MacGregor 26

The MacGregor 26 is a family of four water-ballasted trailer sailers built by MacGregor Yacht Corporation in Costa Mesa, California, from 1986 to 2013: the 26D (daggerboard, 1986–89), 26S (swing centreboard, 1990–95), 26X (planing 'powersailer', 1995–2003) and 26M (rotating rig, daggerboard and fixed ballast, 2003–13). They share a designer, a price point aimed squarely at first-time buyers, and the water-ballast idea, but are two distinct hulls (26D/S and 26X, with the 26M a further redesign), so each is catalogued as its own model under this family record.

Roger MacGregor introduced the 26 in 1986 as a development of the swing-keel MacGregor 25 with water ballast in place of the keel. The daggerboard 26D gave way to a pivoting centreboard on the 26S around 1990, and by spring 1995 about 7,000 of the D/S hull had been built. The 26X of 1995 crossed the 26 with the MacGregor 19 Powersailer: a broad planing stern, twin kick-up rudders and a transom rated for 50 hp, giving 20+ knots under power. The 26M of 2003 kept the powersailer concept but added a deeper-V hull, a rotating 7/8 fractional mast, a daggerboard and 300 lb of fixed ballast. Production ended with the factory's closure in 2013; the design was later continued in Florida as the Tattoo 26.

No source gives a per-variant breakdown for the 26D and 26S. Practical Sailor (1995, quoting the builder) says about 7,000 of the original 26 were built; Wikipedia says about 6,000 D and S combined. Sailing Magazine (2012, from the builder) gives 5,200 for the 26X and 3,000 for the 26M as of 2012; Wikipedia estimates about 5,000 each. The family total is therefore somewhere around 15,000 hulls, but no single sourced figure exists, so production_count is left unset here and only on the 26X, where the run had ended by the time the builder quoted a figure.

26D vs 26S: same hull and rig, board type changed (daggerboard to centreboard); a buyer searches for them by letter, and the board changes cabin layout and behaviour, so both get their own record even though most sources lump them together. 26X and 26M are unambiguously different hulls. The family record carries no specs of its own because none of the figures are common to all four boats; the closest thing to a shared number is the sub-8 ft beam.