FWIW, I'd like to state I love my 26S too! You'd be hard pressed to find an owner or former owner of a Mac, advise you not to buy one. I think that's quite telling don't you? It's true the bashers have little to none, firsthand experience with one. And as Doehunter pointed out, they usually compare other boats that are not in the same class at all.
These boats indeed, are built light for ease of trailerability. True, they are sparsely rigged to keep cost down. But also true, you don't hear about any failure with standing rigging or the hulls. Any accidents you hear about are due to stupidity of the skipper. They perform very well for their intended purpose.
Since you stated you’re interested in potentially trailering, I would highly recommend a water ballasted boat, dropping all the ballast weight before hitting the road is a huge benefit.
Yes, there are many so called trailerable fixed keel sailboats, but really, how easy is it to trailer them?
So, if you decide on a water ballast boat, here is a few choices; Macgregor 26D, S, X, M, Hunter made a few models, 240, 26, 260, Catalina, 250 and the new 25, Santana 2023 (FG over wood ballast tank)
Personally, I love the Hunter 26 and 260, but cost more, and about 1500lbs more on the trailer, still like em a lot though. The Catalina 250 is nice, but cost is much more.
[FONT="]Really Macgregors are great for the price!
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