I am considering the purchase of a 1983 Mac 25. I have sailed similar boats in lakes, but not sailed this boat at sea. So, any feedback Mac25 owners have about sailing this boat in northeastern conditions, up to 5 miles off coast of Maine in various weather and wind conditions. Thank you.
Mcgregor 25 at sea vs lake
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I owned a '78 Macgregor Venture 25 that I sailed on the west coast of Fl. in fairly protected waters for a couple of years many years ago. Found that I really needed something more robust if I was going to go out in open water. With a 2100 lb. displacement and a 625 lb. swing keel she was a bit tender for any type of rough sea. Having grown up on the new England coast, IMHO, I would look at something heavier and more seaworthy. Ask the local sailors for their input.
Caveat - not a Mac 25 owner.
Roland5048's observations make sense.
Roger MacGregor's focus was on boats that could be easily trailered. The compromises involved make MacGregors not very well suited to blue water sailing.
That said, I know of Mac 26M and X owners who sail from Florida to The Bahamas (a good deal more than 5 miles offshore). These boats are probably as or more tender than the 25. Naturally, they don't venture out unless they are confident that the weather won't get too nasty. I would say it doesn't matter so much how far from land you are going as how confident the weather and subsequent sea state will be amenable to the boat you are sailing.
A heavier boat with plenty of weight below the waterline will be safer and more forgiving than a lighter boat like the Mac 25. People have sailed around the world in smaller boats, so in my opinion it has a lot to do with how well you know how to handle your boat in adverse conditions. Think in terms of worst-case scenario, and know your boat inside and out before you venture out of sight of land.
Roland5048's observations make sense.
Roger MacGregor's focus was on boats that could be easily trailered. The compromises involved make MacGregors not very well suited to blue water sailing.
That said, I know of Mac 26M and X owners who sail from Florida to The Bahamas (a good deal more than 5 miles offshore). These boats are probably as or more tender than the 25. Naturally, they don't venture out unless they are confident that the weather won't get too nasty. I would say it doesn't matter so much how far from land you are going as how confident the weather and subsequent sea state will be amenable to the boat you are sailing.
A heavier boat with plenty of weight below the waterline will be safer and more forgiving than a lighter boat like the Mac 25. People have sailed around the world in smaller boats, so in my opinion it has a lot to do with how well you know how to handle your boat in adverse conditions. Think in terms of worst-case scenario, and know your boat inside and out before you venture out of sight of land.
Just happened on this site.
www.yachtdatabase.com
Review of MacGregor 25 - www.yachtdatabase.com
Specifications and Review of MacGregor 25 based on the boat's specifications and artificial intelligense.
I have sailed my 1977 V25 all over the coast of New England. The Cape and the Islands. Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay. I have sailed in about every condition possible. From a 50 plus knot squall in the middle of Buzzards Bay to 8 foot standing waves leaving the canal. Many trips from the canal to Ptown. That boat will sail and handle well in all conditions. The test is what you can handle. I had a 9.9 Johnson Sailmaster 2 stroke with electric start. I would power it with nothing less. People also trash the iron keel. My keel was in good condition. I replaced the winch, cable and hardware. Inspected all every season. Never locked it down. That seemed to piss off a lot of people on these blogs. The reason was that you could trim the center of effort by raising or lowering the keel. With the keel down the boat was super stable. Much more than my 26M. People were always surprised at how fas that boat could go and how well it handled. Like a classic Corvette. I loved that boat. My kids went to sleep in the bow with life jackets on on many late night crossings. Usually dome with My wife, the dog and my three girls. White caps are still white at night. I checked! The biggest issue was the junk trailer they came on. I refinished mine three times. New springs twice and finally replaced the axel with torsion axel. That was great but it was still rotting away. If you get a good deal I would go for it. Make sure you have a good VHF, convert the lights to LED and keep all the foam in. I found out ten years in that the previous owner sank her off the coat of Westport. Hit a rock with the keel locked down (another reason why I never locked it down) The boat sank in ten minutes. Stayed up because of the foam and the Coast Guard towed it in. I have a lot of stories on my club site the NE Trailer Sailors. I am the Commodore. The club is basically disbanded but the site was still up the last I checked. Still on FB too. Happy sailing!!
OH, one more thing. She hit 11.5 knots when we came out of the squall. The jib was blown out and the main was rolled so that the sail was at the point of the spreaders for strength. Surfing down 8 foot seas. Yahoo!! When we realized that we mad it through alive the fog parted and a giant oil barge being pushed by a tug appeared out of no where no more than 200 yard off the starboard bow. We could see the crew looking amazed at the little boat with the jib flapping as much as we were amazed to see them come out of the fog!! I have a story about it on our site called the Buzzards Bay Crawl.
I never locked mined down, either. My sailing grounds are from just afloat to less than 10 feet until several miles off shore. That keel was my depth sounder.
When I sailed our V-21, I always thought of that as sailing by the braille method.
I chuckle as I read about the use of the centerboard as the poor man's depth finder. I take special delight in knowing I can sail anywhere I want without having to worry about running aground. In fact, I will deliberately sail close to shore or a sand spit just to make other people worry. 