Hi Andrei, As a former big boat owner (29 foot), who went trrailerable with a Bolger MICRO, let me give you my $.02 worth of experience...
The MICRO at 15 feet was a great sailer.... Loads of interior room in the cabin (it's a square box), and we thoroughly enjoyed such an unorthodox ship as a cat yawl. ....but, stepping a free-standing 21 foot long mast in the bow well by holding it at about an 85 degree angle became more than I could handle. So, boat size was right; mast stepping problem had to be surmounted. That's when I found a derelict ComPac 16: aluminum mast; shrouds;.... easy mast stepping, .... and bought it. After overhauling it totally, and then sailing it, as an old spoiled sailor what I found and objected to were: - No sail lockers.... Where do you put all the things that are needed on a boat? The mooring lines, fenders, fender board; second anchor and rode; cleaning materials; sails.... etc. - Berths under the cockpit seats? My wife and I were used to a luxurious wide double berth in our big boat. - What do you do with the whole forward area? - Worst of all it turned out to be a very poor sail boat. So, having learned that a ComPac 16 was not our cup of tea, I went searching for a replacement which turned out to be a Montgomery 15. That made us blissfully happy again. Good berths; good sail lockers; excellent sailing characteristics. The only reason for selling the M15 - which we loved - was encroaching old age and increasing lack of agility. My recommendation to you: Keep the M17, it will sail happily with four people aboard. The M15 is great for two, and maybe a small third, but it certainly is not a boat for two adults and two teenagers. The first few times you rig the boat are the hardest and take the longest time. You are at the start of the Learning Curve. After making one mistake after another, and then correcting them the next time you raise a mast, the job gets easier and easier....... You finally become a mast raising professional. Enjoy your M17. It's a great boat. Connie ex M15 #400 Andrei Caldararu wrote: > Hello all, > > as I said earlier on, I acquired about 2 weeks ago "Hobbit", a 1982 > M-17. After sailing her four times now, I would like some help in > deciding on some things, and I would really appreciate people's > opinion on the main question below. Sorry if this message is a bit > longish. > > Until buying the M-17, I owned (and still own) a Compac 16. Originally > I intended on selling the C-16, but now I have doubts. The trouble is > that it seems that the C-16 fits for absolutely everything we need to > do with it, while the M-17 is a bit more problematic (see below). But > the C-16 doesn't sail well, and that is my biggest gripe with it... > > We are a family of four, myself, my wife, and two kids ages 6 and 4. > As such, not too much time is available, and the kids are not the > world's best example of patience (both of these may improve in the > future). We sail mostly on the lakes in Madison, WI; they are inland > lakes, the largest of which is about 5-6 miles across. I would hope > that in the future we'll take some trips to the great lakes (Green Bay > or Apostle Islands) but so far we haven't done this. > > With the Compac, the routine is fairly simple: the boat stays in a > parking lot 1/4 mile from the launching ramp; I attach it to the car, > drive to the ramp, rig by myself, launch. If the kids come with me, > they play around while I rig. The whole routine takes about 25 minutes > (so the kids don't get too bored). If this happens in the afternoon, > all of us then sail for about 2-3 hours, and when we're done my wife > takes the kids home and I de-rig by myself, another 25 minutes. If we > start at 5pm, we're all home by around 9. > > With the Monty things are a bit more complicated. Admittedly I am not > yet quite up to speed in rigging it, but today's example seems to be > the norm. I arrived at the boat at 9:45am, rigged alone till 11, > sailed until 2:15, derigged and put the boat away until 3:30. So I got > 3 hours of sailing for two-and-a-half hours of rigging. Not a very > good ratio in my opinion. The one time I took my wife and kids the > rigging took just enough for the kids to get thoroughly bored and to > start pestering us enough to get us angry :-( And the worst part of it > is that after an hour of rigging, I am ready to go home and get in > bed :-) > > I can see now a number of options to improve on this. > > Option one: keep the M-17 moored. Obviously that would reduce the > rigging time to something very small. The cost of this is not > negligible, though (I expect to pay around $800/summer for a mooring). > However I have no experience with bottom paint, and the Monty's bottom > has never been painted. (It is clean as it came from the factory.) How > often does the bottom need painting? Every year, or can it be skipped > a year or two? How big a hassle is this? Is it a pity to "dirty" the > bottom of a clean Monty? > > Option two: keep the Monty with the mast up on the trailer, near a > marina. This would be OK, except for the fact that the only marina > that provides this service is on the other side of the lake, a 30 > minute drive, and at the end of a long channel which takes 20 minuntes > to motor through. And the cost is about the same, around $800-1000/ > summer. > > Option three: create a fleet -- keep both boats. When in a hurry, sail > the C-16, when time is not an issue or need more space, sail the Monty > (space may or may not be so much of an issue on the C-16: we have > sailed her with 4 adults, 5 kids, and a dog on board; we were a bit > cramped, but we managed. The only time the Monty would be really > better would be if I were to go camping with the kids; my wife swore > that she would not sleep in any small sized boat.) Wife may not be too > happy with this option > > Option four: sell both boats and get an M-15. The question is how much > space there is on an M-15 versus the C-16? Would 4 adults sit > comfortably in the cockpit of the M-15? It would really help if I > could find someone with an M-15 somewhere in my general area (Madison, > Wi), so I could look at it and perhaps sail together to get a feel for > the boat. > > Option five: keep only the M-17, and hope to improve my rigging > system. Right now I raise the mast with the system suggested on Bob's > website (with a 4-part and a padeye on the mast support), which works > great but still takes a lot of time. The rudder cannot stay on the > boat (the rear mast support goes in its place), rolling the mast back > is complicated by the spreaders, bending the mainsail on the boom is a > pain, etc. Anyone has any special tricks to speed things up? > > Option six: keep only the C-16 (sad), and in a few years, when kids > (and maybe wife?) are more patient, get another M-17. I am worried > about the fact that I have read about quite a few people who after > owning a Monty were never happy with anything else, so kept buying > them. Since a good one is hard to find (and the one I have is good), I > am not very inclined to become Monty-less. > > What do people who've seen more of all these kinds of boats think > about all this? Any help will be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Andrei. > > _______________________________________________ > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
