Wondering what folks think of this possibility. Right now we're racing our Morgan once a week and having trouble keeping it under control around turns. Runs well in a straight line but the steering has been horrible. We're thinking it's related to the modified full keel combined with a shallow rudder (matching the depth of the keel with the board up).
Have been trying to post a photo of my Charlie Morgan 38 rudder and prop but the site won't let me. Says I'm missing a temporary file that needs to be restored by the admin. To see it, please click on this link.
The rudder is shallow to match the shallow keel. We're thinking of re-engineering it with a section that drops down to match the depth of the drop board. Then we'd raise or lower both at the same time. We're also thinking of making the rudder longer and carving out a small section near the prop so there's room for a folding prop. We're hoping we'd get better steering at low speeds and have less drag while sailing in light wind without the cost and complexity of a feathering prop.
Obviously this would be a major project. Any reason these changes couldn't be realistically done? We love many things about this boat. The way it sails in rough seas and strong winds among them. It's just not currently nimble enough to match our interests. We're competing with smaller and lighter fin keeled boats. We don't particularly care if we can't keep up. It's just disappointing when we can't maneuver and disqualify or just can't finish the race.
It could be that something needs to be fixed in our steering. We've not hauled out yet. The previous owner had the bottom cleaned last summer. We've done our best to check for problems with the steering linkage and haven't found any, but we're limited as long as we're in the water, especially since it's way too cold to dive under (without a dry suit). To save money, we're hoping to haul out after the racing season, and then take on cleaning and painting the bottom, painting the sides, and perhaps modifying the keel and rudder setup as described above.
Have been trying to post a photo of my Charlie Morgan 38 rudder and prop but the site won't let me. Says I'm missing a temporary file that needs to be restored by the admin. To see it, please click on this link.
The rudder is shallow to match the shallow keel. We're thinking of re-engineering it with a section that drops down to match the depth of the drop board. Then we'd raise or lower both at the same time. We're also thinking of making the rudder longer and carving out a small section near the prop so there's room for a folding prop. We're hoping we'd get better steering at low speeds and have less drag while sailing in light wind without the cost and complexity of a feathering prop.
Obviously this would be a major project. Any reason these changes couldn't be realistically done? We love many things about this boat. The way it sails in rough seas and strong winds among them. It's just not currently nimble enough to match our interests. We're competing with smaller and lighter fin keeled boats. We don't particularly care if we can't keep up. It's just disappointing when we can't maneuver and disqualify or just can't finish the race.
It could be that something needs to be fixed in our steering. We've not hauled out yet. The previous owner had the bottom cleaned last summer. We've done our best to check for problems with the steering linkage and haven't found any, but we're limited as long as we're in the water, especially since it's way too cold to dive under (without a dry suit). To save money, we're hoping to haul out after the racing season, and then take on cleaning and painting the bottom, painting the sides, and perhaps modifying the keel and rudder setup as described above.