Description: A custom and semi-custom builder of sailboats from 32 to 65 feet. Includes boat specifications and photos, company information, media reviews, and message forum.

Category: Yacht / Keelboat

Visit: http://www.morrisyachts.com/

Date listed: 7 Sep 2004

Current Rating: 0.00

Address: Morris Yachts, P.O. Box 395, Grandville Road, Bass Harbor, Maine, 04653
Phone: 207-244-5509
Fax: 207-244-5866

Leads generated for Morris Yachts: 72
Number of Reviews/Comments: 0

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Morris Yachts recently celebrated its 35th year of semi-custom yacht production working step by step with designers C. W. Paine and Sparkman & Stephens. Our product line includes sail and power yachts that have demonstrated a reputation for luxury, performance and great value. Morris Yachts has worked hard to become the quality bench mark for discriminating yachtsmen around the world.

Tom Morris launched this enterprise in 1972 and was joined by his son Cuyler in 1995. A life long love of sailing for Tom and Cuyler has spanned 60 years. Tom, born in Philadelphia, extended a family tradition started in 1886 of summer vacations in Maine with his family, and at the age of 32 succumbed to his passion for sailing. The natural beauty of Mt. Desert Island, its down-east traditions and a rich history of boat building were a perfect complement to his passion for sailing.

Sailing in Maine refined Tom's sense of what makes a good boat. He established several key objectives for building a “Maine” quality yacht. Starting with proper engineering and design to provide weight savings and enhanced windward sailing performance in light air. While never compromising the rugged construction and safety required to face the open ocean. The family "A Class" boat (Manchester 17, built by George Lawley & Sons) was bought by Tom's Grandfather in 1911 and served five generations until 1975 when Tom and his brother Bill donated her to the Mystic Seaport. She was sailed from Maine to Mystic as living proof that age and longevity are a function of good design, construction and maintenance. At that time the Seaport said she was in the nicest shape of any donated boat. The "A Boat" which Tom described as the J-24 of 1911, combined strong light weight construction with a well balanced design and great sailing performance. This is a tradition and philosophy that continues to drive the Morris Yacht view of the future and was exemplified at the Cowes Jubilee in the U.K. when Firefly, a Morris 45, was tied up at the marina along side the famous Sparkman & Stephens designed Dorade. As Dorade has come to define all of the finest features of a proper sailboat, we believe the Morris 45 will help to define that vision in the future.

Morris Yachts has grown steadily over the years building a range of semi-custom finished sail and powerboats which now number close to two hundred. To the best of our knowledge every Morris Yacht is sailing today but for one, a 25' Pemaquid Friendship Sloop, used as a prop in the movie The Truman Story.

Today, our yachts range in size from 34 to 62 feet. All of them share similar qualities such as fine craftsmanship, outstanding custom woodworking, robust construction methods, combined with modern and efficient hull shapes. Depending upon the size, we have a capacity of six to eight yachts per year. Unfortunately, the availability of pre-owned Morris Yachts is limited owing to the fact our clients take great pride in their "owner's originals". Of course, this also means the retained long term value of our yachts is difficult to exceed. It is not uncommon for many pre-owned Morris Yachts to remain with their original owners for ten years or more and when sold, they often sell for a price that is very close to their original invoice price. For example, a MY 44/46 launched in 1993 was followed by 19 sister ships through 2003 before the first became available for resale. Customer pride and satisfaction has been a primary factor in our growth and success.

As Morris Yachts has grown so have our services and facilities. Today, our family business has expanded into a complete yacht service organization including brokerage, chartering, winter indoor heated storage and custom yacht construction. When we outgrew our facilities in Southwest Harbor, our home for 27 years, we purchased a deepwater marine facility in nearby Bass Harbor. The Bass Harbor facility is now home to Morris Service with heated indoor storage, a 35 ton travel lift, two state of the art AwlGrip spray paint bays, newboat sales, brokerage offices and homebase to our growing fleet of charter boats. This facility has the capacity to handle boats up to 65', with indoor heated and cold storage for up to 100 boats, sail or power, and the labor and design skills to handle any job from routine maintenance to complicated restorations and rebuilds for all yacht owners.

Our renovated new boat construction facility in Trenton was designed and laid out to optimize work efficiency through the eight phases of construction: planning and design; interior prebuild; hull and deck lamination; pre deck installation of joiner work, mechanical and electrical systems; post deck finish work; sea trials; customer delivery and orientation. Each Morris Yacht is delivered with an extensive and detailed Owners Manual that walks you through the layout of all onboard systems, rigging details, records many electrical and other component serial numbers, maintenance finish requirements, and runs forty to sixty pages depending on boat size and complexity. A digital copy is provided for reference and ease of updating.

Morris Yachts is a family run business supported by a highly skilled team of professional boat builders, service technicians and sales personnel. Our goal is to build the finest semi-custom sail and powerboats detailed to each owner's vision and supported by exemplary after sales service. Fulfilling this goal will assure pride of ownership and outstanding resale value for our customers, as well as employee satisfaction, long term profitability and stability for the company. Our facilities are open to all visitors and we welcome the opportunity to show you first hand the Morris difference.