Macgregor 26X

June 22 2001

After spending 7 days in Valdez aboard Wind Musher I have made the following observations. The boat is really built for two persons, supplies for a week and all gear

take up the room fast. The need for cold weather gear is a must in Alaska and that is bulky.

The balance of the boat is tricky if you do not place added gear in areas to achieve balance. We carried 28 gallons of fuel due to the range of trips in PWS, about 70 miles under power.

The fuel burn rate was about 4 miles per gallon at 13 mph. Top speed with the Honda 50 with all gear water and fuel was 16 mph. The best cruising fuel rpm was at 5000. that gave me 13 mph. This is not a ski boat, but is a very easy to handle sailboat that can move at 16 mph.

Loaded it can squeak a lot of miles out of a gallon of gas.

The boat has a power prop, it will red line just at 6000 rpm.

Things do add before next trip

Rope ladder off the bow of the boat, enable to climb aboard from shore.

Mirror on outside of head door.

Anchor ball for retrieving anchor from 200 ft (needed in Alaska)

Shelf in king size bed are for small storage items

Things that worked well

200 amp hour battery added, ($63.00 Sam's Club) placed in front compartment next to ballast vent, set on cross beam and bolted to wall with metal strap.

Also added a 350 watt inverter( Sam's club price 29.99)

used to recharge camcorder batteries as well as run a

a 100 watt Jensen CD player with 4 speakers

Roller Furling and Genoa sail worth the added money

Options to consider if ordering new boat.

Get the two burner stove in stead of the one and buy

A propane one from JC Whitney for about 50.00, it is a drop in type and use 1 lb bottles ,cockpit cushions

Are not worth the money in a area with lots of rain

They soak up water and take weeks to dry, save your money on this item.

GPS Chart plotter

Depth finder

Humninbird NS25

This is one find piece of equipment for the money. 632.00 at Online Marine. I bought the C-Map chip for Prince William Sound. It proved to be the best thing I have added to Wind Musher.

With so many islands coves and places that look alike I was able to move directly to were ever I wanted to go and know exactly how far away that point was. I found many hideaway bays that most would overlook ..

The GPS locked on to 10 satellites quickly and the dept finder worked to 1000 feet as stated.

The fish were shown clearly and zoom in options were nice.

I would recommend this equipment to anyone. Maybe over kill for lakes but for off shore chart plotting capabilities are great. You can buy chips for any area in the world and it will hold 2 at a time.