Bill, My old (1983) M17 had the same problem (a search of the archives will yield several posts regarding this). My M17 spent the entire summer over a 10 year period in salt water before I bought her. When I discovered the problem I ground out the remains of the old aluminum fittings and epoxied and glassed in 1-1/2" diameter stainless steel tubing to which I reattached the drain hoses. A freshwater boat might never develop this problem (but should be checked for peace of mind at least), but I think a saltwater boat should be inspected annually. Grab those drain hoses where they attach to the thru-hulls and try to work them back and forth, up and down. Don't be gentle! They should feel very firmly attached. Run water in the cockpit while checking the hose connections to check for leaks. Discovering the problem with the boat on the trailer is a blessing (be thankful), but discovering it when 3 miles from shore could result in losing the boat (not to mention your life). Remember, "for want of a half pint of tar, the ship was lost". Take the time to inspect and repair. Mark Dvorscak M23 #74 Faith (former M17 owner) -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+edarts93=earthlink.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+edarts93=earthlink.net@mailman.xmission .com] On Behalf Of William Sylvester Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 3:02 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: New Old M-17 This note is for those of you who have older M-17 boats. We have been working restoring our 1978 M-17 for about a year. I finally got the new traveler installed and her name will be painted on this weekend. I made quite a mess while installing the traveler and wanted the cockpit to be clean when the sign painter came. I closed my hatch-boards, and really gave the cockpit a good hosing and scrubbing. When I was done and opened the hatch-boards I was greeted with about an inch of standing water in the cabin. I pumped the water out as I was cursing my self on not doing a good job with the traveler seal. I was about to remove the traveler and try again when I thought it might be a good idea to see which bolt holes were leaking. I got the hose again and sat down on the cabin floor to get a good look at the dripping bolts. No drips, just a wet butt. It was then I noticed that the water was running from the stern. I was confused as I could still hear the water pouring out of the scupper. I got out, and stuck my finger into the bottom side scupper hole and was shocked when I actually poked it through the wall of the through hull connection. What a blessing, I could have been a mile offshore when the connection gave way. It appears that the connection on my boat is a aluminum tube that was fiber-glassed into the round hull opening. Electrolysis had done its work and the aluminum had all but disintegrated. The hose was still in good shape but the whole inside of the fitting came out with the hose. This is an area that you might want to check out. If I hadn't wanted a new traveler, we might have added a submarine to our website. Bill Sylvester M-17 #279 Endelig _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats