Design and Construction
The Morgan 35 carries a solid fiberglass hull with a centerboard keel, the board allowing her to skim into shallow marinas at a draft of roughly 4.3 to 4.6 feet depending on load. Her length-to-beam ratio is 3.21, and at 11,900 pounds displacement with 5,000 pounds of lead ballast she shows a ballast-displacement ratio near 42 percent. The wetted surface runs about 387 square feet, and the immersion rate is approximately 1,047 pounds per inch, figures that describe a hull that settles predictably under stores and crew. As a centerboard design she trades the fixed-keel depth of later Morgan derivatives for flexibility in cruising grounds.
Rig and Sail Plan
She is built with a masthead rig and a stated sail area of 547 square feet for the working jib and mainsail. The rig is slightly under-canvased against her peer group, carrying more sail than only about 27 percent of comparable designs. Her masthead rig uses halyards of about 94 feet with half-inch diameter for main, jib, and spinnaker, while sheets run 35 feet for the genoa and 87.5 feet for the mainsheet, all in 14-millimeter line. A cunningham and kicking strap of 15 and 30 feet respectively, plus a 30-foot clew outhaul, round out the standing control lengths. The theoretical hull speed is 7.0 knots, a function of her 27.58-foot waterline.
Accommodations and Interior
The Morgan 35 is more spacious than half of all similar sailboats, a meaningful standing among 35-foot cruisers of her generation. Her 10.75-foot beam and 40-gallon water capacity support coastal cruising without the extreme beam of later Out Island derivatives.
Power and Propulsion
The Morgan 35 may be fitted with an inboard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine of 30 horsepower. The 26-gallon fuel capacity is modest, consistent with a boat whose sail plan is intended to do most of the work and whose 7-knot hull speed bounds motoring usefulness. Gasoline Atomic 4 installations require the usual fuel-system diligence of that engine family.
The Verdict
The Morgan 35 is a purposeful early-seventies Charley Morgan design that pairs a centerboard's shallow-draft freedom with a solid fiberglass hull and a competitive interior volume. She is lightly rigged for her size and carries a gasoline Atomic 4, but her numbers describe a predictable, accessible coastal cruiser with racing lineage.
Pros
- Centerboard keel gives 4.3–4.6 foot draft for marina access
- More spacious than half of similar designs in volume
- Solid fiberglass hull with 5,000 lb lead ballast and 42% ballast ratio
- 547 sq ft masthead rig with documented control lengths
Cons
- Slightly under-rigged versus peers (more sail than only 27% of similar boats)
- Gasoline Universal Atomic 4 power with modest 26-gal tank
