Got a Venture 21 should I move up to a MacGregor 26s

Oct 16, 2020
5
MacGregor 21 Washington
Hi All,

I really enjoy my Venture 21 that is in great shape and near mint condition. It is easy to sail and handles well.

I'm looking at moving up to a MacGregor 26s for the increased room below decks. Possibly doing overnight trips with the family of 4 in Puget Sound.

I've never sailed on a MacGregor 26s. Does the 26s sail as well as the Venture 21? Any input on the pros and cons of the two would be helpful.

Thanks,
J
 
Aug 5, 2019
92
Macgregor 26 S NJ
I'm brand new to sailing. Spring 2019 I bought a little Sunfish on a whim and fell in love with sailing, so much so that I bought a fixer 26S at the end of summer 2019. So my 26S is the first real sailboat I ever sailed and I love it. My family of five (three older teenagers) have taken a few weekend trips with it sleeping aboard comfortably enough. I had gotten a free Venture 222 since to fix up too so I'm very familiar with both sizes of boats, the 26 with its king-size aft birth is a game-changer.
I keep my 26 on the trailer at home and trailer it everywhere I want to use it and I have a lot of choices around here, ocean, bays, lakes & rivers. Most of the time I'm by myself when I take it out, so I launch & retrieve the 26 all by myself & raise & lower the mast the same, so it's easy enough for a newbie to handle on my own. As far as sailing goes I can't compare the two because I haven't sailed anything else yet but I find the 26 easy enough to sail on my own. For size & comfort along with a private head, built-in galley I'd choose the 26 hands down.
 
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Tedd

.
Jul 25, 2013
745
TES 246 Versus near Vancouver, BC
Not having sailed a Venture 21, I can't compare the two. But I concur with @George_NJ that the 26S is an easy boat to manage while still having enough room and facilities for over-nighting. They're also very affordable.

One thing to consider is your tow vehicle. Although you probably can tow and launch the 26S with any mid to large RWD car, I consider AWD or 4WD almost a must, especially if you like to launch at lesser-used ramps where the surface is likely to have moss or slime on it.

My wife and I have enjoyed our 26S a lot for several years now. But we're going to upgrade to something larger soon because we like to do multiple-day trips and we find the space and accommodations of the 26S not quite enough for us. But for just one night out, or maybe two, it's fine.
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
I have not sailed a Venture but but by virtue that it has a 400 lbs. ballasted swing keel tells me that it will be more stable than the water ballasted 26'. Good stability in a small boat makes it fun to sail but in a larger boat the fun comes in the shape sailing range and comfort. As you may know the water ballast is what permits a larger boat to be trailered with ease. Everything is a trade off, here the 26S offers the feature of being easily trailerable to different sailing venues while giving up some of the stability of a keel boat. It just depends on how do you intend to use the boat. I personally don't believe in paying for features that I do not intend to use. If it was me and I was not going to trailer boat significantly I would not want the loss of stability. I also like keeping the boat in the water so the ability to store it in the trailer is not attractive, but that's me.
 
Oct 16, 2020
5
MacGregor 21 Washington
I think I will hang on to the MacGregor 21 and keep my eye open for a nice MacGregor 26s. It's good to hear the 26s is solid. It would open up a lot of boating options if we can just sleep aboard the boat. Trailering is nice if you are short on time and need to get to a certain area quickly like the San Juan Islands. Although, mooring the boat lets you get out after work in the summer time. Moorage here is pricey at about $15 a foot per month.

Maybe I will overlap the purchase. If I don't like the 26 then I can sell it and just keep using the 21.

Thanks all for your input.
J
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I've owned a V21 and a V222. I've done several long trips in my V22 and three can sleep okay on the V22. But more than three and there is not room for your stuff.
 
Jun 25, 2016
65
Venture 21 Minter Bay
The cost of ownership will be a bit less for the V21, but the initial outlay for the M26 will be significantly higher. If you can tow it, park it and get out to use it in the waters you find interesting to explore, then that investment will likely pay for itself. It will definately be more comfortable (in terms of accommodations). You could have it double as a rather novel travel trailer, too!:) We'll watch for you in the South Sound!
 
Aug 5, 2019
92
Macgregor 26 S NJ
I wanted to add, that with the 26S you'll be able to camp out overnight on smaller electric-only inland lakes where most people never thought about overnighting because the biggest boats most of those lakes see are Sunfish to 17-19' day sailers. As nice as the big water of oceans, bays & sounds are, the peacefulness of an inland electric-only lake is a very nice change of pace, especially when anchored out overnight with no rolly wakes in the middle of the night. When I take my 26S to such smaller inland lakes, she's like a star, people are surprised to see a boat that big, ask how big and how did I get it in? Never before have I gotten so many compliments on a boat too than when on a smaller lake.
 
Apr 11, 2020
708
MacGregor 26s Scott's Landing, Grapevine TX
I have no experience with the Venture 21, but we purchased a Mac 26S at the end of August of this year and love it. Hard to imagine a boat better suited to our circumstances.

We decided we wanted a boat that we could trailer behind our minivan so that we would not have to rely on marina services should we need to haul it out, or if we decide we want to sail in on another lake. I trailered it all the way from St. Louis to Dallas with no worries.

We needed an affordable boat, which this one was. 1994 model, very well taken care of, for $6900. Came with all kinds of extras, and was ready to sail with only a little work needed on the motor.

Improvements and maintenance are quite affordable, thanks in large part to Blue Water Yachts. Todd owns and sails one of these, and has become my guru regarding modifications and repairs. I find that their prices are excellent, as is Todd's advice.

The boat is a joy to sail. I find that it is very well-balanced with little if any weather helm in most circumstances. Easy to single-hand, and accelerates nicely. I find that I am out-sailing or at least keeping up with most of the boats I pit myself against, even when they are flying 125-150% genoas. Of course, they may not really be trying all that hard, right?

The cockpit is roomy. I have seen boats much larger without as much cockpit space.

I have gotten all kinds of compliments on the boat itself. The lines are clean and I think the standard sail package is just perfect for the boat.

With the centerboard design, we can sail pretty much anywhere we want without worrying about running aground. This is a big plus for us.

We have gone "lake camping" with the boat once and are eager to go again. The aft berths are plenty big. The forward berths don't allow enough foot room for two adults, IMO, so I would say three adults, two kids max unless someone wants to sleep in the cockpit, which would be doable I suppose.

All that said, there are some caveats:

It does not have a stand-up cabin. The pop-up allows a person to stand in the cabin, and that pop-up can be enclosed with windowed plastic cover, but moving elsewhere in the boat (i.e. to the head), will require stooping.

The 26S is a water ballast boat, and is self-righting, but can be capsized. Sailing a boat without a keel is not as forgiving. The plus of this is that it makes you pay attention to the balance of sail power, thus you end up sailing the boat more optimally than if you just were relying on the keel to keep things steady.

The hardware on the 26S is not as robust as what you will see on most other boats. I would not want to take this boat out of unprotected waters except close to the coast with full confidence that weather for the sail was not going to get nasty. I sail on a medium-sized lake (Grapevine) and feel no need or desire to go out in winds greater than 25 MPH.

The 26S has been described in at least one boat review as a "boat kit". It has provisions for adding a traveler, jib sheet tracks, and other improvements, but this is left up the the owner. If you like doing this sort of thing (as I do), it can be a plus.

I carefully weighed my options and selected this boat for the reasons mentioned above. So far I have no regrets.
 
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Tedd

.
Jul 25, 2013
745
TES 246 Versus near Vancouver, BC
@stickinthemud57 : We feel much the same about our 1995 Mac 26S. We're now planning to move up to something a little bigger, but the Mac has served its purpose for us very well, at tiny cost (compared to what other sailors seem to be spending).
 
Nov 23, 2011
2,023
MacGregor 26D London Ontario Canada
Let me preface; I haven't read anything other than the title of this thread.
Yes get the 26S. You will love it!
It's faster, lighter, more manageable to launch and retrieve, more responsive, sleeps 5 easily, you can stand up in the top-top area, you can sail with the pop-top up too. it has a manageable size head, it tows easier, the trailer is at least 10 years newer, more people own 26D/S's so you can find a ton of mods on line, if your keel fall off you can just make another out of fiberglass,
Your going to love the 26S.
 
Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
Size matters. Get a 26S. Best bang for the trailer sailor buck. We had one for 10 years.
 
Apr 11, 2020
708
MacGregor 26s Scott's Landing, Grapevine TX
Let me preface; I haven't read anything other than the title of this thread.
Yes get the 26S. You will love it!
It's faster, lighter, more manageable to launch and retrieve, more responsive, sleeps 5 easily, you can stand up in the top-top area, you can sail with the pop-top up too. it has a manageable size head, it tows easier, the trailer is at least 10 years newer, more people own 26D/S's so you can find a ton of mods on line, if your keel fall off you can just make another out of fiberglass,
Your going to love the 26S.
I would agree with every comment except the "sleeps five easily", or at least I would qualify it with "sleeps five in a pinch". The berths under the cockpit are plenty roomy - 2 adults, no problem. The V-berths at the front will allow one adult adequate footroom, but not two, so one adult and one child up front. The long seat opposite the galley and head will allow enough room for an adult to stretch out, but gets a tad narrow toward the front - no rolling over. Conceivably, you could sleep a toddler on the short bench on the galley side and squeeze an adolescent or toddler between the adults in the berths under the cockpit.

If the weathers nice, two people could sleep outside cockpit seats.

IMO, four adults for an overnighter could work, six for a day sail, but I like my elbow room.

People who own the 26s tend to love them. Its versatility is remarkable, and it gives you the "yacht" experience without the drawbacks of a fixed keel boat.
 

Tedd

.
Jul 25, 2013
745
TES 246 Versus near Vancouver, BC
People who own the 26s tend to love them. Its versatility is remarkable, and it gives you the "yacht" experience without the drawbacks of a fixed keel boat.
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. The first day I sailed mine the thought that occurred to me was, "I'd love to have a million-dollar yacht, but the difference between this and a million-dollar yacht is a lot less than the difference between this and nothing."
 
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Apr 11, 2020
708
MacGregor 26s Scott's Landing, Grapevine TX
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. The first day I sailed mine the thought that occurred to me was, "I'd love to have a million-dollar yacht, but the difference between this and a million-dollar yacht is a lot less than the difference between this and nothing."
LOL, so true. This reminds me of a motor boat I used to own. Paid $500 for it, had loads of fun with it, and sold it for $500 when I was done with it. I used to joke that if it sank right out from under us we would all just swim so shore and have a good laugh!
 
Nov 30, 2020
79
Macgregor 22 Dania, FL
I love my 22. But she wastes most of the space under the cockpit. The 26 has a very useful berth there.

Chip
s/v Sand Dollar
 
Apr 11, 2020
708
MacGregor 26s Scott's Landing, Grapevine TX
I have a friend with an S2 22, and was a little surprised to see the area under the cockpit devoted to storage and onboard engine. The 26 does a great job of maximizing use of space, with storage compartments under all of the berths and seating.
 

RussC

.
Sep 11, 2015
1,578
Merit 22- Oregon lakes
I just wish they had made a 26 with traditional ballast. I never liked water ballast, but I have always been envious of the large birth under the cockpit on the 26S-D. but then.... the modified/extended v-berth on our M25 still works out very well for us and I get to have traditional ballast also, so.... ;)
 
Apr 11, 2020
708
MacGregor 26s Scott's Landing, Grapevine TX
I wrestled with traditional vs water ballast when selecting a boat, and chose the 26S because that feature makes it easy to remove the boat from the water and tow it behind a conventional vehicle (in my case a Dodge minivan). I drove it from St. Lois MO to Dallas TX in a day and never felt like it was overtaxing the vehicle in any way. The total weight of the boat and trailer, ballast empty, is around 2600 lbs. A keelboat of that length would weigh about 1500 lbs more and require a heavier trailer, exceeding the towing capacity of my vehicle.

Having sailed keelboats of varying size, I can say that the 26s requires more attention to sail loading. By this I mean that it is less tolerant of having too much sail up in winds above 18 MPH (in terms of heeling and rounding up), and requires the skipper to pay attention to coming lifts and be ready to dump wind from the mainsail rather than just let the boat heel over. Sailing in winds over 18 MPH works better with a reefed main and a smaller (or reefed) jib. All this adds up to more "sailing" and a bit less "cruising", but I like "sailing". This translates to outperforming most boats I pit myself against because I have learned how to balance sail load properly, something that some keel boat sailors never master because they feel they don't have to.

For me, a huge plus with a centerboard boat is the ability to sail in shallower waters without fear of grounding. We like to anchor in coves to swim and camp, and it's nice to know that I won't end up with my keel stuck in the bottom. I looked at wing keel and swing keels, but read that wing keels don't point very well (deal killer for me) and swing keels can come with potentially costly failure issues due to the mechanics involved.

I will be pulling the boat after Christmas, and will be able to do so without paying anyone to do so, nor will I be paying any yard fees to keep it on the hard while cleaning and polishing the bottom. I have room in my side yard, and the "hard" will be the trailer.

Long story short (too late for that, eh?) I think the trade-offs are worth it for me. I probably would want a keelboat for sailing outside protected waters, but that's about the only thing that would make me want one at this time.
 
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Oct 16, 2020
5
MacGregor 21 Washington
I lived on a 50' sailboat for awhile. Sometimes less is more. :)

I'm keeping my eye out for a good condition Mac 26s.