Morgan 30 Centerboard

[hesper]

Has anyone got experience with the Morgan 30 centerboarder?
I am familiar with the Morgan 24 as my family had one years ago. The 30 is very interesting to us because of the shoal draft. Where I am, there's precious little water at any time any next to none most places at low tide.

My biggest question is whether the boat would sit up-right in very soft mud. You see, most of the mooring spots around here are like my currnet spot which is totally high and dry at low tide. Not a problem for my 22' catboat which sinks gently into the mud but I don't know about the 30 footer.

Any info is appreciated!

jim

[Rachel]

Now you've got me curious as to which South Shore you're on. I know it's not Lake Superior's :-)

--- R.

[hesper]

Well, in our near-sighted, New England mind-set, there's only one South Shore and that's south of Boston from about Quincy to Cape Cod. I keep my boat in Kingston which is just north of Plymouth.
Plymouth Harbor and Kingston/Duxbury Bays are mostly shallow, muddy areas. We do have some channels but the deep water is pretty limited. Tides run about 8-9' and at low tide, the mud flats are everywhere. We're happy with our catboat which is the perfect bay boat but she's a little small. Headroom would be nice!

We've considered J30's, and other more sporty boats but the Morgan keeps coming back. Basically, we're weighing out the performance vs ability to sail in 4' of water at 1/2 tide. Drawing 3.5' can be a real advantage when the tide's on its way out.
thanks

jim

[Mark.Wilme]

Hesper

I knew where you meant by South shore and didn't even think about it being anywhere other than Hull. Scituate, Duxbury, Plymouth etc.

My other thread talks about out purchase of a possible future plastic classic - a Beneteau 381 that is in Hingham right now and the owner (previous owner) lives in Cohasset with a million dollar view (I was up there last Saturday inspecting the sails).

We'll be (hopefully) sailing down by your neck of the woods in 11 days time en route to Sandwich to bring her back to Portsmouth (RI). I have alreayd oted not to try and duck into Duxbury without very careful checking of tide and depth as we will draw 5' 4" - shaol draft yes but a lot more than our current centerboard Elite 32 draws with the board up. any-who's we'll wave as we pass by.

good luck in your search - just keep the maintenance up on the CB lest it get stuck in the up position like ours did last fall and we had to drill the pin, drop the board, sandpblast it, epoxy it, paint it and refit. (Ouc$h)

Fair winds.

Mark

[hesper]

Well Mark, I saw your post and noted that your at or near the old Hingham shipyard. Look out to your left (west) and you'll see Great Hill in North Weymouth where I grew up. Across the Back River from you and to the left you may still see Black Seal, a J35 that I race on and is owned by old friends who live right there. My parents own a home in Hull facing World's End on your right as you head out the channel past Grape Island(house is waterfront and for sale if anyone's interested).

If you do come into Plymouth, you'll find plenty of water behind Clark's Island or in front for that matter. You can also come into the harbor closer to Plymouth Yacht Club (we're members there) and check out the anchorage just after the hard right coming in along the beach before you head all the way into the harbor. There's plenty of water in the harbor and if you ask nice, the harbormaster can probably hook you up. Also water all around Bug Light and to the west as well as way up inside by Standish Shore though the channel up here is pretty tight and privately marked at best. Otherwise, yeah-it's dodgey but the charts are clear.

Don't be a stranger if you do make it down here. It's the last stop before the canal. I can be reached at 781-820-8148.

Jim

[Tom Young]

We had just come in from Maine on an overnight. Our goal was straight through to the CCCanal. But just as we were well into the bay, the south wind piped up and some of the shortest steepest waves I've ever seen had us falling off for Plymouth. We found a spot just off the channel. Our centerboard made it doable. We spent a wonderful 2 weeks sailing the Cape Cod area and plan to return.

It sounds like there are some locals from that area. I wonder if anyone knew our boat? It spent most of it's life moored in Hingham Harbor owned by the Brewer family.

They owned her for 30 some years, the boats name was GANDER TOO out Hingham.

[rshowarth]

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/3399