The new, to me, boat. A Morgan 41 swing keel sloop.

[Greatest Lakes]

I have had my Columbia 9.6 for several years and I always kinda figured I'd want something larger at some point. Don't get me wrong, the Columbia performs admirably. I've put a lot of comfort and ease of use upgrades on her, but nothing I can do will make her behave like a larger boat will naturally. Additionally, I need places for the kids to sleep, particularly under way. I wasn't really planning on buying a new boat right now, but I found one in the marina with a "for sale" sign on it, and here we are. I'm selling my Columbia and buying a 1971 Morgan 41.

It's not the out island. It's the sloop with the swing keel. The previous owner was in the process of restoration when he unexpectedly passed away. He installed a new Yanmar diesel new fuel tank, and did a nice sound insulation job on the engine compartment, bought new sails, installed a raymarine autopilot, installed newfound metals portholes and did new upholstery through out. Electrical has been updated or replaced, and an inverter added.

It still has a long way to go, but it looks like a fine candidate for further restoration. I will do another restoration thread and add more pictures when I can.

If anyone has any further information on this model, I'd love to see it.

[Bowdrie]

Good boat, you'll come to appreciate having real pilot berths and side decks actually wide enough to walk on.
The packing gland does look a bit funny, something to cast a wary eye on.

PS. In the old days before roller fouling, the various sized headsails were stored in the cockpit "sail lockers", and the sail bags had to be dragged up-and-down the side decks.
Now boats have replaced the side decks with a narrow catwalk.
More eye space below, less mobility/security above.

[Don C L]

I can’t remember right now but there may be a thread in the “plastic classics “ social group about Morgan 41s.
Congratulations! She’s a classic worthy of restoration…. And now you are even more superior in every way!

[Greatest Lakes]

That packing gland under the floor is for the massive swing keel. Takes it from a 4'2" draft to nearly 10'! Uses a stainless shaft going to a cable that turns a few places and is eventually controlled by a crank handle in the cockpit. It does feel like an old boat layout and build below, but most new boats feel like a combination of ikea and camper trailers. I'm not a fan of looking at half million plus dollar boats with cheap veneers and little, if any thought to how moisture eats away at that stuff over time. Engineering has permitted them to get away with the minimum amount of materials, the smallest possible winches, and made the operation push button. Many don't have travelers, and even more have tiny, self tacking jibs.

I just went on a rant. I think I was after that my interior is an old layout. That's preferable, because it can be customized because the base materials are good.

[Donahue]

Well done! I owned a 1969 Morgan 41 for 5 years, including living aboard during covid with my family of 5 and cruising the Bahamas (4 foot draft came in handy). These boats sail amazingly well. They are shockingly fast in light air (especially with the board up) but also very seaworthy. Unlike narrower full keel boats of that era or early IOR boats, Charlie Morgan's designs had much flatter aft sections; they surf and are very directionally stable off the wind in big waves.

It's more of a heavy centerboard than a full keel (about 200 lbs). I did a fair amount of work on mine including rebuilding the entire centerboard system (and the board itself). Some people glass over the centerboard trunk--but don't do it. The board not only allows you to go to windward more effectively, but it significantly reduces rolling offshore or at anchor.

By the looks of that bilge, you've got some work to do on the board system. I would remove the board, check that there is not water intrusion (the board is built by glassing over a piece of mild steel which can corrode and split the board, which happened to me), replace the pennant, packing gland, and other bits, etc. I went with oversized dyneema for the pennant because stainless cable (and especially the fittings) will fail under water.

Anyhow, great boat. And really pretty simple. PM with any questions as I've figured out a lot about this boat the hard way. I would have kept her forever, but I had too many kids and they got too big. Here are some photos of her all fixed up.

You've got a new yanmar and sails so you're way ahead of where I was when I bought the boat.


Ben

[Greatest Lakes]

Here it is, the correct year is 1970. A few interesting things I've found so far.

Compressed natural gas cylinders for the stove and waterheater.

A shockingly small holding tank, maybe 10 gallons.

All wire halyard for the main sail. I've never had to use one before and I'm already curious if changing it for dyneema might be a good idea.

Buried in the bow was a pair of antique, but intact liferafts. One was last serviced in 1993, the other sometime in the 80s.

Found 4 batteries with room for a 5th, with an octopus of wiring attached to the terminals. I'm used to doing substantial bus bars instead. Fun part will be tracing what goes where.

[Don C L]

Funny about those Winslow rafts. I had one in my boat too, from 1963... untouched for all these years! I let my daughter try it for fun in the garage and sure enough, it inflated, and stayed inflated for a couple days! The rubber, being so old leaked from the pinholes at the folds.