Morgan Yachts, From SORC Winners to the Out Island Charter Fleet

A sailmaker builds a yacht company

Charley Morgan (1929 to 2023) started as a sailmaker in Tampa in 1952, and his designs won the Southern Ocean Racing Conference with the yawl Paper Tiger in 1961 and 1962. When he could not find a builder for a smaller version, he founded Morgan Yacht Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1965, with the fiberglass Morgan 34 as its first model. The company grossed $1.7 million in its first year.

Beatrice Foods bought Morgan Yacht in 1968, giving Charley the means to design and build the 12 Metre Heritage for the America's Cup trials, and he left the company in 1972. Before he did, he answered customer feedback with the shoal-draft Morgan Out Island 41, first built in 1971, which became a standard charter boat and was described as the most popular boat over 40 feet ever built. The company passed through corporate owners until Catalina Yachts acquired it in 1984. Catalina built a few Morgan designs, including a redesigned Out Island 41 from 1986 to 1993, before retiring the name. Catalina itself closed in 2025, and its assets were auctioned in June 2026.

Two Morgan 38s, and where the 384 fits

Morgan used the 38-foot size for two unrelated families. The first Morgan 38 of 1969 was Charley Morgan's keel and centerboard CCA racer-cruiser. The second began in 1977 with the Ted Brewer designed Morgan 382, which swapped the centerboard for a cruising fin keel and a skeg-hung rudder. It became the 383 around 1980 with a taller rig, and around 1983 the Morgan 384, the model we cover, with an enlarged rudder, a revised interior and the traveler moved to the cabin top.

About 100 Morgan 384s were built from 1983 to 1986, out of roughly 500 boats across the 382, 383 and 384, the last of them under Catalina's ownership. Most carry the Perkins 4-108 diesel. They are stiff, slightly heavy cruisers that point well, with a sloped keel leading edge that glances off obstructions; their known weakness is directional stability with the wind aft.

Buying an old Morgan today

Every Morgan is now decades old, and there is no factory support, so value depends on condition and refit history. Used Morgan 384s ask roughly $32,000 to $75,000, and Out Island models remain popular as affordable liveaboards in Florida and the Bahamas. Owner associations and independent yards are the main sources of parts knowledge.

What to inspect:

• Balsa-cored deck moisture around stanchions, chainplates and hatches
• Airex-cored topsides on the 382 to 384 family for delamination
• Internal ballast area and keel sump for water and corrosion
• Skeg and rudder bearings, plus the enlarged 384 rudder
• Perkins 4-108 condition, mounts and fuel tank age
• Original wiring, plumbing and portlights on boats never refit