MacGregorSailors.com

I have decided to replace my 5yr old rusted steel Mac trailer with a tandem aluminum trailer with at least a 5,000 lb load capacity. I have read every post in this forum from those of you that have replaced your trailers. I can not find any posts that address the design of the Mac trailer overall length. My boat is slipped so I can't get an accurate measurement, but it appears that the M model transom extends past the rear V bunk by approximately 4 feet with the outboard engine extending an additional two feet or so.

Would someone with easy access to their boat measure the transom overhang and post the actual overhang.

Would the engineers and others please comment on the pros (if any) or cons of having this much unsupported weight. Is there a benefit of having the boat longer than the trailer or was this just another way to reduce cost. Most boat trailers that I see in marina yards extend all the way to the transom.

DaveB, The pictures of your replacement trailer show overhang similar to the original trailer. Did you dicuss this issue before you bought your trailer?

i can assure you that the stock mac trailor is a p. o. s. enough said.

Trailers must be the topic of the week!

Anyhow, here is a picture of my aftermarket steel trailer (karavan). as you can see my boat also extends past the end of the trailer. From my perspective it seems pretty common to have the boat extend 18 to 24 inches past the end of the trailer.

the 26M aluminum trailor is not necessarily a POS any more than the 26M boat is a POS.They are both built to the bare minimum required to function in a mostly reliable manner.They both are just a starting point to get you on the water, and allow you years and years of winter time projects to make yours into exactly what you desire all without having a 100K mortgage like you would have on a high quality 26 footer.that said your overhang will be 39 inches. I spent 1000 bucks modifing my trailor, add a second axle,three more 3x3" cross frame supports and 4- 8 foot lenghwise bunks and you can reduce that unsupported overhang at the transom to 18".

Trailers must be the topic of the week!

Anyhow, here is a picture of my aftermarket steel trailer (karavan). as you can see my boat also extends past the end of the trailer. From my perspective it seems pretty common to have the boat extend 18 to 24 inches past the end of the trailer.

Kasmith21, Thanks for the picture. I agree that an 18 to 24 inch overhang is well within reasonable limits. However the Mac extension is at least twice that much. I sent you a PM requesting more info on your Karavan Trailer

Well Said Ray.. and they must not be TOOOOOO bad as they really hold their prices.

raycarlson wrote:the 26M aluminum trailor is not necessarily a POS any more than the 26M boat is a POS.They are both built to the bare minimum required to function in a mostly reliable manner.They both are just a starting point to get you on the water, and allow you years and years of winter time projects to make yours into exactly what you desire all without having a 100K mortgage like you would have on a high quality 26 footer.that said your overhang will be 39 inches. I spent 1000 bucks modifing my trailor, add a second axle,three more 3x3" cross frame supports and 4- 8 foot lenghwise bunks and you can reduce that unsupported overhang at the transom to 18".

I have owned Macgregors since 1988 (26D) and two 26X`s. I have been reading Macgregor web sites since i first got on the internet about 12 years ago.

I use my boat in Lake Erie. No salt water.

I have never heard of a Macgregor trailor failing. Yet. The man I sold my 1988 too, still has the original trailor.
22 years.

The first failure I heard was today on the other topic by Paul. But it was an MT trailor, and I think he had the tires at full pressure. I followed my trailor being towed by my friend. the tires were infllated to 45 lbs. It looked like basketballs bouncing. as soon as we stopped I reduced the pressure to about 12 lbs

2 years ago, I noticed my trailor was getting rust build up. I used a wire brush on a drill and repainted it with 3 cans of black exterior spray paint.Rustolium.

PaulS had a steel Mac trailer that turned to dust in the salt water of Boston area...

I too had rust problems boating only in saltwater. My stock Mac trailer was toast after about 4 years. So I had a real trailer (all aluminum) custom made which is now about 4 years old. Also the new trailer has sway bars on both axels of the new trailer the boat rides like a dream.

The new alumium tandem axel trailer looks as good today as it did when I bought it. Below is the new trailer.



And below is the stock trailer.




The above pictures really don't show the extent of the rust on the stock trailer, as it was a cloudy day and not too good of of a camera. I've been in the engineering business for over 40 years and this trailer was toast with really bad rust on some of the critical welds and structural members.

I could have taken the boat off the stock trailer and sandblasted the trailer and repainted it and installed new brakes and possibly anodes and then hoped the welds weren't gone while trucking down the road at highway speeds. Then maybe I would have been another statistic and maybe not, but why bother with all that?

I agree with the gentleman above that said the stock trailer was a piece of junk. He said it a little differently, but we both mean the same thing.

Kind Regards,
JonBill

Yes I did and had two options, go with the 8ft.width or the 8.5 width and chose latter. My Boat/ Trailer loaded weighs around 4500lbs for a week of cruising. The Trailer weighs 999lbs. if I went to a 8 ft. beam load would be 4500-5000 lbs.
I chose the wider Trailer as I often have a Stearn wave 2-3 ft. on the open water of the ramp and gives me room so no damage to boat launching or retrieving and have 2 inches leeway each side on my stern PVC guide post.
My bunk boards are enough to carry 3 times the weight of my mac.X.
After almost 3 years Trailering I wouldn't change a thing.
I was offered a $100 adjustment once the boat was on the trailer but that's easy to do.
I also can launch in less water than stock Mac.M trailer.
If your State requires max. beam of 8 ft. one can also do this, just requires more aligiment with trailer and supports and still have 5000 tow.
DaveB,

The pictures of your replacement trailer show overhang similar to the original trailer. Did you discuss this issue before you bought your trailer?[/quote]

Dave Bottom 2 pics I believe are his Old Trailer..Appears there is No overhang on the new trailer.. That New one is no doubt very nice .. how about a price on that / those units?? $$$$
Honestly whats the Mac Trailer worth ? What could you sell them for on the open market $1000 maybe less .. There are all kinds and qualities of every trailer made and there by cost differences.. Just Like anything else.. The Screwdrivers I buy most would never fork over the money for..

I have done many reports and pricing for new Tandem for a Mac.X.
Do a search on DaveB and it will come up.The new MacM trailer just doesn't have tongue length, tandem Axel for us to launch in thin waters here in SW Florida. I launch with my rear tires 5-6 ft. away from low tide in ramps and have a 2 speed winch that shows water 8 inches below the fender when pulling out, I could haul out with 12 inches below fender.
Click on pictures to zoom in.




These pictures were in 2008, if you want underneath supports will post them. Basic supports are Southern Yellow pine pressure treated 4x10 that is 12 ft. long and go past trailer to 2 ft. short of transom. Solid support on hull at least 6 ft on both sides and the 4x10 can carry Min. 3 times the weight of a Mac.
The axels are also seperate with a axel pivit point between the two leaf springs. this alows the trailer to hit a pot hole on one tire and releave pressure on that axel to the other makeing a smooth ride even over rough roads.
Each of my tires are rated 1785 lbs. think thats almost the same as the single axel trailer.
Notice the roller at the bow trailer, thats the bump, most Mac. owners with original trailer refer to. This roller does it automatic.

Dave

Divecoz wrote:Dave Bottom 2 pics I believe are his Old Trailer..Appears there is No overhang on the new trailer.. That New one is no doubt very nice .. how about a price on that / those units?? $$$$
Honestly whats the Mac Trailer worth ? What could you sell them for on the open market $1000 maybe less .. There are all kinds and qualities of every trailer made and there by cost differences.. Just Like anything else.. The Screwdrivers I buy most would never fork over the money for..

For the gentleman that wanted to see the back of the new and old trailers a little better here is the back of the new trailer (now 4 years old) shown under this paragraph. Some time after this picture was taken I installed verticle PVC pipe guides that rise above the rub rail about 6 feet above the trailer. As everyone knows this helps to guide the boat onto the trailer when using a deeper ramp or in rougher waters. Then I shortened the trailer bunks from the rear by about a foot (after the pic was taken) even with the rear horizontal support. This makes it easier to remove the boat from the trailer while in "dry dock" when it needs bottom paint. The boat has had bottom paint on it now for a couple of years. To remove the boat from the trailer while in dry dock I jack down the tongue, block underneath the transom then jack the tongue up and hang the bow off Louis Holub's elevated spreaderbar that he special made for hanging the bow of X and M boats. I usually borrow it from Louis once a year for a couple weeks or so. Then jack down the tongue and pull the trailer out and apply bottom paint. The steps are reversed to get the boat back on the trailer without having to actually lift the boat.



Below this sentence is a pic of the back of the stock trailer.


You can also see serious corrosion on the wheels of the stock trailer above but with the new trailer the wheels came galvanized which keeps the new wheels on the new trailer from rusting in seawater. After an equal amount of time and exposure (4 years for both the stock and new trailers) there is no rust today on the new trailer wheels.

I hope this helps to answer the curiosity about the backs of these trailers.

Kind Regards,
JonBill

jonbill

that is one sweet looking trailor!! it even makes the mac look better!!

I Love....$$$$ The Looks of both of those trailers..............No Doubt in anyone's mind,that those are far superior units and are definitely Up Grades..
Costly? .....Yes.... No doubt about it. Yet no more so , and in fact even less than , the cost of my up grade, from My Ford Explorer Sport 4x4 H.O. 4.0 V 6 to My Full Size Dodge 1500 Quad Cab 4x4..V-8
Maybe some day, If I find or feel the need or just plain "Want One" I too may purchase one of these..
My Dodge 1500 Quad Cab 4x4 V-8 ........pulls the Wind Wine&Song Much Much Better than the Explorer Sport did.
Does that make the Explorer a POS? NO I dont think so. But it was a marginal piece of equipment that I......came too the table with.
Will you or would you expect a $4000 to $6000 anything...to be better than a $1000 anything? I....would expect it to be .. Did I have any issues with my cheap $1000 trailer , towing my boat 3000 Miles at Highway speeds? No , not a single one. Would I have the right to expect an even better trip with a much more costly trailer? I would surely hope so..
Is that Dodge a lot better than Some , Many , Maybe Most, of the tow vehicles I see being used to tow theses boats? I think it is . But at a cost $$$$

RUST......? For sure those dealing with a Salt Water Environments will have more maintenance issues than those of us dealing with Only ,with Fresh water..
Ahhh is that the real issue concerning RUST? The Differences in maintenance? I suspect it is. At Least in part....I saw that because , My Trailer was "dipped" no less than 6 times into salt water over a three month period, However.. It was power washed within a couple ours of each Immersion... On Its Finale pull out........ it was power washed and then sprayed with an Anti Salt Solution from West marine$$$ ... and power washed again.
That boat was Spotless .....after spending the Winter in Florida. In Spite of the fact, that Yes I would now drag it ,1500 miles home.. Its was just going to get dirty again.. Maybe so? But I feel My success , is a direct reflection of my life style?
13 months ago I pulled my boat out of Lake Michigan.. within a few miles I was in a Truck Wash, and giving her a quick wash down and then, when I got home? The Boat and Trailer were soaked and power washed till they were Spotless.. The Next day late October in Northern Ill !!!!....... I washed her again.. But this time Inside and out and I washed the whole inside with The Works and then wiped and buffed it all down with detail wax.. and I removed all the cushion covers, My Wife had made and washed and dried and folded them and put them back in the boat.
I detail each of our vehicles 4 times a year. My Bike and truck and her car The Spring Detail requires no less than 8 hours per vehicle. I even take the wheels off .....the truck and car and hand wash hand dry and hand wax them ... even the insides / backs of each and every wheel.. Everything I own, looks brand New, yet the newest is her 2006 Taurus.. Often when we discuss these issues , I never think about any of that.... because its just who I am.. I am like this about a lot of things.. Idle hands are the Devils workshop and before I met And Married Audrey ... Richard was on a first name basis with that fellow.. I LIKE to keep busy now..
ALL THAT SAID... I may well someday follow in your step and buy that New Aluminum Dual Axel Trailer.. But after I buy the 21' Center console