Hi Hugh, The M15 is a very ruggedly built and well thought out boat.
You have a lovely comfortable double berth in the forward end of the cabin. Of course, in a 15 footer, you won't find sitting headroom, but if you sail alone, then remove the PortaPotti, put a cushion on the floor and you have good seating. You'll want a tiller extension - I made one and then modified it when I made a second one. This extension fitted over the tiller itself (hollowed out on the underside for a good fit) and was held in place with Velcro strips. This way you can sit all the way forward in the cockpit (and keep the transom out of the water), which is how I like to sail. >From another M15 owner in Florida I got the design of his 19" toolbox galley and built one. It contained everything you needed for cruising: knives, forks and spoons; a small water kettle, pot and pan; salad bowl; wine glasses; cutting board; etc. For a stove I used a propane one burner restaurant stove - all self contained. Cost about $25 when I found it. Cooking was done in the cockpit, using the filler piece above the PortaPotti as a work area at the back of the cockpit. I also had a Bimini, as well as a tarp that could cover the cockpit if it rained. One thing I would recommend is that you put latches on the sail locker lids to keep them closed in the event of a knockdown, and when you leave the boat at a marina you can lock the latches with small padlocks (I had three locks all keyed the same - sail locker locks and the companionway lock). The beauty of an M15 is that costs are almost $0.0, while the fun factor is maximum. You can't beat that! It goes to windward at 70 MPH on an Interstate, which gets you to good new cruising areas in a few hours driving time. Try doing that with your big boats... Connie _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
