I posted this under trailer sailors but I meant to post it to all sailors:
Never in a million years did I think I would be saying this - I'm starting to think that a Mac 26M might be the right boat for my particular needs, but I'm putting it out there for others opinions. I'll start by saying that I'm not a newbie to sailing - I've done extensive racing and cruising on all manor of boats in all conditions and even a 10 day offshore journey once in heavy weather. Sure, there are plenty of sailors out there much better than me and with way more experience but I am certainly not a novice. That being said, when analyzing what I am looking for at this time the Mac 26M is looking like it checks off most of the boxes. The boat will be on a mooring on Lake Ontario about 45 minutes from where I live. The primary use of this boat would be to act as a floating weekend cottage for me and my girlfriend. The Mac 26M looks to be big enough and roomy enough to accomplish that. Secondly, Lake Ontario is blessed with many great cruising destinations but the 5 knots per hour average of a traditional sailboat just won't cut it if I want to reach these destinations for a weekend getaway. The Mac 26M can do 18 -20 knots with ease at full power while still getting 3.5mpg, or over 8mpg if I throttle back to 6kts. I have talked to a few owners of similar sized power boats and they measure their fuel consumption in gallons per mile instead of miles per gallon. If I wanted to take a trip across the lake to Toronto I would only burn maybe 10 gallons at top speed or 4 gallons at 6knts. A similar sized power boat could use 60 gallons or more. So fuel efficiency is another box checked off. Lastly, I would love to be able to trailer this boat to places like Georgian Bay when desired. Not possible with a traditional sailboat. Last box checked off. The major drawback that I can think of is that it sails like s#*t, but I'm a member of a sailing club and have unlimited access to a Viking 33, Catalina 30, Pearson 26, O'Day 25, HR 25 (my favorite), a Harpoon 5.2 and a shark, so I have plenty of real sailboats for use when I want to do real sailing. In reality, the only time I probably would put up the sails on the Mac 26M is when conditions were perfect and I wanted some peaceful sailing, other than that I would use it more as a relatively roomy fuel efficient water going camper and cottage. Besides the stigma of owning a Mac 26M, am I missing anything? Are there other boats you can recommend that would meet my needs? To me it seems like my best option. If I do get a Mac 26M I think the appropriate name would be "Coyote Ugly".
Never in a million years did I think I would be saying this - I'm starting to think that a Mac 26M might be the right boat for my particular needs, but I'm putting it out there for others opinions. I'll start by saying that I'm not a newbie to sailing - I've done extensive racing and cruising on all manor of boats in all conditions and even a 10 day offshore journey once in heavy weather. Sure, there are plenty of sailors out there much better than me and with way more experience but I am certainly not a novice. That being said, when analyzing what I am looking for at this time the Mac 26M is looking like it checks off most of the boxes. The boat will be on a mooring on Lake Ontario about 45 minutes from where I live. The primary use of this boat would be to act as a floating weekend cottage for me and my girlfriend. The Mac 26M looks to be big enough and roomy enough to accomplish that. Secondly, Lake Ontario is blessed with many great cruising destinations but the 5 knots per hour average of a traditional sailboat just won't cut it if I want to reach these destinations for a weekend getaway. The Mac 26M can do 18 -20 knots with ease at full power while still getting 3.5mpg, or over 8mpg if I throttle back to 6kts. I have talked to a few owners of similar sized power boats and they measure their fuel consumption in gallons per mile instead of miles per gallon. If I wanted to take a trip across the lake to Toronto I would only burn maybe 10 gallons at top speed or 4 gallons at 6knts. A similar sized power boat could use 60 gallons or more. So fuel efficiency is another box checked off. Lastly, I would love to be able to trailer this boat to places like Georgian Bay when desired. Not possible with a traditional sailboat. Last box checked off. The major drawback that I can think of is that it sails like s#*t, but I'm a member of a sailing club and have unlimited access to a Viking 33, Catalina 30, Pearson 26, O'Day 25, HR 25 (my favorite), a Harpoon 5.2 and a shark, so I have plenty of real sailboats for use when I want to do real sailing. In reality, the only time I probably would put up the sails on the Mac 26M is when conditions were perfect and I wanted some peaceful sailing, other than that I would use it more as a relatively roomy fuel efficient water going camper and cottage. Besides the stigma of owning a Mac 26M, am I missing anything? Are there other boats you can recommend that would meet my needs? To me it seems like my best option. If I do get a Mac 26M I think the appropriate name would be "Coyote Ugly".