Our previous boat was a water ballasted '88 MacGregor 26D, so I'll weigh in.
It was an absolute blast to sail and a good set of compromises for our purposes. It was pure sailing hull rather than the hybrid planing hull power sailers they currently manufacture, so it makes better for a direct comparison from a sailing perspective.
We could be in the water ready to sail away in 20-30 minutes after pulling up to the ramp. Tear-down was about the same. The ballast tank would fill by the time I launched the boat and the time I parked and walked back down. Coming out of the water, the ballast tank would typically drain by the time we had stepped the mast and were ready to pull out.
Super nice to be able to drain the ballast for trailering behind my 4-door Jeep. Let us choose between the great harbors around LA and store it in our driveway between outings. Enjoyed not paying monthly slip fees and was able to do maintenance and upgrade work right there at home. Kinda nice to drop something over the side and just pick it up off the ground rather than driving to the nearest West Marine for a replacement.
Enjoyed having a retractable daggerboard as well.
You'll find no shortage of opinion out there.
Our experience was positive and we did quite well racing in a mixed fleet of boats (we were the only water ballasted boat).
Beating to weather, we could point nice and high when flying the jib but had to fall off a bit when flying the genoa (had to pick the best combo for the course and conditions or swap 'em out for particularly long legs). She was initially a bit more tender and much livelier than the keel boats I've sailed (my current Catalina 30 is very stiff and considerably heavier). Once we heeled to 15 degrees or so, couldn't really feel any difference in once I upgraded to an IdaSailor rudder. The original rudder resulted in a poorly balanced boat that was bad about rounding up. The new rudder made a huge difference.
The lighter Mac26 would consistently out-accelerate the Ericsons, Cals, and Catalina 27s coming off a tack even after we added bottom paint and dropped her in a slip for the season. Really made a time difference during our early and late season races since we were tacking up the channel and rounding the breakwater before returning to finish due to the early sunset. Didn't make as much of a difference when the course moved outside the breakwater as the days got longer.
Was always fun to reel in a few boats on downwind legs by pulling up our daggerboard and deploying the whisker pole. Daggerboard was also a great way to dump kelp and seaweed without having to due s 360.
Overall, a great compromise for what we were looking for at the time. We moved up to an older Catalina 30 for more family room and are currently enjoying a weekend on a mooring at Catalina Island.
Whatever path you choose, enjoy. That's what it's all about in the end.
