Hello Chris, Congratulations on your new purchase. I am sure you will enjoy the M-15.
Here are my two cents regarding your boat projects. As always these are just my opinions based upon my usage -- single handed day sailing and extended cruising on the Great Lakes. - Jib downhaul is essential in my mind. When the wind pipes up or when I am coming in to dock it is a piece of cake to release the halyard and pull on the downhaul to douse the jib. With the downhaul cleated, the jib will sit sedately on the foredeck. On my boat, the downhaul is simply a block mounted on the bow. I secure a small line to the top hank and run it through the block on the bow and back to the aft. - I have rigged the boat to have both halyards come back to the cockpit but in practice I only bring the jib halyard back for the above reason. I cleat the Main at the mast since it is there that I will need to be when I either reef or douse the main. - For sails, I have a loose footed main with a bolt rope and two reef points (love the bolt rope and will not go back to slides), 160 genoa, 130 working, and 60 storm jib. With this combination I can handle any wind conditions that I encounter. I do go up to the bow to change the jibs and so far this has not been too difficult. I have done this in 3-4 foot swells. When I do this, I am always tethered to the boat. - I too have a Honday 2 HP 4 Stroke. It works great. The 1/4 gallon tank seems small but will push me along at about 4 - 4.5 knots for an hour plus. Refilling underway is not that difficult. I have the long stroke which is good for the Great Lakes and the wave height. - For anchor and rode I simply keep them in a milk crate in the cockpit and deploy from the cockpit. When set, I simply walk the rode up to the bow. This works great. The only downside is that it adds weight at the stern. - I have mounted a Plastimo Iris 100 compass to my bottom hatchboard which stays in when under way. For the handheld GPS I purchased a holder that is mounted to the horizontal wooden plank that the mainsheet is mounted to. This setup has worked well for me. - Tow vehicle. I have a 2001 Rav4 which works ok. It has the four cylinder engine which, in my opinion, is underpowered. It struggles to keep up to highway speeds on anything other than completely flat ground. When I am towing I only get about 20 - 22 mpg. If I were to buy again, I would opt for the six cylinder (not available when I purchased). Also, because the tailgait swings out, the back in inaccessible when the trailer is attached. Hope this is helpful. Respectfully, John Hippe M-15 Jester _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
