New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

A forum for discussing topics relating to MacGregor Powersailor Sailboats
Post Reply
Idiotfool
Engineer
Posts: 173
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2016 5:44 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Homestead, FL

New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by Idiotfool »

Good evening, all. As some of you may have seen, I've recently purchased a 2007 Macgregor and I've just cleaned out the cabin after our maiden voyage, yesterday. I have many many questions.

The boat is in really good shape, overall, but I wanted to give it a good scrub down to further improve her good looks, and I started with the interior. When washing down the galley, I noticed that it was not terribly stable (rocked interior to posterior fairly easily) and the sink drains incredibly slowly. There's no air supply, and that drain is miniscule, but I don't know if mine is worse than others. For those of you with stock sinks - how long would it take your sink to drain an inch of water?

The forward hatch and sliding hatch both have a somewhat rough surface on the interior, and mold seems to be very happy in these spots. What can be done to inhibit this?

Previous owner added a bilge pump next to the batteries under the steps. When scrubbing the interior and hosing things down, the water ran to this area and I decided to try out the bilge, but it was too high to be useful and could not actually evacuate anything. For those of you with bilge pumps, where do you have yours situated?

I have the mast raising system on the boat and, when the mast is in the hinge and lowered onto the cradle of the mast carrier, it is impossible to open the hatch with the boom attached. When the mast is slid forward and attached to the front rail and lowered, I still find it difficult to open the hatch very far. Do any of you remove the boom, did you raise the carrier, or am I alone in this issue? I want to be able to get in and out of the cabin when the boat is parked on its trailer, but this is proving to be problematic for me.

On that note, how do you access your boat when it's on the hard? I've used the front steps on the trailer and broke out my Little Giant knock-off today to get in and out, but I'm curious what others have done. I want to be able to use the boat as a camper on land. Would the ladder mounted to the genoa rails work, or is it too short? Any other suggestions?

I have more questions, but I think this is enough to get started. Thanks, in advance!
beechkingd
Chief Steward
Posts: 75
Joined: Mon May 13, 2019 3:41 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: Central VA 1996 26x

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by beechkingd »

You need to remove the boom before your lower your mast for transport. The hatch should work fine when the mast is attached to the bow railing for transport.
User avatar
Russ
Admiral
Posts: 7543
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:01 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Bozeman, Montana "Luna Azul" 2008 M 70hp Suzi

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by Russ »

Idiotfool wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 8:06 pm
The boat is in really good shape, overall, but I wanted to give it a good scrub down to further improve her good looks, and I started with the interior. When washing down the galley, I noticed that it was not terribly stable (rocked interior to posterior fairly easily) and the sink drains incredibly slowly. There's no air supply, and that drain is miniscule, but I don't know if mine is worse than others. For those of you with stock sinks - how long would it take your sink to drain an inch of water?
Yes, the galley is on tracks and rocky. "BOAT" did a mod where he added rollers to the galley. Most of us just learn to live with it.
The drain is tiny and slow. Some of us have cut out the stock sink and replaced it with a stainless bar sink. That helps a bit.
The forward hatch and sliding hatch both have a somewhat rough surface on the interior, and mold seems to be very happy in these spots. What can be done to inhibit this?
You could paint them with a gloss paint. Also, search this forum for main hatch slide and velcro to make it smoother and not glass on glass.
Previous owner added a bilge pump next to the batteries under the steps. When scrubbing the interior and hosing things down, the water ran to this area and I decided to try out the bilge, but it was too high to be useful and could not actually evacuate anything. For those of you with bilge pumps, where do you have yours situated?
The Mac has no proper bilge. It has several compartments and they are not connected. The problem with bilge pumps is they can't evacuate to a dry bottom. That is probably the best location for a pump if you are using it as a safety device. For nuisance water, a sponge works best. Or a super soaker to draw water up.
I have the mast raising system on the boat and, when the mast is in the hinge and lowered onto the cradle of the mast carrier, it is impossible to open the hatch with the boom attached. When the mast is slid forward and attached to the front rail and lowered, I still find it difficult to open the hatch very far. Do any of you remove the boom, did you raise the carrier, or am I alone in this issue? I want to be able to get in and out of the cabin when the boat is parked on its trailer, but this is proving to be problematic for me.
I remove the boom.
On that note, how do you access your boat when it's on the hard? I've used the front steps on the trailer and broke out my Little Giant knock-off today to get in and out, but I'm curious what others have done. I want to be able to use the boat as a camper on land. Would the ladder mounted to the genoa rails work, or is it too short? Any other suggestions?
Get a boarding ladder. Also important for man overboard retrieval. A must in my opinion.
http://shop.bwyachts.com/product-p/6402-1m0.htm
--Russ
User avatar
Russ
Admiral
Posts: 7543
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:01 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Bozeman, Montana "Luna Azul" 2008 M 70hp Suzi

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by Russ »

--Russ
User avatar
NiceAft
Admiral
Posts: 6157
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:28 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Upper Dublin,PA, USA: 2005M 50hp.Honda4strk.,1979 Phantom Sport Sailboat, 9'Achilles 6HP Merc 4strk

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by NiceAft »

If there is mold in the cabin, there could be mold in the drainage line running to the the exit at the stern; this could also slow the drainage. Pour a little bleach in the sink, let it sit a couple of minutes, then pour a gallon of water in the sink and vigorously use a plunger. If this doesn’t work, we’ll, at least you have a clean drain. :)

Just be certain that there is nothing where the stern exit drain is that will be affected by the bleach.
Ray ~~_/)~~
User avatar
Inquisitor
Captain
Posts: 924
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:24 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: North Carolina Mountains

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by Inquisitor »

Drain - It's been a long time since I axed my 2007's galley all together but... on my boat the galley sink T's with cockpit drain just in front of the engine and into a single through-hull at the transom. Mine being an outdoor stored boat, it ALWAY was collecting stuff and clogging from the cockpit debris... which also clogs the galley sink. I finally added a second through-hull (to give symmetry with the current through-hull). I ran the cockpit drain to the new one and the galley stayed on the old. That fixed all my drain problems. But, that being said... it'll never will drain very fast... 15 feet of 3/4" hose with only about a foot of head just isn't going to drain very fast.

Hatch Mold - I don't know why, but both seemed to be a mold magnet while the rest of the boat is fine. They are rough and nothing seems to clean it. Covering was what I finally went with: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28010&hilit=inqism. I will eventually do something to the sliding hatch... way down about Inqism-25. :D

Bilge Pump - I've never had one and never needed one. As Russ said, there are several independent bilge areas. For little ingress, its... fix the ingress. For huge ingress... don't know before the "unsinkable aspect" comes into play. I do believe the low points in front of the batteries is the lowest when the boat is level. On the trailer, I think its under the aft berth somewhere.

Lowered Mast - Yeah... take the boom off.

Camping - Nice concept and certainly can be done... but it gets real old clamoring up into the boat when on the hard. Mine came with the optional stern steps... Don't know if it was factory or a Bill option. But an absolute must for getting on when on the water and the easiest on the hard if you can squeeze past the engine.
Odysseus, expert on the Siren's call
OverEasy
Admiral
Posts: 2012
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:16 am
Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
Location: NH & SC

Re: New 2007 26M owner - lots of questions

Post by OverEasy »

Hi!

Mold:
It likes the condensed humidity that forms underneath and the somewhat rougher texture.
We cleaned with a mildewacide (something like Lysol) then applied a hard paste wax with a little more mildewacide mixed in. Light buffing after. That was in November. Issue Hasn’t returned as yet. Also we run a small air circulation fan when we are not using the boat. On the “To-Do-List” is add a solar/battery vent fan the really nice POs gave us.

Bilge Pump:
There are some very good discussions and ideas in some of the other forum topics.
Basically it is a matter of choice as to what you are after. They are basically damage control and mitigation. The centrifugal type are more common, have a higher flow rate, have limited head pressure ( height they can pump water over) and will always leave a little bit of water behind (about 1/2” deep) when they stop. It’s nigh onto impossible to manually pump or bucket the amount of water a small 800 gph pump can do (as long as it has battery power. Sailing, navigating, bucketing and mitigation measures all at the same time is a really good trick ( like the 20 spinning plate balancer on the Ed Sullivan Show ).
Sounds like yours is centrally located as a default location for lack of a better single pump location.

Lowered Mast interference with companionway hatch:
Only option is to remove boom when lowering.
Not this year but maybe next we are considering making a mast support base box to raise the base of the mast up about 18 to 24 inches and having our main sail rigging modified to connect that much lower down from the top. That way when lowered the boom clears the dodger and companionway hatch when mast is lowered. (Next year project list)

Camping:
We enjoyed our first transit travel camping experience. We use a telescoping 14 ft ladder that is compact and travelers in the back of the van. Easy to use and easier than clambering up the swim ladder. We place ours on the side of the cockpit to avoid the hassle of the engine and rudders getting in the way. Bungee cord wrapped around ladder side to canopy foot keeps ladder more or less I place.

At home we we use a folding platform stair at the port side stern after removal of the steering bar pin/arm linkage and lowering the rudder on the port side which seems to be the easier side for us.

8) 8)
Post Reply