Why water ballast?

[Ray Trombino]

H260 - A Boat Built for a Reason

My wife and I spent 3 years researching different boats before settling on the H260. We bought ours at the 1997 Annapolis Boat Show, because it had the features we needed (not just wanted) for our sailing lifestyle. Aquia Harbour is upstream of a fixed railroad bridge with a 28-foot clearance. I needed a boat where I could safely lower the mast on the water. We wanted "big boat" features, like real berths, a real galley, wheel steering, and an enclosed head. (We chose the porta-potti). No other boat offered those features. We also needed to be able to navigate shallow water (sometimes as low as 2 feet). Our boat will be five years old in May, and we would not trade it for any other, as we can keep her only 10 minutes from the house. As was mentioned by a previous writer, you buy a boat for a reason, and our 260 fit the bill perfectly.

 

[brad]

brigg franklin m26x

would yopu say the same about heeling for the m26x?

 

[Brigg Franklin]

What is a M26X

I'm not sure what an M26X is, but we have an older Hunter 26' with fixed keel in the fleet at Island Sailing Club where I teach. Yes it heels different than my water ballest. The 260 will heel sooner, but as more of the water ballest is lifted off center line it stiffens until at 10 to 15 degrees it feels as good as the older 26 footer. That's a pretty subjective description, but you have to be there to get the feeling.Brigg

 

[Phil Herring]

M26X=

Macgregor 26X, a water ballast boat that will get up on a plane.

 

[Brigg Franklin]

Power Vs Sail

A lot of this is going to be my opinion so ignore what you don't like. I think there is a big difference between a "Power" boat with a plaining hull and a 70 Hp engine that goes 17 MPH and a "Sail" boat with a displacement hull that goes 7 knots and has a maximum 10 Hp auxiliary engine. Yes the "Power" boat has sort of a mast, but I see very few of them being used around here on the Columbia River. An even bigger difference concerns the quality if the standing rigging. As just one example amoung many. The "adjusters" on the McGregor's shrouds are straps with holes drilled to pin the bottom of the U-clamped shrouds to the deck. The Hunter has fully crimped stainless shrouds ending in turnbuckles and deck plates. Being diplomatic, I would say the McGregor is built less expensively!!! But, that's just my opinion.Brigg

 

[C Smith]

260/26 Definitely a Better Sailboat

I also had a 26X and though the big motor does have some advantages the boat definitely is a DOG as a sailboat. It is slow, slow, slow and when the wind picks up becomes extremely difficult to manage. The 26/260 is a much much better sailboat with both superior sailing characteristics and superior build qualities. My 260 has absolutely neutral helm and I have had to adjust the rake of the mast to put in a little weather helm.

 

[Rick Webb]

I Looked at the 26X before I bought my Hunter

I was thoroughly unimpressed. The inside of the boat reminds me of being locked in a refrigerator. The whole thing deck fittings, rudders, cushions, you name it just seemed to be a notch or two down from other boats. A couple of years ago I again was looking at them a friend of mine was looking for a boat I was trying to steer him towards a used 240 that my broker was listing it had everything on it furler, tiller pilot, depth sounder, GPS, VHF, CD player 9.9 Honda 4 stroke, the works. It did not make sense to him that this 3 year old boat was almost the same price as the list price on a new 240. The next weekend he saw and bought a 26X I was even more unimpressed after going out on the boat a few times. The chain plates are just thin straps bolted to the hull with unsealed holes going through the deck. The electrical system is a joke and the glare from fiberglass inside make you want to keep your sunglasses on inside the cabin. The trailer is laughable as well why would anyone buy a painted steel contraption to dunk in the water all the time? It could not have cost them that much to galvanize the trailer. Trying to dock the thing was an experience as well. The swing of the motor is limited so you cannot turn as a power boat would and the rudders are ineffective until you doing 3 or 4 kts. Aside from the enclosed head and he can do 10 kts more than can I the 23.5 or 240 is a better boat the 26X. I hope Rob does not read this I always told him I liked his boat and that he was not stupid for buying it.

 

[Rick E.]

H26 & M26X

In my view, our Hunter 26 is substantially different than the other half dozen Macgregors in our Club. Our water ballast tank is significantly larger & thus our boat is steadier, the swing keel is a lot heavier, the rigging is sturdier, the fiberglass hull is more durable, the mast is 6' taller, the halyards run inside the mast, the boat is beamier, the aft berth is more comfortable, the stove has 2 burners instead of 1, and there is a lot more teak on the inside of the boat. BUT, we paid more for these improvements. The Macgregor people have the same money invested in their 50 hp 4-stroke motors.In terms of the boating experience, because of the faster speed under power, one could definitely argue that on a larger lake, the M26X is safer. It can run to shore faster. This past summer, we had a real scare because we got caught out in a quick squall while our friends with the M26 were able to get to the harbour 10 minutes sooner & avoid our harrowing experience.On the other hand, if both boats were in the same rough conditions, our rigging would hold up better than the Macgregor, I have no doubt we could sail out of conditions that would be extremely difficult for the M26X to handle. Other than safety issues, the H26 is definitely more of a sailboat, & with the proper trim, rake, tension & reefing, it can keep up to equivalent-sized fixed keel boats (eg. small Beneteaus & the Catalina 27). On the other side of the coin, the Macgregor allows the novice sailor to experience the joys of motorboating. In that sense, it is more "mobile" - not everyone wants to limit their speed to 4 -7 knots. For our part, we are more interested in sailing, & thus I believe we made the right choice, at least until we can afford that new 32 footer...Rick

 

[John Powell]

Record?

Wow! 28 responses on this item. What's the record for the most responses?John

 

[Calvin]

A Speed Comparison

I can give you my own experience with a speed test. During a club race we had finished and were tooling around the course waiting for the slower boats to finish. There was a 26x midway between the second and third marks. We sailed past on a parallel course going back to the second mark and then turned and ,sailing the same parallel course, reached the third mark before the 26X.

 

[Marcel Ralbovsky]

Hunter engineers answer

If the photo enclosed with this post loads ok. you can read what Hunter Design thinks of water ballast.

 

[Bill]

NoLoad

It didn't load.

 

[Marcel]

Hunter design article

Sorry, it is an article by Hunter Engineering along with a detailed drawing, and I'm going nuts trying to reduce the file size and have it legible. I'm working on it. Go to http://ralbovsky.com and you will see my problem on page 2.

 

[Phil Herring]

Email me the big image

I've got some specialized tools for shrinking file sizes -- send me a large file and let me see what I can do. phil@hunterowners.com