Experienced sailor knowledge needed in Florida!

[VoodooClamama]

Hi all,
I bought myself a 1968 Morgan 24 a few years back, the Voodoo Clam, but haven’t had the chance to take her out much, and she hasn’t even been in the water since 2020. however, I have since decided I want to sail her down through the Caribbean from Florida.
The catch is that I really don’t know much about my boat, nor cruising in the ocean. I know there are a few things I need to fix up before I head out (hoping to leave beginning of january) and would love to get as much input as to what I need to check and repair and have working before I put her in the water and attempt to sail her.
Also if there is anyone in the Sarasota Florida area that may be willing to check her out and give some boat owner/ cruising tips I would love to chat!
Otherwise recommendations on where to find professional or knowledgeable opinions and help for cheap would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
-CC

[edmundsteele]

Hi VoodooClamama,
Sorry, I'm in Colorado so I can't help you much with your boat in Florida. I did find a Practical Sailor review of the Morgan 24 (https://www.practical-sailor.com/sai...s/morgan-24-25) that describes it as "tender in heavy air".

I purchased a 1981 Cape Dory 28 in Florida in late 2019 and sailed her to Puerto Rico. I have described the voyage on my website (DoodleBug Website) and you can take a look and get a feel for some of the sea conditions etc. that you might face and also a brief description of the modifications and repairs that I made before I set sail. I had expected to take 8 weeks to sail the 1,250 miles from Florida to Puerto Rico but I set sail at the beginning of the Covid panic and after getting the boat trapped for 5 months in a Dominican Republic covid lockdown, finished up taking 8 months!

"Your actual mileage might vary", meaning in your case, the weather. I faced seas up to 10 feet with winds forecast as 25 knots (I had no anemometer). I had expected to sail more than I did but the weather didn't cooperate and I motored far more than intended into headwinds and head-seas. You need to have fuel on-board to motor the entire way, or be prepared to tack in big seas. Not fun with a vessel like yours described as "tender". Obviously a reliable engine is an advantage.

This is a serious sea passage. I replaced my fixed rigging and running rigging before I left Florida, upgraded my lighting to LED, added life-raft, epirb, spare auto-pilot, engine spares and so on. Your navigation equipment will probably need upgrading, at the very least with up to date charts as the transit of the shallow banks of the Bahamas can be tricky. I spent about $10,000 on my boat to prepare for the trip but some of this was for comfort items.

Good luck with your plans and fair winds.
Ed

[MicHughV]

Endeavoring a trip to the Caribbean from Florida entails days of slugging it out to windward.
That's not to say it can't be done with a 24' boat, but it will be very hard work, especially so for a Morgan 24.

You'll be better off just hanging out in the Bahamas for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is your limited sailing experience, but not to worry, the B'mas can be and is a blast to visit.

[Avionics_Joe]

I am with MicHughV, go to the Bahamas first and learn your boat in beautiful and easy sailing grounds.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by VoodooClamama

Hi all,
I bought myself a 1968 Morgan 24 a few years back, the Voodoo Clam, but haven’t had the chance to take her out much, and she hasn’t even been in the water since 2020.

Welcome.


I had one made in 1975, by which time it had become the Morgan 25 despite being manufactured using the same molds as the Morgan 24 with few if any other changes. I ended up selling due to a confluence of problems that in aggregate were more than I wanted to fix.


The main thing to be aware of with these is that the centerboard mechanism tends to fail over time. There are two problems. One is that there's a stainless steel pennant under water that tends to corrode, that connects the board itself to the rod. Then, the nylon rod tends to expand from water absorption over the years and starts to bind in the shaft log (they use exactly the same parts that are used for inboard propeller shafts). The received wisdom is that you should, in salt water, replace the pennant once a year, and replace the nylon rod with a stainless steel one if that has not already been done.


The pennant is a serious matter because if the pennant breaks, the rod can pull out of the shaft log leaving a 1" diameter hole that can sink the boat. If the rod starts to stick in the shaft log you can't get the board to go up or down, which although problematic is not a sink-the-boat sort of problem.



The halyards on these are hybrid wire and rope, and you would ideally want to re-rig the sheaves at the top of the mast for a modern low-stretch rope halyard.


Be aware that service parts are no longer available for the original winches, if still fitted. These originally had relatively serious primaries fitted and a halyard winch at the mast.



On mine the sails were blown out but nonetheless she sailed OK for her size, certainly better than the Hunter 26 which I bought as a replacement. They have a reputation for being seaworthy boats for their size if well maintained.


Proceeding east from Florida through the Caribbean is a tough itinerary in any vessel, see the book "The Thornless Path" for specific advice if you stick with that. You might want to consider some alternative itineraries; I hear Cancun is nice...

[Benz]

It's relatively easy to sail to the Yucatan Peninsula, then work south toward Panama along the western side of the Caribbean. You'll learn a good deal about your boat and how to sail it on such a trip, and even whether sailing is for you.
Lots of boats like that abandoned in every port along the way, by people who decided it wasn't for them; many also for sale in Rio Dulce, Bocas, Cartagena, etc.
Bottom line: it's a relatively easy cruise, with low commitment and tons of bailout options.
I'd make sure of the centerboard mechanism and stuctural integrity, and sail for Mexico!

[Tingum]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Endeavoring a trip to the Caribbean from Florida entails days of slugging it out to windward.
That's not to say it can't be done with a 24' boat, but it will be very hard work, especially so for a Morgan 24.

You'll be better off just hanging out in the Bahamas for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is your limited sailing experience, but not to worry, the B'mas can be and is a blast to visit.

I was going to say the same thing. Your boat is too small to try slugging to windward for thousands of miles. You also need to build experience and confidence. The Bahamas will be all the adventure you need and you will encounter other boats your size to sail with

[davil]

Originally Posted by VoodooClamama

Hi all,
I bought myself a 1968 Morgan 24 a few years back, the Voodoo Clam, but haven’t had the chance to take her out much, and she hasn’t even been in the water since 2020. however, I have since decided I want to sail her down through the Caribbean from Florida.
The catch is that I really don’t know much about my boat, nor cruising in the ocean. I know there are a few things I need to fix up before I head out (hoping to leave beginning of january) and would love to get as much input as to what I need to check and repair and have working before I put her in the water and attempt to sail her.
Also if there is anyone in the Sarasota Florida area that may be willing to check her out and give some boat owner/ cruising tips I would love to chat!
Otherwise recommendations on where to find professional or knowledgeable opinions and help for cheap would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
-CC

========================================

from
https://www.practical-sailor.com/sai...s/morgan-24-25

"The centerboard pennant arrangement is probably the weakest design detail on the boat. The board itself is a well-shaped, high-aspect ratio, solid fiberglass unit in a trunk beneath the cabin sole. The 1/8-inch stainless steel pennant wire attaches at one end of a groove molded into the top of the board, winds its way via a stainless steel piston through a stuffing box to a turning sheave forward, then through two more sheaves an to a small winch mounted on the cockpit wall. Several problems can arise due to this design. The lower portion of the pennant, being exposed to seawater, tends to corrode rapidly, and is impossible to inspect without complete disassembly. Hence frequent inspection, requiring a haul-out or scuba gear, is advised. In southern waters, some pennants have failed in less than a year of service. Additionally, several owners report trouble with cracking and leaking in the short stub of hose that bridges the stuffing box and trunk. And unless the owner adds stops at both its ends, the piston can part company with the stuffing box and possibly sink the boat.

Other centerboard-related problems: The turning sheave, under the sole forward of the trunk, is almost inaccessible; owners are well advised to cut an access hole and lubricate the sheave frequently to minimize corrosion. And on some boards, insufficient glass reinforcement around the pin can result in eventual cracking or breakage of the board at the pin hole."

==============================================
I sailed and cruised a 1978 Tartan 34 with a like centerboard.

Eventually hauled her out in Cancun and tired of dealing with leaks on the stuffing box this center board has plus the difficulties on reaching it for adjustments and the ever risk of catastrophic failure and sinking decided to fiberglass the darn thing inside the hull!!!!

No more leaking, clanging at anchor and peace of mind.

Lost efficiency and pointing ability upwind?
you bet,!!!

did I care?no!

[thomm225]

You probably need to sail the boat around locally for a year or so first to learn the boat and see what needs to be fixed.

A 1968 is an ancient boat. How's the rigging, engine, running rigging, electronics?

Have you anchored out on it over night?

How are the sails. New, decent, or very old?

[BonefishGuru]

Here's my thoughts:
1. What you're proposing to do would be like an inexperienced driver doing Le Mans.
2. You haven't mentioned who the other crew will be. It isn't a solo trip unless you're like me with thousands of hours sailing and racing boats from Blue Jays up to 65' yachts, and I'm still looking for crew in October so I can get some rest/sleep even with autopilot.
3. You don't have enough experience on your boat for this crossing. How long have you been sailing and how many total hours, and on what size sailboats?
4. Given the age of the boat, and unknown condition of the vessel after sitting on the hard for years, it would be barely short of suicidal to put it on the water and make that sail after essentially a few shakedown cruises. You need to sail the boat for at least a hundred hours with most on the open ocean to even think about it. I would suggest when you think you're close to ready including having all of the gear you think you need on the boat, sail an entire day out into the open ocean starting in the early morning, and turning around when it hits midnight to see what happens.
5. You should first crew with someone who knows what they're doing so you can see what an experienced sailor does. btw I'm looking for a mate to the Bahamas end of Oct roughly...
6. Try to find somebody else making the trip who you could follow so you have assistance close at hand if necessary.
7. The list of gear you need is extensively expensive including an auto inflating vest with harness rings, a double clip harness, jackline, personal epirb, boat epirb, life raft (or multi compartment inflatable dinghy), survival suit, signal light, flares, handheld marine radio, and that's just the essential safety gear which I know is missing some things. Beyond this, you need a ton of spares for the boat from hundreds of feet of spare halyard to a collection of nuts, bolts, pins, washers, etc to a spare bilge pump, wiring, tools, and I could keep going and going and going.


I could keep going with this list such as navigation, spare sails, and so much more! Remember the further you get from home, the harder it is to find parts, and the drastically more expensive they get.