About the Boat: When Catalina Yachts bought Morgan Yachts, Frank Butler decided to make the Morgan Out Island 41, which was a great party platform, but not a great sailboat. He put on a new underbody with a cut-away skeg and hung rudder. Now the boat can actually tack, an interesting new concept for that model. He also did what he was one of the best at and made it more efficient to build. Learn more from the Lady K Podcast, The Real Cruising Sailboat – Morgan – Episode 115.
The Morgan OI 41 has several features designed into the boat for which it does not get much credit and features that rarely appear on current boat designs. Many of the features are a result of the boat intended for charter fleets in the Caribbean. For example, although our boat has air conditioning we only seem to use it on humid nights. There are 17! opening ports (2 in the transom) and 5 opening deck hatches. When other boats in our marina are running air conditioning we have fresh breezes flowing through the boat. The opening ports in the transom are especially nice at anchor with the boat feathering into the wind and the transom ports creating an unrestricted flow of fresh air.
A second charter design feature is the 2 private cabins each with their own head, shower and holding tank – and standing headroom in both! No crawling under the cockpit floor to get into the aft cabin berth.
Another feature is that the boat was designed for blue water Caribbean sailing. The mast extrusion has an unusually large cross section, keel stepped, and incorporates split lower shrouds (2 angling forward and 2 angling aft) – no mast pumping. The chain plates are mounted on the exterior for ease of inspection and maintenance.
Finally, the rub rail! I cannot tell you the number of times a Jeanneau, Beneteau or J-Boat owner would stop and look at our boat and say, “boy, I wish I had a rub rail.”
The hull angles out from the sheer line down for about 10 inches and then angles back in down to the waterline. An aluminum rub rail is installed at the maximum point out. This protects the ports from stray dock protrusions and protects the hull from scratching.
About the Name: The Morgan 41 is an amazingly comfortable and reassuring boat to sail. After a day’s sail, we invariably, and our guests as well, would say, “What a heavenly day”. Thus the boat named itself. To quote Patty Griffin: “all that we really have to do Is have ourselves, a heavenly day”.
Michigan Registration: MC 4935 PG
MMSI: 368 280 680
Home Port: Great Lakes Yacht Club, St. Clair Shores, MI
Call Sign: WDN4396
Sail Number: US 61652
MWPHRF Rating: 217
Dimensions
LOA: 41′ 4″
Beam: 13′ 10″
Draft: 4′ 10″
Displacement: 23,000 LBs
Ballast: 8,500 LBs
Engine
Yanmar 4JH Series 44HP
Formerly Pumalin
Pumalin was named by the former owner and his wife. The Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park was very dear to them. The park (Spanish: Parque nacional Pumalín Douglas Tompkins) is a 1,000,000-acre national park in Chile, created by Tompkins Conservation, which was endowed and led by the American business magnate Doug Tompkins and his wife, former CEO of Patagonia, Inc., Kris Tompkins. Designated a Nature Sanctuary in 2005, Parque Pumalín was Chile’s largest private nature reserve and operated as a public-access park, with an extensive infrastructure of trails, campgrounds, and visitor centers.