[Rhodes22-list] Fun and Games with A Mac 26M

[Robert Skinner]

I received the following message from a fellow sailor, 
and thought I'd pass it on.  While I have not verified 
the details and cannot vouch for the accuracy thereof, 
the general tone seems to indicate caution where Macs
are concerned...

/Robert

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: re: August sail
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:20:27 -0400
From: "Jay Hersh aka Dr. Beer(R)" <jsh at doctorbeer.com>

We bought a MacGregor 26M from a Colorado dealer named Kelly Hanson because 
they had showed at the Boston boat show and there are no MacGregor dealers 
for 400 miles so it was going to have to be shipped to us anyway. We 
ordered it in March and Kelly Hanson got the check on April 1st. It cleared 
my bank account April 3rd, and sincethis takes 2 days for out of state 
checks, they must have deposited the day they got it. That was the last 
thing about this transaction they did in a prompt manner. The boat didn't 
arrive until Memorial Day, a month late. It is riddled with problems. Major 
problems.

- Engine won't go into reverse and starts in gear because the throttle 
cable was not installed correctly.
- the Engine wasn't inspected by an authorized dealer BRP, the parent 
company of Evinrude, won't validate the warranty until I have this done.
- Steering linkage was either a bad design or incorrectly installed because 
you can't turn to starboard
- the trailer torsion bars were never adjusted so the fenders were rubbing 
the tires. Because the flatbed that was supposed to deliver it from CO 
broke down in PA the trailer was towed by some 3rd party shipper the last 
400 miles. This resulted in the side light wiring chafing away.
- Speaker wire was used to extend the 14AWG marine grade wire that connects 
the 30 Amp main switch panel to the battery.
- the connection between the 30 Amp panel and the battery had a 10 Amp fuse 
wired inline, not a 30 Amp. So if you flipped more than one switch on the 
panel the fuse would blow
- the 12 volt power socket which has 20 guage wiring and is designed for no 
more than 10 Amps had the 30 Amp inline fuse wired into it
- the engine wasn't connected to the batteries via the battery selection switch
- the 2nd battery I was sold ($195 for the battery, Perko battery switch 
and installation) was a 75 Amp trolling motor battery
- the main battery on the boat was a 450 Amp, not the proper size for the 
ETec 50HP engine I ordered which the manufacturer spec says should have a 
max cranking amperage of 1000 Amps
- the stereo I bought was advertised and invoiced as a "Marine" stereo but 
instead a car stereo was installed. It was installed in the wrong place and 
it wasn't even hooked up right. there was no fuse in the inline fuse holder 
and the wire on the positive wasn't stripped before being crimped in the 
connector end
- They stiffed me for the main sheet, genoa sheet and genoa cars
- The $495 Genoa that is advertised as having a sewn on UV cover didn't

This is just the short list. There are 2 full pages of defects on this boat.

When I tried to contact Kelly Hanson both the Sales Director who had sold 
me the boat (Jeff Stagg) and the Chief Financial Officer (Andrew Etzen) who 
I'd also dealt with previously ignored repeated emails and calls. I posted 
something on the MacGregor Sailors web page and the owner of the company 
Art Kelly called me names and said that if I'd only called him he'd have 
corrected everything. So I called him and he said to email him the list of 
problems and the pics I took of them. That was three weeks ago, and as you 
might be guessing he didn't respond to my email.

Next I contacted the East Coast Sales Rep who only recently started with 
them and works part time while having a day job. He's a nice guy and he 
came out to my house near Boston two weeks aga and took a look at the lemon 
of a boat they sent me (we've nicknamed it the Albatross for now) and when 
I told him that I should be getting refunded at lesat some of my $ for the 
slipshod work his reply was that calling it slipshod "was being kind." He 
put together an action list and sent it out to Colorado. The CO office has 
done nothing. They haven't bothered to doing even the easy stuff on the 
action list like mailing me the missing parts and they have yet to send me 
a dime.

I've had to shell out $300 to have the trailer repaired earlier this week 
so I could tow it to the closest Evinrude dealer to have the warranty 
inspection done, the throttle properly connected and a battery sized for 
starting this engine installed. That's going to cost a bunch more $.

In the meantime Kelly Hanson is blaming MacGregor for some of these 
problems since it's a custom built trailer and MacGregor installed the 
engine. They haven't owned up to the miserable and hazardous wiring job 
they did and refunded me the $ for the labor on it or the cost of the 
stereo plus installation. Summer starts

The hybrid power sailer of the MacGregor is in principle a good design. 
MacGregor itself cuts just about every corner they can to squeeze a $1 more 
profit out it. They make claims about the boat that just plain aren't true 
which I won't go into those here. They don't stand behind their 2 year 
warranty, and they aren't even remotely close to being qualified to install 
engines on their boats.

Kelly Hanson has a nice web site. They've been selling MacGregors for 1.5 
to 2 years and have become the largest reseller. Almost nothing Jeff Stagg 
their sales Director told me about the boat before I bought it is true. He 
misrepresented so many things about it I don't know where to start. There 
is no supervision of whoever is doing the install work on the boats of the 
options they sell, and despite a lot of huffing and puffing from Art Kelly 
(who also runs Freedom Boat Works) they don't stand behind the boats they 
sell.

So just like Ishmail in Moby Dick, I'm here to tell you my tale so that you 
might avoid my fate. Think twice or even thrice before you decide to buy a 
MacGregor because even if it is delivered in the condition it is supposed 
to you'll spend lots and lots of money and time just replacing the cheap 
hardware they use (most of which is designed for much smaller day sailers) 
with quality stuff. Definitely DO NOT BUY A BOAT FROM KELLY HANSON 
MARINE!!!! Tell anyone you know that might be thinking of buying a 
MacGregor not to buy from Kelly Hanson Marine. Tell them to tell everyone 
they know. Believe me you'll be doing people you never even met a huge, 
huge favor.

If the boat weren't in the shop I'd probably be working another 10-12 hour 
day on it in the fading hope of getting to sail it this year instead of 
writing this email.
Hope all your summers go better than mine has started out.

Jay

PS I've created the website KellyHansonMarineSucks.com and will be posting 
a list of the defects the boat arrived with, pictures of the slipshod work 
that was done by them and MacGregor, the timeline of events, and other details.