A timpenny 770 did the trip from Brisbane to Darwin. There is a write up on the timpenny yacht website.

www.timpenny.com.au/member-tales/3-winter-cruise-brisbane-to-darwin-by-trailer-sailer

Quite a good read.

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Madmouse said..
A timpenny 770 did the trip from Brisbane to Darwin. There is a write up on the timpenny yacht website.

www.timpenny.com.au/member-tales/3-winter-cruise-brisbane-to-darwin-by-trailer-sailer

Quite a good read.

the Timpenny are a great little yacht !!!

Good read

Four MacGregor's on eBay at the moment for the adventurers.

The marketing video is exactly that. So it looks stable in a video for a few minutes probably crewed by very experienced and capable people. They didn't show what it was like after a few hours or what damage is incurred in sustained strong breezes.

I haven't sailed one of these but have had a good look over one moored next to me. They are lightly built, obvious, they are a trailer boat. The seas and weather you will get going around the top will be unkind to any boat let alone a lightly built one. I have lived and flown out of Broome and Darwin. The seas can be bloody nasty. In the dry when the trades are blowing 20-30 kts is quite common for days on end. In the wet thunderstorms and cyclones are obvious hazards.

My word of warning, taking a MacGregor 26 around the top is a high risk venture. It will place the crew and anybody called out to rescue them in significant danger. You might get away with it but that does not change the facts.

Thanks for the advice MB I'm still doing research cheers

You had an opinion poll of 50/50 before you asked for opinions on Seabreeze, and it appears more or less it's still 50/50. Simple question... Are you willing to take that chance?

There are at least two experienced (of type) replies here (there was only one, but MB eventually came back with something better then "You won't get past Gero"). In my humble opinion, the direct answer to you question is YES. Yes you could take your MACGREGOR 26 over the top. The real question should be -SHOULD I take my MACGREGOR 26 over the top end.

Ask the right question and watch those percentages radically change..

Yeah good post Toph , A bit like saying can you go off Niagara falls in a barrel, can you do a halo jump at 120,000’ or can a 16 year old girl sail around the world non assisted.” Do what you gota do” . . I cant see an answer other than yes until you fail.

The world evolved by individuals taking risks, otherwise the world would still be flat... Some take risks to better mankind, some take risks for self improvement. To the individual, neither is less important than the other. However, if you belong to the former, you don't need to seek acceptance on a website..

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Toph said...
The world evolved by individuals taking risks, otherwise the world would still be flat... Some take risks to better mankind, some take risks for self improvement. To the individual, neither is less important than the other. However, if you belong to the former, you don't need to seek acceptance on a website..

Concur. Just don't ask others to put themselves in danger getting you out of it.

Toph.....I can just imagine you a couple of thousand years ago having a chat to Socrates.

Very well put i agree

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime. Go for it Steve.

It is one thing having an adventure, but another choosing the right tool for the job. Clearly the M26 is not the best boat for this adventure. The problem comes if you get out there with an unsuitable craft, and it causes you to get into trouble, and then expect the taxpayer to pay for your rescue.

Many of the examples listed above of adventurous people, were careful to select a suitable vessel. Size is not the issue, seaworthyness is.

"Follow The Yellow Boat Road",,,,,, Maybe? "Follow the Big Mac!!"

/playlists

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Yara said..
It is one thing having an adventure, but another choosing the right tool for the job. Clearly the M26 is not the best boat for this adventure. The problem comes if you get out there with an unsuitable craft, and it causes you to get into trouble, and then expect the taxpayer to pay for your rescue.

Many of the examples listed above of adventurous people, were careful to select a suitable vessel. Size is not the issue, seaworthyness is.

Best not to use the abbreviation of M26 for the Macgregor. There are M26's in WA and plenty of M26 folkboats about and these are actually seaworthy!

A good question is, how important is it to you that you do the trip in the Macgregor 26 as opposed to doing it in a different boat. If the most important thing to you is sailing that particular boat around the top, then there's not much we can say.
If the most important thing to you is the trip, swap her for a nice little keel boat

Saw 1 of these sailing in haRbour the other day. I was sailing the mc26 was motoring. Went straight past me and i had a look. Very thin mast. Looked pretty fragile. The mast looked thinner than what i had on my hobie.

Gday mate i had a look at the article u posted a lot of good info thanks

Gday byf all indications so far say this trip is still possible with the right planning thanks

Just an out of the box suggestion.
Fly to the East coast, pick up a suitable boat there then sail it back here.
Sounds like the winds and tides are more favourable that direction , and there's plenty of boats over there.
Someone here who has replied to you is selling what sounds a suitable boat, SS34, for not much more than a Mac is worth.

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stevetheadven said..
Gday byf all indications so far say this trip is still possible with the right planning thanks

Steve,

there have been a fair number of concerns raised on the forum as to the fundamental suitability of the boat for this trip. They include very basic issues such as ability to handle the expected waves, currents and head winds, ability to carry adequate fuel and water etc. I ocasionally see a Magregor 26 on Lake Macquarie and it seems to really struggle with high winds, though that one may just be badly managed.

Most of the positive comments relate simply to the "spirit of adventure" being a good thing to have, and are short on details of how the trip could be managed. The "spirit of adventure" may be admirable but I suspect that most of the "adventurers" who are still alive are also pretty good and getting the planning right!

Can you please share more details on how you are planning on mannaging the issues raised, in particular water, fuel, ability of the boat to manage headwinds and large swell?

What a good challenge. If you did it I bet Mac Gregor yachts would like you in their ads.

There is great wisdom from the sailors on this forum about such a trip so far. For my 2c I reckon if you did it carefully you could do it. Im a bad one for adventures, I always take them on.

As mentioned be really careful with the stores and water. Watch out for the weather big time. I guess being a trailer yacht you could pull in at any old beach if you saw weather coming. You don't have to do huge ocean passages. Just a bit at a time. Run and hide if weather appears!

And as Toph said adventurers have made this World. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for James Cook being willing to find out what was down south. And James Cooks boat couldn't point at all though he would have done better if it could! I read an article where the odds of Neil Armstrong and Co. landing on the moon and coming back were calculated as 50:50 by statisticians at the time based on knowledge and equipment reliability.

I reckon plan it well taking the advice of the wise sailors and go for it if you really want to.

Was looking at a Mac 26, did a bit of sailing on one and came to the conclusion that they are very good floating caravans. They sailing capability is very average and do not point that good and it is a bit scarry to be motoring fast..... specially in a bit of chop, feels like you going to break it.
I guess your trip is feasable, Alain Bombard crossed the Atlantic ocean on a rubber dinghy!

This is a sailing forum, and that's the way we look at Mc26, but there is more..
I am very impressed, the boat can manage 22 knots, how b strong must be.

this is from the boat review
The point of the plus-motor reservation is that the power range of this boat is from 5 to 60hp, or nothing at all of course. Five will give the sort of performance usually acceptable in an auxiliary, and 60 is good for 22 knots.

trailable sailing boat whose most distinctive attraction is not its ability to sail. Instead it is its great ability as a fast power cruiser. That it sails well too and has a mass of clever features seems almost like a bonus.

I think the most important question is, so let's say you go ahead and do this trip, who's going to drag that big empty trailer all the way to the east coast?

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Trek said..


What a good challenge. If you did it I bet Mac Gregor yachts would like you in their ads.

There is great wisdom from the sailors on this forum about such a trip so far. For my 2c I reckon if you did it carefully you could do it. Im a bad one for adventures, I always take them on.

As mentioned be really careful with the stores and water. Watch out for the weather big time. I guess being a trailer yacht you could pull in at any old beach if you saw weather coming. You don't have to do huge ocean passages. Just a bit at a time. Run and hide if weather appears!

And as Toph said adventurers have made this World. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for James Cook being willing to find out what was down south. And James Cooks boat couldn't point at all though he would have done better if it could! I read an article where the odds of Neil Armstrong and Co. landing on the moon and coming back were calculated as 50:50 by statisticians at the time based on knowledge and equipment reliability.

I reckon plan it well taking the advice of the wise sailors and go for it if you really want to.

yes, we can quote Cook's spirit of adventure, but don't forget that the Endeavour was purchased specifically for the voyage, and given an extensive refit to give the enterprise the best chance of success. Cook was one of the best navigators of his time, and on the trip to Australia he had available the latest technologies, in particular the time keeping equipment available to Cook was leading edge technology for the time. The technology used may not be at today's standards, but it was as good as was available.

There is no comparison between what Cook achieved and setting out to sea in a boat that is unsuitable while arguing that this is OK because it would be an "adventure".

I may be incorrect about the Magregor 26, and would love to hear some detailed feedack that answers the concerns about supplies, fuel, water, sailing to windward etc.

I love this **** . You can sail around the world in a 19ft plywood boat, with a daggerboard, if you have the balls and the time, so anything is possible .

"They are a crap boat that can't sail!" Or "I have never been on one but you can see them motor past my birth at the marina."
Inexperienced owners think the boat's going over because the water ballast only really works from 15deg of heel to a solid 35deg (they sail with a rail in the water at 45deg) and because of that they think that they have experience they can hand on. They had no idea when they picked a Mac and they have no idea
My firsthand personal knowledge is that a 26M is a bay/coastal light cruiser and is unconfutable in blue water. They sail quit well at speeds up to 7knts (at best) and will motor at over 17knts (18+ONLY IF you have a larger motor than the max recommended size of 60HP). You can get some excellent mileage from the 60-ETEC motor but only at about 5knts. You can go 200NM on 90lt or motor sail a hell of a lot further. Pack everything low in the under seat storage down below and you'll be fine in everything but a roll (these boats don't capsize, they just roll). As for not being strong that crap too everything in it has been designed to strengthen the hull including the ballast tank chamber. There are tricks you'll need to know to get the best out of them and there are a few good facebook pages that have knowledgeable skippers (not armchair experts, lol!) who have taken them on trips over thousands of miles. I want to get up to the King George River and the twin falls. We'll do the up trip on a falling tide over two days and two days to return to Wyndham. The one key item that I can see will be getting a water maker. Not having to carry the weight of anything but emergency water will really help.

Only one on eBay at the moment, 3 last week. They are selling like hot cakes! [more like not getting bids]

LMFAO!
Any idea how many trailer boats MacGregor has built? If they were so bad there would be thousands and thousands of them for sale. Turns out he knew what he was doing and tapped into that market. My only bi~ch about the boat is the fit out. It's very Spartan and needs just about everything done so she not quite a buy and sail away boat.
I don't need a marina (take her home) and I can work on the her as I please (she's out the front). I don't know how long it takes to get a 33ft boat from Perth to Shark Bay or Israelite Bay but I can do it a lot faster, a day or two max. Also it will take 4 days to roll in to Wyndham as opposed to 8 weeks by yacht! I can work and travel ;).