Morgan-38 Owners' Group
1999 Spring Newsletter, No.6
Editor's Corner
It's almost spring here in Northern New England. I'm working in Boston as I write this and looking out my window at a fleet of dinghies racing on the Charles River. Of course, it makes me think if another summer aboard our Morgan 38. "Watermusic" has been hauled for the winter in Somerset, MA, at the top of Naragansett Bay. She'll kiss the salt in June, then carry us home to Maine with a few excursions along the way to harbors like Newport, Cuttyhunk, Nantucket, Marion, Plymouth, and Glouchester. If you'll be nearby during the last half of June, please let me know.
About that time, Judy and Dick Kilroy will be readying their M-382 "Vixen" for its FIFTH Marion-Bermuda race. That's over 650 miles of open Atlantic Ocean, across the Gulf Stream. Last time out they encountered hurricane-force winds, but their boat (and their good seamanship) brought them home safely. Good Luck crew! Show those Swans and C&Cs your transom.
The M-38 Home Page on the World Wide Web and especially its Bulletin Board continue to be very popular features. The Home Page has taken over 6,000 "hits" since the counter was reset in August 1998. Let me encourage you as strongly as I can to get online and check us out if you haven't done so already. The current Bulletin Board and two archived Bulletin Boards contain information you can find nowhere else.
Occasionally our internet activity is decisive in someone's decision to buy an M-38. Here's a message I received recently from Tom Pinkston:
"I am in the process of purchasing an M-384, hopefully to close early next week. One of the main reasons I'm buying a Morgan 38 is the Board!! I'm very impressed with the amount of information available (and the work to keep it up and running). Needless to say, I will be joining the owners' group. Look forward to being a participating member. My sailing area is Galveston Bay and the Texas Coast.
"I want to personally thank you for your efforts in putting together this Board, Home Page, etc. This Board and associated info was the deciding factor. I had very seriously looked at a Dufour 35 in Houston, as well as every other boat for sale from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New Orleans, but I kept reading the Board and kept coming back to the Morgan 38!"
Of course, I love reading stuff like that. But I would hasten to add that my own role is a small part of it. All of the M-38 owners who share their questions, information, and ideas on the Bulletin Board are the ones who deserve the credit for convincing people like Sean as well as helping other owners and themselves.
Yours for fair winds -- Lenny Reich
True Draft
By Jay Green
In response to questions concerning the true draft and displacement of the M-38X series (discussed on the M-38 Bulletin Board), I called Pete Brown, who was National Service Manager for Morgan from June 1978 though May 1982. The following is what he told me. It relates to the M-38Xs with 5-foot draft.
Pete did not know of any increase of ballast during the production run of the 382s, 3s, or 4s. After about hull number 6 of the 383 series, Morgan Yacht, in response to its earlier recall of 382s, decided to change the laminate schedule in the keel area, around the rudder stock and skeg, and to the bond at the bulkhead-to-hull joint. They also used a little more glass fiber and resin, which may have resulted in a slight increase in displacement.
As for draft, it is dependent on displacement, which is dependent on how the owner outfits the boat. The M-38Xs were designed to be 17,200 lbs. and 5 feet of draft. Morgan did not have the means to accurately weigh the boats, so they had to depend on the specification provided by designer Ted Brewer. Pete said that he would expect most M-38Xs to now weigh between 19,000 and 20,000 lbs. The largest increase in weight would be from water absorption into the hull. I have read that a 30-foot fiberglass boat that displaces 10,000 lbs. will absorb as much as 1,000 lbs. of water, so we can expect an M-38X to absorb more. Pete told me that serious racers haul their boats after every race and put a dehumidifier in them in an attempt to keep this absorption as low as possible. Any additional displacement increase would be a result of equipment being brought on board.
Using my M-384 Njord to estimate displacement and assuming it has absorbed 1,700 lbs. of water, I calculated that my actual displacement would be approximately 20,600 lbs. This calculation assumes that I have 833 lbs. of fresh water on board (100 gal. @ 8.33 lbs./gal.), 253 lbs. of diesel (40 gal @ 6.3 lbs./gal.), and approximately 200 lbs. of ground tackle, 150 lbs. of sails, 100 lbs. of food and clothes for a weekend, 100 lbs. of tools, and 100 lbs. for all the other miscellaneous stuff. This added weight would dramatically affect the sail area-to-displacement ratio. Njord's SA/D (D raised to the 0.66 power), with a 17,200 lb. displacement and a sail area of 681 sq.ft. is 16.35. The SA/D at 18,200 lbs. is 15.72, at 19,200 lbs.15.20, and at 20,200 lbs.14.69. Many motor sailors have an SA/D between 13 and 14, so it's vital to minimize extra weight in these boats if you want performance in light air.
The mast step was changed during the 383 series. On the 382, the mast stepped on a cabin sole internal glass unit (IGU). This IGU took the place of floors for the cabin sole and also supported the cabinets in the saloon. On the 383s, Morgan cut the IGU out from under the mast and placed the mast directly on top of the ballast. If you have a 383 you can see where the insert was cut away by lifting out the sole plates around the mast and looking under the head with a mirror. Pete believes that the problems with the 382s were a result of the loads from the mast compressing the hull and IGU downward rather than the tensional loads of the shrouds pulling the bulkheads away from the hull.
Pete and I also discussed some of the other changes to the boat. The mast height on the 383's was increased by 4 feet. However, the boom height was also raised by approximately 2 feet. (Pete provided me with a copy of his notes on the measurements of the complete series of 38s.) Therefore, most of the increases in the sail area occurred in the head sail. As a result of these changes, the boat developed an adverse weather helm in a breeze. Pete, as service manager, was tasked with correcting this problem. He told me that he and Al Virelli took the boat sailing every time the wind piped up. They changed the rake of the mast, the sheet leads, and the size of the head sails. None of these changes resulted in a satisfactory solution. Pete said that they were just about to the point of recommending that the mast be moved forward in the boat when he noticed a tremendous amount of water passing transversely under the stern. Before starting to experiment with the location of the mast, he wanted to try to prevent this water from passing transversely over the top of the rudder by making it follow the contour of the counter. This change would also result in a larger rudder. Morgan agreed to the experiment. The rudder change was made and the improvement surpassed their expectations. This change was all that was necessary to correct the problem.
Ê Well, there's some good information from a man who was there and deeply involved. Thanks Pete.
STELLA MARIS
By Jim Hudnut
Stella Maris is a Charley Morgan 38, and if an article that appeared some time ago in ÒPractical SailorÓ is correct, she is the last CM-38 built. Stella is hull number 79. My wife Janet and I bought Stella in the fall of 1979. She was in excellent shape but was nothing more than the stock hull with no improve-ments or additions. Two Lewmar 40 winches, the old mainsheet bar traveler, and nothing else. The beauty of StellaÕs lines overcame any deterrence that normally might arise because of a below-waterline repair we found. The inter-esting thing about the repair is that the surveyor I hired to inspect the boat prior to purchase never mentioned the repaired damage. The lesson learned is do your own survey in addition to that of the surveyor.
Janet had never been involved with sailboats, but I had sailed on and off since 1949, when I crewed on a Privateer with a friend at Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit. Since those early days I had sailed many races with other friends on their Cals, Columbias, Bountys, etc.
Our plans for extended cruising and long-distance racing raised many problems because Stella had no running water, refrigeration, dinghy, or storage; it had few cabin lights, no music, and just two sails. Racing was out of the question based upon total lack of racing gear. We added refrigeration by installing the unit beneath the galley counter and under the gas tank. I never gave a thought at that time to determining the adequacy of the ice-box insulation or the fact that the unit would be in a dark hole next to that wonderful Atomic 4. But the unit is a Cold Machine, and it is still operating in that dark hole 19 years after installation. I can recommend the product to anyone--it literally has been trouble free.
The Charley 38s are all centerboard boats, leaving very little space beneath the cabin sole for working effectively. Everything has to be ÒfishedÓ from the installation point of whatever is being done through the centerboard bilge, which is no more than 4 inches in depth at its greatest. This came into play for a number of improvements that I planned for Stella. First and foremost was installing pressure hot and cold water. There was no water pump and a single foot pedal faucet in the head through which lake water could be pumped. Though there is a 66-gallon plastic water tank under the V berth, it was connected to the galley sink through a hose to a foot pump. Using one-inch potable water hosing (no metal), I installed a PAR 30800 water pump underneath the portside locker under the V berth, connected the water tank to the intake, and then drilled a single hole through the bulkheads of the V berth and head and connected the hose to a new spring-loaded stainless faucet for the cold water. With a ÒTÓ at that location, the cold water line continued beneath the head flooring into the centerboard bilge. I fished it from the bilge to the engine compartment and up through the galley countertop to a new hot-and-cold mixing faucet. From there it went into a six-gallon hot-water tank installed in the port corner of the lazerette. These hot water tanks are 110V AC, but with heat exchangers from the engine discharge, hot water is easily obtainable with just a short run of the engine. The hot-water line simply reversed the route of the cold-water line, ending at the spring-loaded faucet in the head. I used spring-loaded faucets so guests and crew could not leave the water running.
The stock boat had very little storage for food, clothing, and the many other items people need when travelling and hanging on the hook. Double-door cabinets were added port and starboard to provide dry storage for food, paper products, and whatever else might find its way there. These cabinets are on the shelves above the saloon seat backs where a sea berth is normally located. I built the cabinets myself with half-inch teak marine plywood and stock louvered teak doors you can buy at many marine suppliers. Additional cabinets were added in the focÕsle for clothing storage. Drawers were installed below the seats on the port side using stock teak drawers as were fold-down doors for access to the space beneath the starboard settee. There were so many other things that were installed, added, or purchased that I cannot even begin to list them. Some of the important items were new sailing instruments, a cruising chute, a high-gain antenna at the masthead, a new Raytheon VHF, Si-Tex Loran C, and engine instruments.
We started to race Stella in 1982, initially because it was the quickest way to get her to northern Lake Huron and its North Channel. Racing, I found that a 150 genoa was thoroughly inadequate to move an eight-ton boat like Stella in light air. I went to a 170 genoa in a hurry. Trouble was that in 15 knots of wind the old Lewmar 40s were grossly inadequate to bring it in. New Lewmar 42s didnÕt solve the problem either, even with two young men grinding. I gave away the Lewmar 40s, bought Lewmar 50s for primaries, and moved the 42s forward to the old 40s locations for spinnaker winches. The 50s do the job with one grinder. Mounting these winches was a lot of work. All of the old boltholes had to be filled and new holes drilled. On the port side of the boat access was terrible, and we ended up removing the gas tank in order to do the job. Our new 1.5 oz. spinnaker was too heavy for light-air work so we added a new .75 oz chute. The 170 mylar genny delivered turned out to be too heavy for light air, so we got a new lightweight mylar 170. Finally, we purchased a new main with no baggy luff, and we are really racing.
The Charley 38s are strong boats and love strong winds. We leave the heavy 170 up until the apparent wind reaches 20-22 knots. Depending on whether we are beating or reaching, we reef the main to the first reef point. Above 22 knots, we go to a dacron 150 and maybe a full main. When we approach 26-30 knots, it's down to a 130 mylar and a reefed main, sometimes to the second reef. Balancing the helm is a piece of cake with the centerboard, even in heavy air. The Charleys are not real pointers--you have to go for speed rather than course. Off the wind in heavy air they are tough competitors. Downwind they track very well, but in the really strong stuff they drag an immense amount of water.
This summer we are looking forward to StellaÕs 15th Bayview Yacht Club Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Race, a 204 n.m. race on Lake Huron. That's a lake that can stir up some of the worst weather and sailing conditions you will ever encounter. See you out there!
Better Sliding Hatches on Your Morgan
By Jim McEntyre
The sliding entry hatch on my M382 has been fairly hard to open or close for quite awhile now. The original semi-slippery gel coat lower edge on the sliding hatch has, over the years, worn away where it rubs against the coachroof. The result was a high-friction slide action between the hatch and the coach roof. The solution for this problem is to renew or replace the sliding surfaces. But, gel coat on gel coat is not the best bearing system and I decided to improve on the original design. Instead of replacing the worn out gel coat, I opted instead to install strips of "slick" plastic between the sliding hatch and the coach roof that would dramatically reduce friction and make the hatch easier to open than even when new. This is a short, one-day project, including plenty of time for visiting with all the people who will stop by and want to know what you're doing.
Before you can start, you'll need to acquire two strips of High Density Polyethylene plastic to be used as runners. I'm sure that there are other slippery plastics that will work as well, but HD Polyethylene is readily available and cheap. The size you'll need is about 2" wide by 66" long, and should be about 1/8" thick. An exact size for your boat can be obtained by measuring the gap wherein the hatch slides -- between the outside edge of the teak hatch combing and the inside edge of the teak guide-rail which keeps the hatch in place. My local plastics dealer cut two 1-15/16" strips from a large sheet, and charged me less than $6, total. Like I said, it's cheap. You'll also need some bedding compound, such as Dolfinite, and some tools, including an assortment of screwdrivers, a drill motor, a drill, and a countersink. I used #6 X 1/2" SS flathead screws, spaced about a foo apart, to secure the plastic strips to the coachroof, so the drill bit was a #6 tapdrill. Don't even think about using glue in place of the screws to secure the plastic strips. If the plastic you chose can be glued or bonded to the coach roof, it's not slippery enough. HD Polyethylene can't be glued, which makes it an ideal bearing for this application.
To begin, prepare to remove the sea hood which covers the sliding hatch. You'll need some room, so remove the dodger, if you have one. Now remove the 18 to 20 large SS sheet metal screws from around the edge of the sea hood. Once all the screws are out, carefully but firmly lift up on the aft edge of the sea hood, slowly increasing pressure, until the hood lifts off. It's bedded with a soft putty, so it will take a little coaxing before the putty finally releases its grip. Put the sea hood aside and clean off all the dirt and salt you'll find on the coach roof under the "hood". Mind the open screw holes in the coach roof that can admit soap and water into the overhead inside the cabin. Once the area is clean and dry, and you've stopped staring in amazement at that shiny area of virgin gel coat that hasn't aged or oxidized a bit in the past 20 years, you're ready to install the strips.
With the hatch slid all the way forward, have someone hold up one edge of the hatch while you slide one of the plastic strips underneath, starting at the aft end. The strip should be an easy slip-fit in the gap. If not, use a sharp tool and remove a little of the plastic's edge until it fits properly. Note that there is a wood block fastened to the coachroof that limits forward hatch travel. The just installed plastic strip should fit neatly between the aft edge of the hatch opening and just beyond this block. If in doubt, just look at the wear pattern in the coach roof and see to it that the plastic strip covers all of the wear marks. Now, while holding the plastic strip firmly in place against the aft outer edge of the hatch combing, drill a hole through the plastic strip and into the coach roof. The first hole should be about 1/2" from the rear edge and the same distance from the combing. Countersink this hole so that a #6 flathead screwhead fits flush with the surface of the plastic. Insert the tip of a 1/2" screw into this hole and run it down with your screwdriver. Go a little easy here; this is a small screw that can easily strip out of the fiberglass coachroof. Now, finish up the strip by installing a screw about every foot along the inside edge, working forward. You'll be able to see only the aft 30" of the plastic strip, so do your best work here. Now install the other strip in a similar fashion and prepare yourself to be amazed at how easily the hatch slides.
The last thing to do is to reinstall the sea hood. Use the Dolfinite to re-bed the hood, applying a little to the threads on the large retaining screws. These screws need to be waterproof where they enter the coach roof, so don't scrimp on the putty. That's it -- you're done! Now, each time you enter or exit your Morgan you'll actually smile at how easy it is to open or close the hatch. One important point. Be sure to let those who are accustomed to the old system know that the hatch now slides open far easier. When entering the boat, my petite wife is accustomed to leaning on the hatch and using her body weight to help slide the hatch open. With the new slides in place, she came within a gnat's eyelash of falling head-first down the companionway the last time she opened the hatch this way. She recovered from the bad scare and now loves the ease of use, especially when closing the hatch from down below. Enjoy...
The Morgan-38 Owners' Group News-letter is published three times per year in Belgrade, Maine. Members' articles for upcoming newsletters are needed.
Lenny Reich
(207) 872-3535 w / 465-2334 h
RR#2, Box 4440, Belgrade, ME 04917
e-mail: lsreich@colby.edu
M-38 Web Site -- http://www.colby.edu/personal/lsreich/morgan.html