2003 NOVEMBER ●SAILING  27Did you hear the story about the
sailor sailing singlehanded in his
MacGregor 26 when he had a
heart attack? He put the pedal to
the metal and powered back to the
dock at speeds in excess of 20
knots where he was met by para-
medics. He thinks the MacGregor
saved his life. In my own 26-foot-
er he would have powered back at
a sedate 5.5 knots and probably
died en route.
But we have a new MacGregor
26 now. The new 26 has been mod-
ified and improved for even better
performance and comfort. Roger
MacGregor does all the design
work for his plant. Roger was kind
enough to send me a 48-inch long
model with the brochure for this
review. Thanks,Roger.
“Sails better than a powerboat
and powers better than a sailboat,”
they say. In fact the new 26 is a
respectable sailer. I have a client who,after owning an original 26,
fell in love with sailing and bought
a Saga 35. If the 26 had been such
a bad boat he would have never
macy gray
bought another sailboat. While the
aesthetic package may not be to
your liking and the 50-horsepower
outboard auxiliary may be con-
trary to what you think of for a
sailboat,don’t underestimate these
boats. To a great degree they are
designed to entice powerboaters
who think they might like sailing
into giving it a try. More than
6,000 26s have been sold to date.
That’s about three a day for six
years. The boats are EEC-
approved and about a third of the
production is shipped overseas.
The new 26 has more shape to
the hull and an additional 300
pounds of internal lead ballast.
Deadrise has been increased from
8 degrees to 13 degrees to give the
boat a softer ride and get the VCG
lower for stability. The deep chest
of the 26 flares to a flat run for
planing performance. The original
26 had a centerboard and that has
now been replaced by a high-
aspect-ratio daggerboard. The
smaller slot of the daggerboard
has reduced drag and improved
speed under power and sail. This
deep daggerboard should work to
give the 26 good on-the-wind per-formance as long as you keep the boat on its feet. The brochure says 22 mph under power.If I use 2,750 pounds as dis-placement I get a D/L of 101. L/B is a modest 3.25. Draft with board up is 12 inches and with board down 5 feet,9 inches. The internal ballast is augmented by 1,150pounds of water ballast in a tank that runs on centerline from the daggerboard trunk to the transom.Built-in foam flotation will keep the 26 afloat in case of damage.Before you begin casting aspara-gus at the performance of this boat just imagine the boat with 10 inch-es less freeboard and a more svelte cabintrunk. All the proportions are there for a decent sailing boat.The layout is clever and uses a big mirror forward of the galley to give the effect of a totally open,bulkhead-less layout. In fact,the head is enclosed,so there are bulk-heads. Roger has worked two dou-ble berths into this layout,settees and a mini galley. There is no pri-vacy for sleeping but I think adding more bulkheads and doors would have destroyed this interior.It’s designed for small families where privacy is
not required. The cockpit is large but that little wheel,while I’m sure it works,looks too small for me.“But what about those aesthet-ics,Bob?”I think the boat looks fine. While I would not call it beautiful or handsome I do prefer the new model with its stepped cabintrunk. The look is more inter-esting and there is better headroom below. I wouldn’t put this boat alongside the latest Chuck Paine design and compare the aesthetics.The 26 shows a hybrid power/sail look that won’t work on many boats. The wraparound windows and lack of side decks are right out of the powerboat school. I think you have to put this boat into an aesthetics genre of its own. MacGregor 26Motorsailer
MacGregor Yacht Corp.,1631Placentia,Costa Mesa,CA 92627,(949) 642-6380,www.macgregor26 .All the proportions are there for a decent printed with permission by
M a g a z i n e