DSK wrote:
Jim Cate wrote:

... Fyi, the Mac 26M is an entirely new boat incorporating a totally
different hull design, a pivotable mast, and a dagger board, NONE OF
WHICH were used in the Mac 26X or 19.


Funny you should mention this. Just yesterday I happened to walk by a
Mac 26X and a Mac 26M parked on their trailers. Except that one was
painted blue, there was not an iota of difference in the hull design.

What is a "pivotable" mast? The rig of the Mac 26M appears to be very
similar to the X. It would be interesting to compare the rig dimensions
and the IJPE of each.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Doug, I don't know where you were at the time, but this was discussed
over and over again, ad nauseum, a few months ago. One of the strings
exceeded 600 notes. The truth is that the 26M has a completely new
hull. Differences include the fact that:

A. The swing keel and the (200 gallon) longitudinal open cavity built
into the hull for receiving the keel (when the keel was retracted
upwardly into the slot) has been eliminated in the 26M, eliminating the
drag produced by the large open cavity.

B. The 26M incorporating a vertically retractable dagger-board instead
of a swing keel.

C. The hull of the 26M has a deep-V forward configuration for minimizing
pitch, particularly when motoring. Thus, the 26X had a much "flatter"
bow configuration.

D. The ballast of the 26X was exclusively water ballast, the water being
let into the ballast chamber prior to sailing the boat. The 26M has
a combination of water ballast and permanent ballast built into the hull.

E. The hull of the 26M has an additional layer of fiberglass, and over
100 additional pounds of resin; chain plates have been added, the
hull-to-deck joint has been modified, and the deck structure has been
modified for greater rigidity.

F. In the M, a traveler has been added for providing greater control
of the mainsheet.

G. The M has an axially rotatable mast, mounted on two sets of
bearings, permitting it to rotate with the luff of the mainsail.

H. Flotation has been added to upper sections of the mast to provide
further resistance to "turtleing." (This is in addition to the
righting forces provided by the water ballast and the permanent ballast.)

Both models incorporate the usual Mac features such as positive
flotation, trailerability, ability to move over very shallow water,
ability to be brought to the shore and beached, etc.


PLEASE NOTE: THE POINT OF THIS POST IS TO CLARIFY AGAIN THE FACT THAT
THE 26M AND 26X ARE NOT THE SAME BOAT, AND THAT THE 26M WAS NOT A MERE
COSMETIC MODEL CHANGE RELATIVE TO THE 26X. WHETHER OR NOT YOU PREFER THE
26X OR THE 26M, AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU WOULD PREFER EACH OF THE ABOVE
MODIFICATIONS, AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU WOULD EVER BE WILLING TO SAIL ON
ANY OF THE MACGREGORS, THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THE TWO BOATS ARE
SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT.

Jim