Hi everyone~
Hubs and I have been on the hunt for a sailboat to run around the
Chesapeake Bay with and adventures further south. Our plan was to step from a 30'
boat (to be purchased now) to a liveaboard/cruising
Ketch when he retires in 3 more years.
In our hunt around the
Hampton Roads area, we stumbled upon a
Morgan 40
Ketch that's been completely
refit. The owner spent quite a few hours with us yesterday going over the
boat. It is NOT an Out Island, which he scoffed at and said were "pigs in the
water with flat bottoms". Clearly, that answered his feelings about THAT!
In any event, he has poured a lot of
money into refitting her; she is
plywood and glass, not balsa cored. He refurbished the
interior, redid all the woodwork, added a
windvane and purchased all new
sails. Her
engine has been rebuilt, it's a 4108
Perkins. Per his listing:
"This is a great sailing vessel with a 4' 4"
draft, perfect sailing balance- NO
weather helm. The boat had an complete
refit including New-
bronze ports,
fuel tank,
electric ac/ad panel/ACR, Main-155 jib-mizzen
sails, Jiffy reefs-2, New style Aires
windvane,
inverter, bow roller, boarding ladder[diver],
wiring, all hoses, sinks and more.
The
engine and trans were rebuilt with 10 running hours. The
interior was reworked with
teak and ipee woods, new cushion covers,
plumbing, all
deck fittings and rail rebidded- ect
All
work completed in a professional and proper manner.
This is a
seaworthy dry- vessel- NEEDS nothing"
After a lot of hours hunting around on the net, there is only one other
hull like hers that I foundany chatter about, and it was a discussion here on CF with the impending survey/purchase of the Lady Catherine II,
Link to that HERE.
Even in that topic, there was little to no information around about a 1970
Morgan Ketch.
The boat seems as solid as they come and I appreciated the thought and care he put into refitting her to make her even more solid. There are zero
electronics aboard; he was of the mindset of keeping things simple. Also, no
furling systems. You could say he was a bit of a purist. Last hauled 6 weeks ago (and every two years steadily) for new
bottom paint.
The reason I've come asking for
advice is two-fold; one, how do I even begin to assess a proper offer when I can't find any comps in the Morgan lineup other than the highly opinionated convos about OI's and also, with so little info available on the
internet to discern good/bad about this boat, where else can I gather info on this vessel?
Admittedly, we are new to the sailing world and while I don't want to sound suspicious of all sellers, my belief is to question everything until I have suitable answers. Additionally, this boat comes with a hefty
price tag (for our
budget, anyway) and I'd like to not overpay or insult the seller. Though, he did say that we'd be surprised at what he'd sell her for, since he really wants to sell everything and move to
Puerto Rico. Is a 30% under asking too low? I've even researching that, trying to figure out a basis for making offers.
Lastly, I'd make sure all offers were contingent upon any discoveries during a
survey and sea trials.
What have I missed? What should a
newbie do next to learn whatever one can about a possible boat?
TIA,
~Red