This is a collection of refurbishments and adventures on my Macgregor 1989 26D. I've put it together because I often look for trailer sailor videos and can never find any that suit my needs. So, I'll be putting my projects together, my adventures, and most likely some mishaps. I would like to take a second to advocate for trailer sailor yachts, too. Not everyone has 500-800/mo laying around for a slip. On many forums, I've seen the comment: "Well if you can't afford it, don't buy it!". Those people are desperately out of touch with reality. The truth is, if you can't afford a huge yacht or a slip fee, find and old trailer sailor like me, do the leg work, get it in shape, and take that dang thing to the Bahamas! At least you'll have an adventure.
How is the maneuvering without a motor standoff? Can you turn easily? I've got same motor, same boat. Scared to enter marinas. Just added a trolling motor to give me extra maneuvering in shallows.
A good video of your experience with the Tohatsu 6hp motor and MacGregor sailboat! I sail a '94 MacGregor 26S and used an 8hp Honda that became unreliable. I took my boat out a few months ago to break in my new Tohatsu motor and was having a nice day until I got in a tight space in my marina and tried to turn using both the motor and tiller. The spinning prop wacked into the rudder (luckily it's HDPE) and left a few gouges in it. So I guess for me, turning the boat will strictly be with the rudder and not the motor. MacGregor's transom motor mount leaves something to be desired as there is no room to move the outboard tiller for turning. The Tohatsu motor for sailboats is a great little motor.
I have a question. I just got a Macgregor 26S and am wanting a new motor for reasons similar to what you mentioned. How bad is the vibration from this motor considering it is a single cylinder? We had an issue with our current motor vibrating the whole boat. Thanks!
Inside the lazarette? That seems like an extremely uncomfortable place to work. Working from the outside was fine, honestly. I saw the damage, repaired any issues, and sealed it up just fine, without having to work in the coffin :D
Your jib sheets should be inside the stanchions and probably inside the shrouds. Because of the outside lead you couldn't properly sheet in tight. The wide/loose trim will add weather helm and heel. Somewhat related, I just replaced the center attachment for the main with a nice full featured traveler. It's a wonderful expensive luxury. Don't crowd the cushions more than an inch or two.
I installef a thin film 50W just forward of the mast. Simply tied with paracord to existing fittings. Drilled a pass through SAE plug near the mast. I suggest people get a water rated charge controller with no display. Measure things with multimeter if you're curious.
There's a long curled hollow section in the interior liner a little over a foot above the cusions. With a little effort, you can push wires up for a hidden chase from stern to midship.
I have a 26S. My battery is under the sink. Better central position. I have an idea for a fridge or cooler under the starboard settee. A few obstacles so it might not happen.
No. I'm stuck right now. Too much work and life going on, I haven't had enough time to breath in almost 8 months. Hoping for a break to start sailing again this May. Until then, I'm probably going to be silent. Sorry!
I have been wanting to come over and see your boat because I am thinking of getting one. I asked you before if we can work that out. I live in Stuart so I'm sure we're not that far away. That's cool though you just answered one question for me. Be a person that has built power boats for years as well as building my own 40 foot trawler I do know a little bit about fiberglass. I was wondering how they built those boats. Everyone I've ever talked to says they're cheaply made. Seeing the gel coat they put on that in the thickness of the glass. If it is true they pretty much just use hand laid glass not a lot of chop. They build a good boat. Very impressed with construction. Thank you
Anytime you'd like to swing by, just shoot me a better way to contact you and I'll send you and address! Glad to know you enjoy the videos, it's been a long time since I made one. Stuck with too much work and too much life!!!
I can't feel it behind a 4.2L 6cyl minivan. I knew someone that pulled it on open roads with 4cyl Subaru Forester. The only thing that matters is traction on slippery ramps. 4x4 jeep will be great. I use 2.7L Tacoma 4x4 at local steeper ramp. On a noticeable hill on the road i could use more power. So I would say 3L 6cyl 4x4 would be nice low limit.
My 2016 Jeep Wrangler with a V-6 pulls my MacGregor 26D surprisingly well. The beauty of most of these type of MacGregors is that they use 1,200 pounds of water ballast, so that is 1,200 pounds of weight that you don't have to tow. I have a Catalina 22 (that I need to sell) that doesn't have a water ballast, so it doesn't tow as well even though it is a smaller boat. You can use a pump to drain the water ballast before pulling the boat out of the water if your vehicle has trouble pulling it up the ramp. You can buy an electric 3/4 inch (garden hose threaded) pump and an inverter to run it off the boats 12volt battery at Harbor Freight for less than $100. This works well for pumping out the ballast, using the pump to wash the deck of the boat and for assaulting other boats who decide to get into a water ballon battle with you. Yes, here in Oregon we do strange stuff on and off the water.
For you other owners: I cut the tongue off one of my trailers, but instead of the angle grinder, I bought metal cutting blade for my skilsaw, which worked well. Remember PPE including face shield.
well done. i have a 1986 26d and the first time i took it out on the road after a complete very extensive rebuild the bloody axle snapped less than two blocks from my home. they towed it back to the house on the back of a flatbed and the tow guy hooked the overhead cable lines with the mast (in its cradle) and ended up pulling down a whole mess of wires which started a small fire and... ... well, trailer sailing yay! i happened to have a brand new spare 96" axle and a full trailer build kit from johnson trailer parts (ordered for a work project) so i sacrificed the whole thing for my poor macgregor which had lived a very hard life. i hired a professional welder (because i do actually know how to weld and my widdle lincoln welder wasnt up to the task) who welded a gas pipe right between the side rails to heavily reinforce it. that with its new feet and legs and im pretty confident in towing it all over honolulu. look forward to more of your videos! :)
It's been a while-- probably will be a while longer. I'm stuck in every bit of work one can be stuck in right now-- school, kids, work-work... No time for sailing until around 6 months from now. But hopefully it'll be coming. And yeah, I'm a newbie welder, so I really only welded the extension shut, which didn't need it anyway because of the bolts. So with that shut, it's at least water-tight. Glad to see someone already reinforced my cross beams, and thankfully my axle was without corrosion.
Macgregor trailers were built cheap and the surface treatment of the trailer was nothing more than hitting it with a coat of paint after steel fab to make it look pretty before marketing, hence the overwhelming rust issues if not addressed in time. As a recommendation when doing steel fab repairs, an application of Ospho (phosphoric acid) onto the bare steel and rusted areas will extend the service life of your surface coating by chemically "reducing" the oxidation (rust) on the steel surfaces Then prime and top coat. Also, for viewers who may not be informed of the basic safety aspects of eye protection when doing this type of work, particularly while grinding, a full face shield should be used when grinding as well as the mandatory safety glasses. I have seen my share of eye injuries in a steel fab workshop environment; not pretty when watching the doctor digging the sliver(s) out of the eye.
Great advice. I have already run into new rusty spots and we haven't even had the trailer in water. And yes, the safety aspect is very important. Can't stress enough that I'm fairly lucky I didn't get tetanus.
When life gets crazy and the stress piles on, it's nice to have a boat sitting somewhere waiting for you. Even if you can't sail it, you can drift off to sleep splashing through the waves with the sun on your face.
I'm having computer issues actually. DaVinci Resolve doesn't like my new drivers. Working it out on top of everything else right now is proving tough. I'll be back soon though!
Once I get back on the water heck yes! No new content coming for a while unfortunately. Kids, cars, jobs, school, and life have sucked my life dry of all fun for now. Stick around though, they're will be more
Hello my friend, I've ridden the tail of the dragon on my KLR 650 and that is one wicked twisty road. You may have been joking about sailing up there but I have a video of us sailing our Catalina 22 on Santeetlah Lake just a few minutes south via 129 from Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort where you were. Thought you might want to see it. It's called "Catalina 22 - Sailing Deep in the Appalachian Mountains" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EjZQ0btBhgM.html
Very awesome! And no I wasn't joking. I might pull my boat up north soon and start doing some lake sailing. The ocean is fine, but it's so flat down here!!!
@@trailersailoradventures6138 Santeetlah Lake is beautiful and there's plenty of undeveloped shoreline and little coves to hide in but a fair warning: The wind changes direction and velocity around every corner. Each leg of that lake has it's own unique wind pattern. This can drive one to madness. Other than that, I highly recommend it.
Check the forums for the rudder mods that will reduce or get rid of the weather helm the 26D is famous for! I'm not crafty so just bought the RudderCraft upgrade. It's like power-steering with one finger upwind now!
Great mods and repairs. A lot of people put their battery under that seat as the factory location under the sink is hard to reach. Im rewiring mine now. Nav lights didnt come on so I decided to do it over the right way with new wire and led lights. Also like the tent shelter. I park under a hemlock tree and its very very messy so I must cover up.
We have a stupid banyan tree. They're beautiful but make everything dirty. If I don't cover the boat, it looks like we live on a dirt road with high traffic in no time. Rewiring was pretty easy and it made me feel better, knowing it was done right. Glad to hear you're doing the same and enjoy the videos!!!
I am in the same boat! (pardon the Pun) My trailer is the black steal trailer that is rusted out. I understand those trailers are for fresh water boats and I am surrounded by salt water (Florida). is it cost effective to fix the trailer VS buying a new one?
Only time will tell, my friend. I spent around $500 on everything. New trailers range from $3-5k. I made sure to do my best painting this trailer with rustoleum enamel, primer, sealed up all the old holes, etc. So we will see how long it lasts. I'm also going to make a portable fresh water spray to use at the ramp, hopefully eliminating the salt water that sits for 8-12 hours while we are out and about. I'll keep you updated, but it made more sense for me to just rebuild mine. I like to tinker, learned some new tricks, and don't mind not spending the money.
Great video. Question about the Tohatsu. Do you feel like 6HP is enough, now that youve used it a while? Did you need to ultra long shaft or was that just the version that you found?
Hey, thanks! And yes, a 6hp at quarter throttle pushes us along at around hull speed. The 8hp did exactly the same, so I don't really think a bigger engine would do much for us, unless it was much bigger. As for the length, yes the ultra long shaft is a requirement. Anything else will suck air when you go over waves. We even have that problem sometimes with the ultra long shaft. The engine has been a very valuable upgrade. The only thing I can complain about is that there isn't a push button start.
@@cageun yes it folds all the way up. No issues with it dragging unless you leave it down. That's something I learned the hard way not to do, as I almost lost the motor!
