Well gang I guess I'm officially in the club. I traveled 721 miles r.t. to Arlington, VA to purchase a well kept beauty from Tom Nichols. She's a 1985 M15 (hull #337) with an unpainted blue hull, 4 nice sails, 3hp Johnson, original cushsions in and out, a dropped bed trailer, bow pulpit and all the necesary equipment to sail right away. The more I work on her the more I realize I got a fine boat. The two down side things are a very sloppy application of Cetol (not by Tom) and what appears to be no built in flotation. There is loose flotation under the cockpit and the most forward locker under the berth is screwed down and apparently filled with the same loose styrafoam. I've had some success scrapping the Cetol off the fiberglass, but not at all successful at getting it off the vynil cushion covers. The floatation is still a mystery and will undoubtably be the subject of future inquires. The hatch boards are delaminated which will give me the opurtunity to build new ones with louvers to improve ventilation. I also see some type of foredeck ventilation, either a small hatch or a ventilator like Connie installed in his M15, comming in the future. My list of upgrades, after the Cetol mess is cleaned up and replaced with oil, will be a tiller extension (to get my weight further forward), buffing the hull to remove oxidation and some sort of bimini/cockpit tent to keep rain and bugs out. Oh yeah, and probably a sculling oar.
Thanks to all on the list who helped me in my education and search for this great little yacht. Rick Langer Hudson River p.s. Connie, my first M15 experience on a bouncy foredeck was comforted by the bow pulpit. It had the same feel as the bigger boat that I'm use too. I think this deck ape would feel very lonely up there in a seaway without it. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
