Morris 45 Nominated Boat of the Year!

Morris 45 Next Boat - Impressive!

GM Will Ratcliff taking the Judges from Cruising World through their paces.

Will pointing out the details to the Judges from Sailing World.

Morris 45 sailplan

Cruising World and Sailing World magazines have nominated the Morris 45 for 14th Annual Boat of the Year contest. Judging took place during the US States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Md. Cuyler Morris, President of Morris Yachts flew down to conduct the test sails after the show.

In 2007, Morris’ M42 Won Best Special Purpose Cruiser; in 2006, the Morris 42 Won Best Domestic Boat of the Year. In prior years Morris has been nominated five times and won three times: in 1999 Morris 34 - Overall Winner & Best Midsize Cruiser; in 1995 Morris 40 - Overall Winner & Full Size Winner and in 1994 the Morris 44 took home the Bristol Award. Results to be announced in January issues.

The new 45-footer has a completely new deck mold, two new keel/rudder/rig configurations and a completely redesigned interior arrangement. The new deck mold has: a much larger cockpit with a cockpit coaming that wraps completely around it, increased headroom under the trunk cabin, a wider trunk cabin to create more room in the interior, and new companionway configuration. Tooling for this deck was finished in October 2006 and the first part was pulled from it in January of 2007. The first boat with this deck will have a keel draft of 7.0 feet with a high aspect, carbon post/rudder, and an air draft of 67’-8”. The chainplates for the mast are swept aft and are moved outboard next to the sheer. The aft sweep should allow sheeting for a 105% jib. To take advantage of the increased interior volume from the new deck, the interior has been completely redesigned. The galley has been moved down and the eating area has been moved up into the raised salon. The forward cabin has been enlarged and the aft head and stateroom have had volume added to them.

The keel has been designed by Jim Taylor. The client for this first boat races the boat in double handed events in Long Island Sound and in the Ocean, and the keel has been specifically designed for fast cruising and success on the race course. The rig was designed in conjunction with the client, the spar builder, Chuck Poindexter (Sound Rigging), and sailmaker, Chris Wentz (Z-sails), for easy single handed operation (cruising) and fast double handed racing. The size of the keel and rig were the result of the collaboration of all the involved parties and yielded a yacht that is easy and very fast to sail.