Congratulations, Philip I own an M-15 and sail in the Hudson from Fort Lee ramp sometimes from Haverstraw. Last time I sailed to the Bear Mounting Bridge not to far from you. See you around Orlando M15 ________________________________ From: PHILIP NOBEL <philip@nobel.org> To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Mon, December 6, 2010 4:02:32 PM Subject: M_Boats: New Member, Gudgeon Question Greetings, List! My girlfriend and I are, as of about a month ago, the very happy new owners of an M-17 (hull #617). Her name is Bird Girl and she's going to be moored in the Hudson at Cold Spring, NY. Also very happy to find this list, since, though she's in good shape generally for a nine year old boat, I've got a few winter projects (refinishing the rudder and tiller) I may need some advice on, as well as a potentially gnarly spring project: replacing one or more of the thru-hull bolts that attach the bottom-most gudgeon. The previous owner was a good sailor, and I'm adopting from him new furling gear, good sails, and some other nice performance tweaks, but he had the boat in fresh water, with no paint, all last season. That left me a nice scum line to follow when I paint in the spring, but it also I think led to the crevice corrosion on the stainless in that one spot (and one of the bolts on the associated pintle strap, but that looks like an easy fix). One of the gudgeon bolts has lost its head and another shows some rust. The plate itself seems fine and there's no water entering (yet!) behind the broken bolt. My repair plan as of now consists of sending my nine year old son down under the cockpit to the transom with a camera to see what's happening on the dry side, then we'll take it from there. But until it warms up enough to subject him to that particular torture...have any of you experienced Montgomery sailors made that repair? And if so, any tips for the newbie? I'm hoping it's no more complicated than removing the bolts and rebedding the whole assembly, but what in life is ever that simple? Hope all's well, and thanks for having me here. -- Philip _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!