Major Work ahead

[gypsy81]

So, My husband and I got this boat, nearly for free. It's a MacGregor 26 with a daggerboard. We believe it is a 1988. We know nearly nothing about it. It has been wrecked and stripped. The main reason we acquired this boat was to hone our skills for fiberglass repair, rigging work, upfitting, and having fun working on a boa we can trailer in the desert until we get our liveaboard in 3 years. We are too far from water to get a liveaboard right now. My question is, are there any Macgregor experts out there? Where's the best place to buy fiberglass repair, resin, etc? What is the best method? Where can we find a list of what SHOULD be on the boat in the way of hardware? Where can we find a mast? Can we get specs for a mast and have one made at a machinist (husband works with one)? This is really the start of a dream, so no nay sayers please. We know this isn't our dream boat, but it's fun to play with until we get her.

Thank you for all help!!

[gypsy81]

I completely forgot to ad the photos, so here they are

[Adelie]

Where are you? Answer affects advise.

First decide if you want to do repairs using epoxy or polyester. The original construction will be polyester. Most epoxies bond to polyester somewhat better than polyester does to itself. The trade off is that epoxy is rather more expensive than polyester and once you’ve finished a repair with epoxy you can’t ever do another repair over that with polyester which really doesn’t stick to epoxy well. I have done all the repairs to my boat using polyester.

You can get a mast on EBay or you can buy new from a mast manufacturer. First find out the correct mast dimensions.

I can’t find anything on line so you will want somebody to measure an existing mast. You will need fore and af and transverse dimensions to the nearest 1/16” and the wall thickness to 0.001”.

[gypsy81]

Thank you! We are in southern Arizona. I was reading the owner's manual for the boat online, and it stated, "see the parts list that came with the boat" for all the hardware connected to the deck and mast, etc. Does anyone have a list like that as well?

[Badsanta]

You need another boat In my humble opinion. Fixing the damage is one thing, replacing all the hardware and mast is another. I would guess you could buy a complete boat for less that your refit. But you could get lucky finding the parts.
I not trying to be mean, but I spent years trying to do the same and never completed it, what a waste of my money and time. It was a much larger boat, it's so hard to stop, just one more thing. But my best wishes to you.

[hellosailor]

Gypsy, I wish you the best of luck on the endeavor but would suggest that you'd spend less and learn more by commuting to whatever trade school could teach you those skills properly. A very old needy stripped wrecked boat makes a black hole seem like a cornucopia.

Contact Gougeon Brothers aka West Systems Epoxy for a good start on frp materials and repair procedures. Order a big box of respirator masks, filters, and Tyvek suits to keep all the nasty fiberglass particles out of your body while you're working.

[gypsy81]

Thank you for all the advice!