a proper watch at all times while underway. Being 50 miles offshore will put you in the thick of shipping traffic, and being near the best fishing grounds will put you in the path of fishing trawlers. That's pretty much the worst time possible to deploy a sea anchor because now you won't be able to get out of their way.

The boat you've purchased is a trailer sailor. It's not designed for offshore comfort. Sleeping aboard that boat in a seaway is going to be a real eye-opener, and I mean that literally. Don't plan on getting much sleep.

I think you'll also find, as many of us have in the past, that a light sailboat makes for an awful fishing platform. A centerboarder with water ballast and an outboard engine is pretty much the worst option you could go with this side of a whitewater kayak.

[cal40john]

Not sure what you mean. The 26 S, D, (sailboats) and X, M (motorsailors) are all waterballasted. The 25 was a weighted swing keel boat.

If by notorious you mean anytime there is an accident a thousand people scream, "See that waterballasted boat kills.", then yes all of the 26 models have that reputation. I don't claim to have done any research, but every accident I've seen reported on for these boats involved overloading, or not having the ballast tank full, which is required on the S and D, or not having the ballast tank full when operating the X and M as a sailboat. X and M say it is allowed to drain the tank for motoring.

Some people say these boats are dangerous because you can forget to fill the ballast tank. You could say the same for many trailerable swing keel boats that would be dangerous to operate with the keel up. As I said in the last post the 26S (waterballasted) is more stable than the 25 (weighted swing keel).

John

Originally Posted by MacG

Is this the "notorious" McGregor with the double bottom acting as a keel when sailing?
It can be fitted out with a heavy outboard and act as a sort speedboat.
Is that the one?

Originally Posted by MacG

It is therefore that I asked if this concerned the 26 S - according to what I know is the 26S the notorious version. Boat design had more than 1000 pages on it some years ago.