MacGregor 26... Factory website for the MacGregor 26', $22,900 trailerable sailboat, 24 mph, the WORLD'S best selling cruising sailboat. 

 

HISTORY OF THE TRAILERABLE SAILBOAT INDUSTRY

 

       Roger MacGregor

MacGregor Yacht Corporation began in the early 60's as a class project at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, while Roger MacGregor was earning an MBA degree. The company has always been the most innovative in the industry. We invented the retracting keel and started the trailerable sailboat market, the fastest growing segment of sailing. After MacGregor built tens of thousands of retracting keel sailboats, cars became smaller and lighter. Weight reduction became essential for safer and easier trailering. We then invented the water ballast system, that provides the safety of a true keelboat, with the light weight needed for trailering and high performance. The MacGregor designed water ballast system has been copied by other major builders, and has become the new standard for the trailerable sailboat industry. The light weight then allowed us to develop a high performance sailboat that can be driven at high speed by relatively low horsepower outboard motors. The culmination of all of this is the MacGregor 26.

 

Most major sailboat companies have had a shot at making trailerables, including such well known names as Islander, Columbia, Cal, O'day, Clipper, Coastal Recreation (Aquarius), Newport Boats, San Juan, Ericson, Bayliner, Reinell, Laguna, Olson, Schock and dozens of others. They are either gone completely, no longer attempt to compete in this market, or are building so few of this type of boat that they are no longer a significant factor. The trailerable cruiser is a small boat with the amenities of a big boat. To pack these amenities into a boat which is light enough to haul around, and to take the abuse of trailering, you really have to optimize. They were unable to do this, control costs, provide performance, or give customers what they wanted. Acquisition by large conglomerates sank several companies under layers of management. Many suffered from warrantee problems and others died off because they had so many types of boats in their line that they couldn't concentrate on building detailed, foolproof, low cost tooling and production systems for any one boat.

The result is that we have the best selling boat of this type in the world. We have built over 36,000 sailboats. In this competitive society, we would have been gone along time ago if our boats weren't right.

Sail Magazine recently recognized MacGregor as one of the most innovative of the sailboat builders over the last 3 decades, and as the builder that brought affordable sailing to thousands.