Giles, As Connie pointed out, life is short. You have owned an M15. Now you have the opportunity to experience the many wonderful qualities of an M17.
We now own an S2 6.9 but I often think about the M17 my wife and I owned for several years. We sailed and camped on our Monty on lakes all over the Midwest, sometimes traveling as far as 500 miles, one way. Jerry Montgomery told me that part of the design criteria given to Lyle Hess for this boat is that it "should be able to cruise two people for two weeks." There is a lot of comfortable interior space and lots and lots of storage. The cockpit is one of the most comfortable of any boats I have ever sailed on regardless of size, it sails very dry in all kinds of chop, and knocks the socks off of all those who see her. Regarding ease of use, after many trailer launchings we were able to rig and launch in 30 to 40 minutes. As my experience with this process grew, I was even able to stand the mast and launch from a ramp by myself, and I am of average size. Best of luck to you with whatever you decide. Mike _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
