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I too had a leak into the aft berth in my 1999 26x. I managed to follow the water leak all the way back to aft and dicovered that I had hair line cracks in my drain well with water dripping from the bottom. I checked the hoses and clamps and they were all dry??!! I checked for minute cracks in the well above and found no problem there. To make a long story short, I realized that it had to be some where inside the down spout of the water drain well to the hookup clamp below.Water was some how leaking between the fiber glass and the gel coat. On a closer inspection I saw that the head of the down tube of the drain well didn't come all the way to the surface of the drain well, maybe a 2mm or 3mm's below it. I used marine grade silicone sealant and with my small finger filled in the upper part of the down spout around the inside and ensured that it came level with the surface of the well. After it dryed I put the hose to it and NO MORE LEAK.
I suspect what caused the problem was that when I put the boat up during the winter (and yes it was under cover) during the summer water had managed to seep between the fiber glass and the gel coat at the head of drain well. The water probably froze up through the winter causing the hair line cracks to the well surface below and as well further separation at the head of the well down spout. To that end, if the hair line cracks had not appeared the water would have stayed there until the whole thing started to cause much bigger problems. For what it's worth, it might be of some value for all owners of this vintage 26X to check it out.
I hope my experience in this matter will help any MacGregor Sailor out there as a preventative measure, especially those who live in colder climates.

Thanks for that info, Tide Over. I have a leak in the stern of my '99 , and I don't know where it's coming from. Yet.

There are stains and signs of ice damage (cracking) in the liner over the stern berth, all the way in the back, and right on the centerline in the area of the well, but I haven't dug into it. Too much to do right now to get it in the water, but I'll get in there, as it's been bothering me just to see that damage and the water that's getting in there.

Finally! Last time we went out I spent the whole trip down below, looking in every nook & cranny, and now it's so obvious I want to kick myself.

The previous owner had installed a freshwater system with a shower sump that was down in the bilge on the starboard side, just under the icebox insert under the aft dinette seat. The sump was flat against the bilge floor, meaning that when heeled to starboard, it was actually below the waterline.

Well, on a port tack with any degree of heeling, the thru-hull that drains the sink in the head would backfill into the sink drain, which was also connected to this shower sump. The sump itself is a plastic box with some wiring and probably a float device of some kind; I still haven't really figured out what it's for, or how it works. But I could clearly see the water running back through the hose, from the sink drain into the sump, and then overflowing the sump to end up in the bilge. Gallons of water were coming in. So I disconnected the hose from the sump and clamped it off, after bailing everything out, and no more leakage. Probably if I had switched on the freshwater system, the sump pump would have dumped everything back overboard for me, but I didn't think to test that solution.

Now I understand why it appeared as if the water was entering from the stern - under sail the water would stay in the midships bilges because the boat was more or less level. But when under power, with the stern settled into the water, it would run back and then find the exit hole under the ladder, making it look as if it was flowing from aft.

If anyone has experience with these shower sump systems, I would appreciate advice on how best to fix this. It's surprising how little information is available online, in this particular category. Otherwise I may just remove the whole thing. An indoor shower on a MacGregor 26 seems a little over the top, anyway.

Without a good picture of the setup, I recommend two fairly simple fixes. Best is to raise the thru hull drain - at least for the shower sump. Other is to consider a backflow valve but not sure if solids from the sink would affect this (the right backflow valve should work - as in one used with sump pumps).

How was your trip crammed under the cockpit

I'm working on a design for a shower for the M. I had one in my old pop up camper that I made and it worked pretty good - it had the sump pump built right into the bottom of the shower pan and when you were done with your shower the hot water tank, shower curtain, hoses and spray head all folded up nicely into the little shower tray for stowage under a bed or berth.

Made a real nice stainless steel one for my Sprinter van - it's full size - bigger than most RV bathrooms and fold up against the wall taking up only 5 inches when folded.

I think for 'boat' I will make one of the ones like I had in my old pop up truck camper Shower curtain hangs in the same square as the companionway hatch - hot water tank goes on the stove - plugs right into the RV style demand pump in the galley and sucks the hot water out of the tank into the shower head. For the sump you just run the hose where ever - (into the sink, over the side, out a hole, or if your in CANADA into a 5 gallon plastic gas can). Canadians don't like porta-potties either.

Anyway, I like that cuz u can see where all the water is going while the shower is going and you know nothing will be going on when yur NOT showering!

No, a shower on the MAC 26 is not over the top - Our family of three all got a hot showers EVERY MORNING in our little SIX FOOT pop up truck camper and we traveled for 2 weeks at a time. It's very doable. The biggest problem is actually the water, not the engineering of the shower - you need to get your shower down to 2 gallons per person and getting RID of the water is another problem.

Thanks RobertB for the suggestions. I ended up doing both . . . raising the hose connection tee and installing a one-way valve. I still don't quite understand how the water was back-flowing into the sump housing to begin with, since that already has a one-way value on the outlet port. I tested it by forcing water from a hose into the hole in the side of the boat. But I definitely saw it coming in there while sailing. All I can think of is that when the thru-hull became more submerged as the result of heeling, the pressure was enough to overcome the valve and force the water in.

BOAT, I get your point about the shower now. Probably because I've only been day-sailing so far, I never think about such amenities. But I can imagine two or more people out for a few days would appreciate a fresh water shower now and then, especially considering the summer heat down here in S. Florida