I have a M17 #305, and live in Bozeman, MT. After reading some of the archived digest comments I decided to register. Here is a brief introduction to my experience with my boat.
There aren't a lot of sailing opportunites around Bozeman, but I have sailed many of the smaller reservoirs in the area. Mostly I sail at Canyon Ferry Reservoir on the Missouri River. The reservoir is about 20 miles long and 3 miles wide. I do a lot of overnight trips. At this lake the winds tend to be either non-existant or severe, which complicates sailing. I usually put in in the late afternoon, weather the afternoon storm, and then sail on the remaining breeze as it dies down about midnight. The next morning is spent motoring back to the boat ramp on glass-like water. I keep my boat at the lake on the trailer, and beach lauch it at different places depending on the reservoir level. Even though there are a fair number of sail boats on this lake, there are not many that actually sail when its windy and rough. I think that the M17 must be a much better boat than most for tolerating rough sailing conditions. I am usually the only boat on the water once the wind starts. Afternoon winds are commonly over 30 knots but then usually slowly die down in the early nighttime. I would like to here about how other people have adapted to sailing in high winds. I have reduced my original jib down to about a 60-70% "storm jib". This is only a home-made retrofit and I would like to have a more professional version. I nearly always have at least one reef in the main and very commonly have two. The boat is very ballanced with the reduced jib and reefed main allows me to keep my hands off the tiller and tend the boat single-handedly, throughout all wind speeds. I don't have much experience with the genoa, but it seems like a very substantial sail for the boat. When I got the boat not all of the sail hardware was present, I was missing a boom-vang, cunningham and any reefing equipment. I have adapted some home-made hardware but I would like to know what arragement people have found to work the best. I have also made modifications to my rudder, due to problems that is sounds like have been experienced by a lot of the digest subscribers. After nearly ripping my transom off in the shallow lakes that I sail, I decided to build a new shallower draft rudder. I copied sort of a cat-boat rudder that is very long and not very deep. The rudder sticks out about 20" behind the transom but only about 16" in the water (less than the retracted keel depth). To make the steering easier with this big of a rudder, I extended the front of the rudder about 8" in front of the pivot under the skeg of the boat. This overhang compensates for the larger rudder and works very well. I have also found that this larger, lower draft rudder has a lot more bite and is much more secure in big waves at low speeds and is helpful in preventing broaching. I would like to know if anyone else has come to the same conclusions. I have also modified the interior of the boat slightly. The boat originally had 3-berths and a galley. After hardly ever using the galley I decided to remove it and install a bench similar to the oppisite berth in its place. I recently learned that this is the new floor plan for new M17s. This arrangement is a lot better for sitting inside the boat. I tend to sit on the quater berths and use the v-berth for a table for cooking, etc. I am excited to here from other boat owners about their experiences, and be apart of the mailing list. Cordell Pool _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
