Hi Tyler, I too have spent many a day walking the docks and drooling over the "gold platers" available to the public. My first "real" sailboat was an M 17 purchased when I was 30. I spent the ensuing decades trading up until finally I ended up with a beautiful 36' S2 which I could no longer single hand safely and for which I could barely afford a bottom job. Their is a happy medium between size, expense and complexity and everyone has a different "goldie locks" spot. So now I have an M17 again. That is my ideal boat. It may take you years also but the sooner you can realize your ideal the better. Safety is as safety does. Anybody can risk lives on a large boat or a small one,or be safe on either. Basic knowledge of what goes on "out there" and why and a good dose of basic seamanship well salted with common sense (what can I do here to save my hide and those who step onto my boat?) are a good place to start any boating career. You have a sound, safe craft to practice what you learn with that M 15. Fair winds, Tom B M17#258 On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 2:36 PM, <casioqv@usermail.com> wrote:
While we're talking about Don Casey Books (the Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual), there's another of his books that I really liked:
Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach : A Philosophic and Practical Approach to Cruising
This book was a revelation to me to make sailing fun on a very limited grad student budget. I had been hanging out at yacht clubs and the sailnet forums where many sailors spend hundreds of thousands to rig their boats- and I was a bit embarrassed that I had such a small boat with simple 1970s style rigging (i.e. no lines to the cockpit). Some people even told me I shouldn't own a boat until I could finance a new large boat that would be "comfortable and safe." This book made me realize that the simpler I setup my boat, the less hassle and more fun it could be.
One example I really liked was their discussion on internal vs external halyards. Rather than discussing the relative merits, Casey says (if I remember correctly) "whichever system your boat came with- that's the one for you."
Tyler M15 "Defiant"
----- Original Message ----- From: "stevetrapp" <stevetrapp@q.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 10:59:50 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: M_Boats :book Boat fixin'
Don't know if it is the same book as Amazon, don't know what is on Amazon, or Barness and Noble, because I prefer to shop at locally owned bookstores. Steve M-15 # 335