New 28 Coming - And I want one!

[Mark Prouty]

Notice how Ginieco made one post and dissapeared.

[Mark Prouty]

My take of this post is:

An informercial of a Mast28

www.mast28.com

Not a bad approach, basically a polish copy of a slightly larger, slightly nicer, hugely more expensive MacGregor

Deac on this board has a Mast 28. I don't this is an infomercial for it.
http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... ghlight=28

Ginieco what happened to you.



Hope it was nothing serious.

[kmclemore]

To me it sounds like an infomercial for the Mach28. Really a 26x thats been stretched.
Mach28
Wish they'd bring this over here!!

How the heck they make this boat without getting sued by MacGregor is beyond me... the Mach28 is *such* an incredible knock-off! They couldn't have made it closer if they'd stolen the molds.

Incidentally, having done a search on Google and finding virtually nothing, I wonder if they actually *have* sold any?

[Mark Prouty]

How the heck they make this boat without getting sued by MacGregor is beyond me... the Mach28 is *such* an incredible knock-off! They couldn't have made it closer if they'd stolen the molds.

by cracky that's cheatin'

[Chip Hindes]

How the heck they make this boat without getting sued by MacGregor is beyond me... the Mach28 is *such* an incredible knock-off!

What's Mac going to sue for? You can't sue somebody just because they make a copy, no matter how blatant it is. You can sue for violating a patent, but are you aware of anything about the Mac which is patented?

Though the Mac is an innovative combination of particular characteristics, that in itself is not patentable.

I searched the factory website and found no mention of patents. I would bet if anything about the Mac were patented, you'd read about it.

[Mark Prouty]

Six Berths
Shower & Toilet
Large Galley
Full Headroom

Hanging Locker
Light & Airy
Great Cockpit

Where the heck is the shower and hanging locker.

[Mark Prouty]

Looks like they might be putting on a bulsa wood deck.

Well, that's better than the foam core decks anyway.

Balsa Core Decks

Of Balsa and Foam Cores - an interesting article on foam coring.


Looks like high production costs.

[norbert]

phil king of australia is a former contributor to this board and is or has been a macgregor importer downunder. seems he designed the boat he always dreamed of... only drawback i remark (and that's the same with the odin/mast) is the lack of front windows. and i love this pilothouse feeling on my x!

[Mark Prouty]

... only drawback i remark (and that's the same with the odin/mast) is the lack of front windows. and i love this pilothouse feeling on my x!

Do you steer from inside. Do you have a setup like this:

[norbert]

i do not have an inside steering station, but when sailing under autopilot and going down into the cabin for a short while it is a much better feeling to see where i go and what happens in front of my bow!

[CFCassidy]

Actually, I don't know if they did, but MacGregor could have applied for a design patent on the distinctive shape and coloring of the Mac 26X (as opposed to a utility patent). Had they done this, they actually could have prevented importation of knockoffs into the US.

Digital did this back in the 80s when I worked there with the distinctive wedge shape of the VT220. A Japanese company did a knockoff and DEC successfully sued.

[Rolf]

Mark,
The only foam coring Macgregor did (on the x at least) was for the decks from 1999-2002. According to Roger's "improvements" literature, the coring allowed the deck liner to be incorporated with the deck for added strength and stiffness. I never stood on an earlier x, so I wouldn't know. Mine feels pretty solid(I'm 195 pounds), tho. Anyone care to comment on this?
Rolf

[Chip Hindes]

I'm 225 lbs, and I confirm the deck on my '01 seems pretty stiff.

The below are mostly guesses; I have no experience or special knowledge of cored fiberglass construction.

Theoretically at least, most of the stiffness of a composite fiberglass "sandwich" is provided by the fiberglass, not by the core material; and the thicker the core material, the stiffer the sandwich. I'm guessing that you can buy a much thicker chunk of foam for the same money as a thin chunk of balsa, so for the same dollar the foam will be stiffer.

That being said, I'm quite sure balsa core is stiffer than foam core, allthough another characteristic is that the stiffness and strength is in the longitudinal direction only, along the grain; almost none in the transverse direction, across the grain.

My guess is that balsa core provides substantially better resistance to impact damage, but I'm also thinking it will turn to mush if the outer fiberglass shell is damaged and water gets inside.

We're all pretty familiar with the reality versus marketing hype debate vis a vis the Mac. My guess is the primary reason for foam core is reduced cost.

[Jack O'Brien]

IIRC the foam "core" is a few pieces of maybe 2" x 2" foam around which the fiberglass could be molded to form square-shaped supports for the deck. I can guess this could be stiffer than a piece(s) of Balsa, of unknown thickness, and possibly better for bonding deck to liner.

It was a significant advantage to me to not have to worry about water intrusion turning a wood core to mush. (Not that Macs ever leak.) I love the "no wood on the boat to care about" advantage.

Is there a plywood core in the transom?

[kmclemore]

My guess is the primary reason for foam core is reduced cost.

Precisely - the market price of balsa has gone up versus foam, hence there were cost savings to be realised.

You also gain the advantage, as noted, of reduced 'rot' issues, too, though foam is not immune to saturation.

The initial strength difference of either balsa or foam is negligable, with the strength being in the glassfibre covering, not the core. For similar reasons, impact resistance is also about the same.

Bottom line, it comes down to cost.