Convert Morgan 38 Centerboard To Full Keel?

[Sailboat Story]

Hello there!

This is my first post!

My family and I have been on the hunt for a good liveaboard sailboat for the last several months now.

Initially, part of our sailboat criteria was that the boat be in the 33'-37' range and that it have a full keel, with less than 4 ft draft.

Now that we've been looking a while, I feel like we're going to have to loosen up a bit on our wants in order to find a workable compromise.

For instance - I've come across a boat - a 79 Morgan 38' with centerboard. The boat is in good overall shape, and we can get into it for only 8k.

There's a lot to like about the boat, but there's one big problem that is worrying to me...

Here's the trouble -

The centerboard doesn't function and has been pegged up into the truck for the last 5 years or so.

Now, personally, my first thought is that I could just permanently cover the opening of the centerboard truck with fiberglass - essentially making the boat nearly a full keel (which I wanted anyways). I've read that the boat points pretty well even without the board down, so it doesn't seem like it would impact sail-ability that much.

To better explain my thought process - another boat that we've been looking into a lot is the Morgan Out Island 33. It's a full keel boat, and I've heard that it sails like a pig, but I'm actually alright with that because I'm more concerned with interior space and comfort over being able to sail super-good.

To me, I'm thinking that I could remedy the centerboard issue by converting it to a full keel, and basically ending up something like a 38 foot Out Island. Of course I do want to have the ability to eventually sell the boat, and I don't want to hurt the boats resale potential either.

... so many variables.

Anyways, I'm curious if this "center-board problem" actually represents an opportunity for us to get into a good boat at a low price, or if this is an issue that has a deeper negative impact that I'm not seeing for myself.

Any thoughts on the matter?



PS - I'm a forum virgin... be gentle if I make any weird posting errors.