Design and Construction
The Morgan 35 has a solid fiberglass hull and a centerboard keel. The board allows her to enter shallow marinas at a draft of roughly 4.3 to 4.6 feet depending on load. Compared with the fixed keels of later Morgan derivatives, the centerboard gives her more flexibility in choosing cruising grounds.
Her length-to-beam ratio is 3.21. She displaces 11,900 pounds and carries 5,000 pounds of lead ballast, for a ballast-to-displacement ratio of nearly 42 percent. Wetted surface is about 387 square feet, while the immersion rate is approximately 1,047 pounds per inch. These figures describe a hull that settles predictably as stores and crew come aboard.
Rig, Sail Plan, and Performance
The Morgan 35 has a masthead rig with a stated sail area of 547 square feet for the working jib and mainsail. She is slightly under-canvased compared with her peers, carrying more sail than only about 27 percent of comparable designs.
The main, jib, and spinnaker halyards are each about 94 feet long and half an inch in diameter. The genoa sheets are 35 feet long, and the mainsheet is 87.5 feet; all are 14-millimeter line. A 15-foot cunningham, 30-foot kicking strap, and 30-foot clew outhaul complete the documented control lengths.
With a waterline length of 27.58 feet, the Morgan 35 has a theoretical hull speed of 7.0 knots.
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 found in later Out Island derivatives.
Engine and Fuel
The Morgan 35 may be fitted with an inboard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine producing 30 horsepower. Fuel capacity is a modest 26 gallons, consistent with a boat whose sail plan is intended to do most of the work and whose 7-knot hull speed limits the usefulness of additional motoring power. Gasoline Atomic 4 installations require the usual fuel-system diligence associated with that engine family.
Verdict
The Morgan 35 is a purposeful early-1970s Charley Morgan design. She combines the shallow-draft freedom of a centerboard with a solid fiberglass hull and competitive interior volume. She’s 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 provides a 4.3–4.6-foot draft for marina access
- More spacious than half of comparable designs
- Solid fiberglass hull with 5,000 pounds of lead ballast and a nearly 42 percent ballast-to-displacement ratio
- 547-square-foot masthead rig with documented control-line lengths
Cons
- Slightly under-rigged compared with peers, carrying more sail than only about 27 percent of similar boats
- Gasoline Universal Atomic 4 power with a modest 26-gallon fuel tank
