What Kind of Sailboat is Samba?
Samba is a Morgan 382
The Boat
Samba is an aft cockpit, 1978 38-foot Morgan 382 masthead sloop that was built to cruise. The Morgan 38 was designed by Ted Brewer and close to 500 were built between 1977 and 1986. The mast is 55ft tall and the boat weighs 17,200 pounds unloaded, including a 6,800 pound encapsulated lead keel. She has two water tanks totaling 95 gallons and a 40-gallon diesel tank which provides a range of over 300 nautical miles. She can easily cruise at 6 to 7 knots under engine or sail power.
Samba’s Layout
(Source: https://sailboatdata.com)
Below deck is very comfortable for a cruising couple and technically has enough berths to sleep 8 people (although is not recommended!). The primary sleeping quarters is the V-berth followed by a quarter berth (that we use for storage) which doubles as the seat for the nav station. On the port side is a relatively large galley (kitchen) with a gimbaled three-burner propane stone and oven, top loading refrigerator and freezer, and a 5-gallon hot water heater. Forward of the galley is the salon, which has a drop-leaf table that can comfortably seat 5 adults. Dropping the leaf also allows for conversion of the port settee into another double berth. Forward of the saloon is the head (bathroom) with a manual toilet and separate shower.
The Name
Sorry, no inspirational story here. Brian did not win over Kirsten with his impressive ballroom dancing skills (he’s still working on that), we decided to keep the name the boat already had, Samba. We asked the previous owners (Latin jazz aficionados) how they chose the name and their response was, “‘The Girl From Ipanema’ was too long”, so they went with Samba. We also quickly learned the boat had a reputation on the Chesapeake Bay and there were a few sister ships like Tango and Mambo. The name seemed to fit, and we did not want to risk the bad “juju” that could come from a name change. Since keeping the name, we have had multiple people stop/paddle/row/sail by asking if this was “the” Samba, which reinforced our decision.
The Extras
Samba is outfitted for extended cruising and includes many upgrades including a hydraulic autopilot, AIS (automatic identification system), radar, electronic and paper charts, multiple VHF radios and satellite communications, a diverse inventory of sails, 200W of solar power, air-conditioning and heat (when plugged into shore power), and much more.
While we do not intend to cross any oceans (yet!), multiple Morgan 38s have accomplished this feat, including complete circumnavigations around the world throughout their 40+ year history!
