1976 Morgan Out Island 51 cutter rigged ketch
s/v Hipnautical
The Charley Morgan designed Out Island series of sailboats are a classic example of the ideal cruising boat with hundreds if not over 1000 of the 41 foot models successfully cruising the world, the 51 foot version is the flagship of all the Out Island ships & certainly is the perfect world cruising sailboat. When looking for a cruising boat some make the mistake of falling for their desires to have a light weight racy boat. These end up being not very ‘sea kindly’, as each wave that smacks the boat will have the tendency to push the boat around in quick sickening fashion; true racers are quite in denial of this aspect as they are only interested in speed at any cost of comfort. The catamaran, which I had a real strong desire for which in their light racy form & spacey layouts are quite fast, however by the time one is loaded down for cruising they are no longer fast & nimble but they all have this quirky twitchy movement that can’t be anticipated & often produces a nauseous feeling even in light conditions; howevere they are very intriguing vessels but only have large sums of money are laid out before a good comprimise of efficient sailing & cruisablity are reached.
Although our sailboat is large & fairly heavy displacement with a broad beam for comfortable long term living, the long 51.5 foot length offers a longer water line & therefore fast average cruising speeds. The heavy displacement & hull design allow the boat to comfortably cruise thru ocean passages with a more ‘sea kindly’ fashion than most boats; the ideal characteristic in a world cruising sailboat. With over three inches of solid fiberglass under the water line you can rest assured that even slamming into a reef or rock at full speed would do no more than a few scratches. In fact boats with half this much hull strength under the water line has reported bouncing off of solid rocks at hull speed, backing off & carrying on their way; however we have not tested this miss calculation of navigation error ourselves but we travel at piece knowing we are safe.
the Ship's Systems:
Length 51’6”
Width 15’
Draft with drop keel up 5’ 3”, with keel lowered nearly 11’.
This drop keel design we are able to anchor in close to shore or sail in shallow waters. With the keel lowered our windward performance is highly improved, it gives hydrodynamic lift, allows us to point closer to the wind & adds stability. For example, if we are hard on the wind with the rail in the water & thinking about reefing; lowering the keel levels out the boat to a point that reefing becomes unnecessary & lifts the bow for greater speed.
The keel is raised by use of an electric wench using ‘AmSteel’ high performance synthetic line.
We have done extensive upgrades & retrofits included a very nice custom hard dodger, which we spent three & a half months working 12 hour days to complete using very high grade materials & multiple layers of fiberglass throughout to create a very strong structure capable of surviving what ever the sea will bring & proven on two passages on the notorious waters between New Zealand & the tropical islands to the north. Seven large windows offer views have with no blind spots; with two large opening windows, ventilation in the tropics is ‘a breeze’ ;-) Each side offers hand rails to confidently hold onto while going forward or just looking about; they are fiber glassed in with enough strength to lift the boat. The solid roof is strong enough to hold several adults at once; a handy place to view coral reefs & to leap off the boat into azure seas.
24 new stainless steel glass opening ports, including optional bug screens. These offer million dollar views as you cruise thru paradise; with the thick tempered glass, the view is still crystal clear even when closed. We replaced all of the original plastic ports with these high grade thick tempered glass ports. This was a four month project which also included filling, fairing & painting the outside blue stripe with a cooler white. Also done at that time was the removal of the original ‘waffle’ textured vinyl wall coverings, the inside hulls were striped of this coverings, hulls grinded clean, faired with an epoxy filler, sanded smooth & painted.
Both masts have been pulled, refurbished all mast head line blocks.
Main mast deck hole sealed with proper boot.
Mizzen mast step reconditioned & improved.
All standing & running rigging replaced.
All in mast electrical wires replaced with new high grade wire.
New motoring light & deck light installed.
Lightening dissipater installed on main mast head.
New VHF antenna installed on mizzen mast head.
New Raymarine wind instrument installed on main mast head.
New LED anchor/nav light installed on main mast head.
All sails were new a few years ago including a gennakar/spinnakar sail
New Harken roller furler two years ago,
icom 802 SSB/Ham radio with pactor 3 usb modem, iCom AT-140 automatic antenna tuner, isolated backstay antenna, two large bronze ground plates.
Standard Horizon Spectrum Plus VHF,
Spectra Ventura 160 water maker, new 22 gallon water maker supply tank
New Raymarine hydraulic auto pilot,
New wind instrument interfaced with the auto pilot to steer the boat to any selectable wind directions, all interface flawlessly with a Raymarine chart plotter.
A very well insulated custom refrigerator/freezer with a Technautics ‘Cool blue’ compressor. Six inches of insulation around freezer & at least 4” around refrigerator box. Entire box is isolated from hull, surrounded by high grade reflect tex insulator which deflects even UV A & B radiation. You can’t buy a more efficient box. Each piece of insulation was custom hand made & fiber glassed in place.
New 1000 watt surround sound stereo with sub woofer with built electronic cross over circuits for all speakers, built in four M & K audiophile high grade speakers professionally installed with heavy duty cabling.
New large wide screen flat monitor for movies & computer use on a swinging/retractable arm built into a teak storage cabinet,
New 85 & 120 gallon fuel tanks.
New holding tank, new toilets - electric front head & manual aft head.
Two 135 solar panels on adjustable rail mounts,
Wind X marine wind generator.
1000watt 120 volt inverter & a 220volt to 120volt step down transformer to plug into 220volts or 120 volts with a kiwi style shore power cord & kiwi style ‘extension cord plug’ for both types of shore power access.
Xantrex 40+ amp battery charger.
Xantrex Battery status digital power system monitor.
New Lofrans windlass with remote control & digital chain counter,
400+ feet of 3/8” chain,
New Rockna 88lb anchor, 45lb CQR anchor, very large Fortress anchor,
New never used storm drogue,
300’ of 7/8” three strand nylon rode, 300’ of 5/8” nylon rode, 200 feet of new 3/8” HT chain for spare.
Lots of new LED interior light along with new LED running lights & anchor/Nav lights,
Three large volume bilge pumps,
Man over board life ring,
Man over board floating flag pole with 100 feet of nylon line,
6 person life raft in a mounted canister,
EPIRB rescue beacon…
Tons of spare parts!
New Avon Rover Lite 10.4 RIB dingy, the lightest RIB on the market.
Nissan 9.8 4 stroke outboard. Includes large diameter inflatable dingy wheels which make pulling the dink up beaches quite easy.
New Sail Rite heavy duty canvas sewing machine with built in storage cabinet on board.
New Air Supply underwater hookah system with two regulator mouth pieces each with 60 foot hoses; the system is built into the boat for hull cleaning & underwater maintenance…
plus way too much too mention. This boat is in prime cruising condition.
At the time I posted this a sister ship, a 1977 Morgan Out Island 51 ketch not nearly as well equipped was listed for $216,000US. We are offering our wonderful ship in outstanding cruising condition for considerably less. The boat is currently available here in New Zealand, if not sold by May I will sail her to Australia to leave on the market until sold. In ether place this boat could be delivered anywhere for a reasonable delivery fee, ether by myself & or our kiwi friend, a very experienced delivery captain with 1000’s of miles on passage with our boat.
We upgraded & outfitted this boat like we would never sell her, we spent nearly four years with countless projects, cutting no corners, taking no shortcuts & buying only the best top of the line parts & equipment through out. If we had paid boat right craftsmen to do all this labor the cost would be…priceless.
We had hoped that after our years of cruising we would find a wonderful place ‘out in paradise’ to live on our boat, work our music & put our son back into a regular land school. We found that immigrating to a new country would be a long arduous process with no promise of entry & the fact that my wife & I intend to play music to earn our cost of living does not bode well with immigration in securing a full time job with benefits. We’ve decided to settle into Maui in the Hawaiian Islands where immigration is not an issue & there is no threat of cyclones; along with year ‘round tourist seasons our music earning opportunities should be as good as any other place we could imagine & Maui will be a fun place to raise our son. The down fall to our continued boat life in Hawaii is that it is impossible to find a permanent boat slip within a few years or decades; even if we could get an impossible live aboard slip for three it would cost much more than a nice apartment near the beach so… That’s how we’ve come to the point of selling our boat. Now it's time to allow some other lucky folks the chance to live thier dreams & fullfill thier adventureous Sailing Adventures ;-)
|
