Morgan 34

[DirtManly]

Hello All,
Since my last boat choice didn''t pan out so well, I''m continuing to look. I''ve come across a Morgan 34 that appears to be in reasonably good shape. I seem to remember a post, some time back, in which Jeff said he particularly liked these boats. I''ve taken time to look this one over much closer.
While I''m drawn to it because it has sweet lines, I''m wondering how they sail? I tend to stay away from swing keel boats because they seem to be more tender than I like. The owner assures me that this boat isn''t tender, Is that true?
Also, this boat has a fin keel/ bronze centerboard with a skeg hung rudder (confirmed by a quick dip in the pond), I thought all these boats had full keels? Is this a better or worse set up than the full keel model?
Thanks
Dirt

[Jeff_H]

These are nice old boats. They sailed very well for a boat of that era, offering good upwind speed with the board down, and good downwind speed with the board up. (Of course with a rating around 190 or so these are pretty slow boats by any kind of modern standard which would expect a 34 footer to rate down around 100). They were pretty boats that were reaonably well constucted and which did well on the race course. The partial length keel and skeg hung rudder is a nice set up when coupled with the centerboard that can be used to balance the helm. This is a far better set up than a full length keel from any perspective that I can think of. (Very few boats of that era had full keels, most had fins with attached rudders or longer keels with attached rudders both of which offer all of the disadvantages of both a fin keel and a full keel with few of the virtues of either).

These are not swing keel boats as thier ballast is in the keel stub and not in the board. They are moderately stable boats but not overly stiff (which is one of the advantages to boats which were designed before the high form stability fad).

Jeff

[johngov.]

Dirt,
I sailed a Charlie Morgan designed Columbia 34 for fifteen years and I believe that they are basically the same design. The C-34 sailed well in all conditions that we subjected her to but we never got crazy.
I sold her because she was never going to be more than what she was...a nice boat with spartan accomodations that always caused me to weigh if it was worth it to put more money into this boat or not.
You decide, John Gov.

[DirtManly]

Gentlemen, I appreciate the input. I have in fact bought the Morgan. It was hauled Saturday and surveyed Monday. The surveyor was very impressed with it. I think this is going to be an excellent mix between reasonable sailing performance and the sweet lines of the older boats that I was looking for. I understand this boat would be painfully slow for some folk''s, but I''ve been racing on boats with phrf ratings around 220, so this is an improvement for me. I really don''t intend to race this boat, it will be strictly for the pleasure of sailing, overnighting and weekending.
Anyway, I''ve been monitoring this board for some time now and have often noticed that the input falls on deaf or ungrateful ears. I just wanted to say Thank You for all the input, I for one have learned an awful lot here.
Dirt

[Jeff_H]

Congratulations on your new (to you) boat. I am glad if any of my comments were helpful to you.

Jeff