Hello Montgomery owners, sailors, and admirers. My name is Jim and I am the proud owner of "Spirit", a new M-17 sailing primarily in the San Francisco Bay area. Spirit is my 50th birthday present to myself because... well... Because I'm 50 now and I want one... and my accountant can go take a hike. I started sailing at the age of 12 when my father bought me an orange SportYak with a plastic sail. Shortly thereafter my GPA plummeted and he began accusing me of having "boats on the brain". The boats that followed were a Colombia 22, a 30' Tahiti Ketch, a 27' Albin Vega, and a Sabre 30. All great boats in their own right (Even the SportYak. She was a deathtrap but I loved her so). But enough about me. Let's talk about my boat: Spirit was completed in about three months (my experience with Bob Eeg and Montgomery boats was, and continues to be, enjoyable). She had no major modifications (why mess with a good thing?). She does have the anchoring package, and a couple of pad eyes on the cabin top for safety harness/jacklines. There is no electrical system, holding tank, inboard diesel, refrigeration, water heater, or any of those other annoyances. She is equipped with a shiny new Mercury 4hp outboard, an Achilles LT-2 dinghy, a 14# Delta anchor, and a West Marine 6# Performance anchor. The past few weeks have been spent tweaking and adjusting. To date, all of Spirit's sailing has been done in the very sheltered (but windy) waters near Redwood City. So far her sailing qualities are surpassing my expectations. The only serious concern has been boom length. Spirit's seems a bit long and can be made to hit the backstay relatively easily. Older booms are around 7'10". The extrusion on mine is 8 foot -1/2 inch. Tweaking will continue before the hacksaw comes out. If anyone has questions about how a new, stock, M-17 is equipped - don't be shy. Thanks for Your Indulgence, Jim