New Saskatchewan sales representative. Loon Creek Ent. Ltd. Southey , SK Jerome Therrien Phone: (306)726-4574
The MacGregor 26 is built to outlast all of us. Each boat is built
of individual layers of fiberglass fabrics, laid in place by hand, in a
carefully controlled process. Hulls and decks are light, but strong, with
extra reinforcement at all high stress points.
Most of our competitors use "chopper guns" to build their boats.
These are devices for spraying a mixture of resin and very short strands
of fiberglass. We don't use them, even though they reduce cost. They result
in heavy laminates with low fiberglass to resin ratios, accounting for much
of the excess weight found in many competitor's boats. Light weight is the
key to easy trailering and to high performance.
We have stayed away from sandwich construction. Most of the failures of
fiberglass hulls involve the rot or delamination of balsa or foam core materials.
We use only solid fiberglass laminates in the 26's hull. If exposed to water
for long periods, balsa coring material can rot and literally turn to soup,
causing major structural problems. Balsa is fine, in our opinion, for decks
and structures that are not constantly immersed in water, as long as there
is no balsa near holes for hardware. Foam cores are also widely used for
stiffening hulls, however, they offer less than 200 lbs of adhesion per
square inch. That is not much better than rubber cement. It takes over 2500
lbs per square inch to delaminate the resin bond that holds our hull laminates
together.
Our bolted hull to deck joining system is strong, but compact, and adds
little to the width of the boat. Many of our competitors use wide joining
flanges, which contribute a lot to their beam, but add very little to strength
or usable inside space.
Production begins with the spraying of the exterior color (polyester
gel coat) on a highly polished and waxed 3 ton hull mold. The waterline
and accent stripes are also sprayed on at this point.
Alternating layers of fiberglass fabrics are then applied. Each
layer is saturated with resin and all air and excess resin is removed. The
resulting laminates are of the highest quality.
Here the cured hull is being removed from the mold. Notice the
high gloss and molded in stripes. All the fiberglass parts are built in
precision molds in the same manner as the hull.
This is the deck being removed from its mold. The window accent
color and the non-skid surfaces are molded in. The deck liners have already
been bonded in place.
Hardware is then attached to the deck and hull. The fiberglass
thickness is greatly increased where each load carrying item is located,
and all items are thru bolted, with large backup washers.
The hull and dick are joined with 3/16" bolts on 4" centers.
Top grade adhesive is used to insure a watertight seal. Many builders
use screws or pop rivets for this joint. Bolts are better.
These are the parts that make up the boat. At the left is the
hull, still in its mold. Notice that the water tank and centerboard trunk
are molded in as part of the hull. Next is the hull liner, then the deck,
and then the deck liner. Rudders, bullkheads and other smaller parts are
around the perimeter.