can any one offer any info
I went for a sail with my neigbour on his macgregor26 yesterday. He is not an experienced sailor and i was hoping to get some advice on his mainsail set up.
I did sail an 18ft cat in my teens and now sail boards, so my terminology/description may be hard to understand.
So, after motoring out of the marina, the main was hoisted. I noticed that most of the sail was hoisted/held to mast track/guide/slot with plastic runners which were attached to the luff of the sail. The remaining part of the sail (approx 1/3) was not attached to the mast and plenty of daylight could be seen between the luff and the mast. To me this didn't seem right, but neighbour said thats how he bought it and has always sailed it and something about not being able to reef it if needed.
The plastic bits/runners seem to be the weakest bit in the chain and the unattached section of the sail just doesn't seem to be efficient not to mention the turbulent wind flow accross the sail.
Even if the sail was to be hoisted/fed/attached up the mast using the rope/chord which is sewn into the sail luff, it couldn't be, because those plastic runners would not allow it to be fed into the mast.
It did have eyelits punched into the sail at about the height where the sail wasn't attached to the mast. Could this be for reefing.
Any advice would be appreciated and would it be a safety issue as i will be sailing on it again one day.
Thanks in Advance
Well done, you used a sentence with Mcgregor and sail in the same line. Most people are a bit against these vessels. I have only ever seen one sailing on a light day and it moved along reasonably well.
The plastic slides or slugs depending what you have, are incredibly strong. Usually if the boat has slab reefing the slides still go all the way down to the boom and the large cringles are used for reefing.
I suggest you go to the Seldon mast site, http://www.seldenmast.se/firstpage.cfm
there you will find various pdf files to download on reefing,mast setups etc and pretty much anything you need to know.
Sounds like a typical MacGregor... average as a power boat even more average as a sail boat.
Seriosuly, it doesnt sound right. Even with reefing you should still have slugs or a bolt rope all the way down the mainsail. This does not effect reefing in anyway.
If your mail sail is not connected to the mast then obviously your losing a lot of power in the sail.
thanks guys, i will tell him he should take it to a sailmaker, but I won't pass on the comments regarding macgregors as he is wrapped in it, as for me i don't know anything about them or any others, out of curiosity what seems to be the problem with them, could it be they tried to mate a sailboat with a power boat as i saw on their website a skiier being towed behind one. for now I'm happy to sail with him if there is not enough wind to make sailing my windsurfers fun.
I have sailed in one as my brother in law used to have one. He has since sold it and moved onto a 40ft yacht.
My impression was that they are under powered by sail and over powered by motor. The motor is way too heavy and as Ramona says in the wrong spot for a boat. The hull is very flat and wide with very high top sides. It looks and feels like a caravan, which was the intent to improve the amount of room below. What this does it creates a boat that is top heavy and rolls A LOT. In flat water they might be OK but in some swell or wind chop they go into death rolls while off the breeze which is very uncomfortable. Movement around the cockpit is OK but if you need to move anywhere outside of the cockpit then this becomes quite difficult.
I have no doubt that they are well built and I have seen the infamous DVD with the boat full of water and five people standing on it and it wont sink.
My opinion is they are not a well designed sailing boat. A caravan on water maybe but not a sailing boat.
You are all being far too nice about the mcgregor. It is not worthy of being called a boat more like floating barge.......
