I am now a sailboat owner... 26’ MacGregor

[Hoosierdoc]

Today I took a huge recertification exam for my medical speciality and then met A guy from Craigslist and bought his boat. It is a 1994 MacGregor, in great shape. It was stored indoors 15 years of its life. I wanted an entry-level boat I could tow easily and use on the lakes around me.

The water ballast and swing keel make towing much easier. I’m hoping my Sienna AWD will be able to handle it, but nervous about pulling it out with a full ballast tank.

Anyway... just sharing my excitement!

Also... can I put vinyl decals on the hull? A friend does them and it would look great with the name all snazzed up.

[Adelie]

Nope, vinyl decals are not allowed on MacGregors. Any other boat, sure, but not MacGregors. [emoji41]🤥

[Don C L]

Congratulations Doc! I think the Sienna will do ok with it, but drain the ballast for sure. I haven't done it but I presume you could pull the boat out slowly and/or in stages to let the water drain? I'd empty out as much of the extra items as you can too. Good luck!

[rsn48]

Congrats and sail her often to get your money's worth.

[john61ct]

Sienna - barely, on the flat going slow, maybe.

If you don't have the tow package, add a transmission cooler, and a trannie temp gauge, and **watch it**, that's your weak link.

Lightest possible trailer **with good brakes**, empty tanks, only the driver in the van no loads.

Will wear out the drivetrain faster for sure no matter what, to the extent you pull it often.

[Hoosierdoc]

Thanks, that is my concern. We have a land rover that could easily tow it but do not have a hitch on it at the moment. Or receiver technically, I think the hitch is built in. I also have access to my dad’s suburban that could do it no problem.

[Adelie]

Oops, I forgot to say welcome.

Welcome to CF.

[MartinR]

Welcome! These are great boats. You will have much fun with it.

[rbk]

Also check out the Macgregor owners site macgregorsailors.com, lot of good boat and model specific info there, including towing.

[Cheechako]

Moving the boat once hooked up with the Sienna should work. But that single axle trailer looks like it probably has a lot of tongue weight... that could be the problem. Does the trailer have surge brakes?

[Brewgyver]

The empty boat and trailer combined are close to the max towing capacity of the Sienna. Leaving the water ballast full will put you over by about 25%. You really don’t want to do that. The van might take it for a
while, but if you were to get in an accident you could be found negligent. But I’d bet the first time you tow it empty you’ll start looking for a better fit. Put a hitch on the rover,.

[john61ct]

Use the Suburban, 100x safer.

It's not what you can pull that matters, it's braking and handling when SHTF and a heavier TV is always much much better.

Plus added loads that are inevitable IRL are properly handled.

With the Sienna, or even the shorty LR, you are setting yourself up for exceeding the safety limits.

[JulienPete]

Our first sailboat was a MacGregor 26X we had a great time in her (Named ANNA QUAY) Probably quite appropriate for us newbies. It was great to see a squall coming and be able to drop sails and the mast and motor back (at 22kts) to Port before it arrived, which also dumped the ballast. 18 Months later we sold her (to be honest it was a bit of a pain having to tow her to the coast for weekends and the Occasional week away). And purchased a Hanse 331, a great little boat (took us across the English channel to the Channel Islands and France. Sold her in Mid 2010 and purchased a Dehler DS 41 which we've had for 7 years now, but have now decided to downsize to something around 10m (Maybe a Moody Eclipse). Anyone looking for a Dehler Deck Saloon, she's at Hamble Point to view.

[Dadrock33]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Congratulations Doc! I think the Sienna will do ok with it, but drain the ballast for sure. I haven't done it but I presume you could pull the boat out slowly and/or in stages to let the water drain? I'd empty out as much of the extra items as you can too. Good luck!

The following is what I found online. The Mac is one boat that I wished I would've bought a few years ago as the wife likes to motor and I like to sail but here's the specs:

Water ballast:1150 lbs
Permanent ballast: 300 lbs
Boat weight, empty:2550 lbs
Trailer weight with surge brakes:575 lbs

Overall, I see no issue with towing by the Sienna with some due considerations (maybe increase rear springs [add a leaf], transmission cooler, etc.); that being said - if you have the availability of something better (which it seems you do!), I'd use the "something better". Nice boat though, ENJOY!!

ps - put decals all over the boat . . . hehe

[Sand crab]

I go out about once a week on my friends Mac 26. He keeps it in the water 6 months and stores it on land during the winter. He wants me to help him take it out of the water around the end of October so I'll see what's involved in the de-masting operation.
He used to pull the kids and grandkids tubing and water skiing and it's just about the only sailboat that can make that claim. Water skiing with the mast up... that's totally freaky.
Have fun.