1984 Morgan 323

[Reluctantsailor]

We are looking at buying a 1984 323 Morgan anything anyone can tell us about these boats? We have a1974 Tanzer 22 right now which we loved learning on but now we are ready for longer trips and more comfort. We want to get something for cruising and touring around PEI and crossing over to Nova Scotia,eventually sail it down the coast to warmer weather. WE live in PEI and would moor it infront of our house which is a harbour that opens to the ocean...would the Morgan be a decent boat for us?

Thanks

[cabo_sailor]

The Morgan 323 was my first boat. The friend I sold it too is still sailing it out of Tarpon Springs. My impressions were/are:

Heavy enough to be relatively sea kindly but still no slouch either (my friend loves to race)

Offset prop makes for some hellacious prop walk

Lost the aluminum fuel tank to corrosion but was easy enough to replace

Simple but strong rig. Mine had hank on headsails but that never posed much of a problem.

Four foot draft was welcome here in SW Florida.

Easy to single hand. I regularly did so.

With full main and 130 it had a bit too much weather helm at about 18 kt. At least the autopilot thought so. Reduce to a working jib or put a reef in the main and there is about 1 spoke of weather helm at 18-20 kt.

Tankage is not huge so you'll have to watch that if cruising. Mine had a 15 gal bladder holding tank that the prior owner ignored. Pheww.

Pressurized alcohol stove/oven with a gallon of alk behind the port setee. Worked great but watch the oven, temps tended to climb over time and need adjusting. For baking use the top rack to avoid burning the bottoms.

Ran mine with a Navico 3000 wheel pilot and it ran great. No other electronics but a gps, depthfinder, and vhf.

It was a bit hard to find room for a little more battery power.

Fuel was under port setee and water under starboard setee. This created a bit of a balance problem when one tank was full and other empty. A wee list, dontcha know.

At the time I was also looking at a Pearson 303. I thought the Morgan a bit stiffer and more cruise suitable. The differences were not huge and may have been more the perception of a newby.

Final comment: I traded up for more tankage and storage for more extended cruising. Others have done well with this size or even smaller. You'll have to examine your own style. For weekend or one or two week cruises she was fine for me.

There are time while I'm working on my current boat and I'll see her go down the river towards the Gulf and I miss her. It's true about the increase in maintenance the larger the boat gets.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

Rich

[s/v Moondancer]

Having spent the summer in your home waters and than sailed to Miami and also having sailed and raced some old Morgans I think that you are probably choosing a good boat that is suitable for your needs...but old boats are being sold very cheaply in South Florida so do not pay too much.

Phil