After a prolonged search I have acquired a 1988 Montgomery 15, hull number 412. #412 has had many owners. The pedigree, as near as I can reconstruct, is thus: 1. Chris Jennewein of Atlanta, Georgia purchased the boat from Montgomery Marine Products on February 29th, 1988. 2. Mr. Jennewein either sold or gave the boat to Gigi Jennewein Fenton, of Greencastle, Indiana. Date unknown. One presumes that Mrs. Fenton is related to Mr. Jennewein. 3. Eric D. Cosens of Spencer, Indiana, purchased the boat from Mrs. Fenton on July 20, 1999. 4. Randy Cameron of Indianapolis, Indiana, purchased #412 from Mr. Cosens. Date unknown. 5. I bought the boat from Mr. Cameron on February 16th (yesterday). Mr. Cameron adored the boat and was clearly loath to sell it, but his wife did not like to sail, so room had to be made in the driveway. I drove out from Annapolis and towed it home. The boat now sits in the heated shops of Chesapeake Light Craft, my boatbuilding firm, awaiting refitting. In spite of the many and various owners, the boat doesn't appear to have had a name, or if it did, the lettering has since faded from the gelcoat. I have dubbed her "Chimpanzee." I think it's a whimsical, fun, boat, so she'll have a whimsical, fun name. Also in spite of changing hands many times, Chimpanzee is in beautiful condition. The gelcoat is slightly faded but I think I'll be able to buff it back to a fine gloss. From a careful survey, I'd say that the boat never was allowed to sit with rainwater or leaves in it; the topsides and interior are exceptionally clean. I had never seen a Montgomery 15 up close. To those who might be deterred by the expense of one, new or used, I would say: you're getting what you pay for. I have rarely seen such clean mold work, such thorough attention to construction detail. The design and fabrication is amazingly well thought out. The acquisition of the M15 brings the count of my personal fleet of small sailing boats to 9. Yes, I'm seriously addicted to small boats. The other eight boats range from 8-foot sailing prams to a 20-foot Pacific Proa. I owned a Ranger 23 for a time, and I've done some lengthy cruising in boats up to 45 feet. But while many sailors keep moving up in size, over the years I keep trying to find smaller boats with big cruising capability. Readers of this mailing list will understand, I'm sure. I have no plans for exploits in Chimpanzee. For the near future, I will thoroughly refit the boat, then take it to Rock Hall, Maryland, where it will live at the Rock Hall Yacht Club. They are installing a boat lift there. I'll be able to leave Chimp rigged and ready to go, to be plucked from its trailer by the lift and launched on impulse for daysailing and weekending in the Upper Bay. While I could rig the boat and go sailing in 15 minutes, I do plan to do some refitting: 1. I'll polish the gelcoat. 2. I'll lift the boat with the company forklift to remove and refinish the centerboard and refair the keel. 3. Renew the teak, and build new teak drop-boards for the companionway (they disappeared somewhere in the litany of owners, to be replaced by an ugly piece of plywood). 4. I've ordered new sails from Ulmer Kolius in Annapolis (I'm a longtime dinghy racer, and you know how we dinghy racers are about sails). 5. Install all new running and standing rigging, including Harken roller furling. 6. I will change out the horrid plastic jam cleats and fairleads for proper blocks and cam cleats. The jam cleats and so forth appear to be "stock" from the factory. I'll be retrofitting cleaner systems: liberally sprinkling the decks with bits of Harken, much more to my dinghy-racing tastes. 7. Install a watertight Lewmar hatch in the foredeck. While I like to sail mostly in the Fall, Winter, and Spring on the Chesapeake, the 8" x 8" screened hatch will take the edge off of hot and humid nights in August. What a nice community the Montgomery owners enjoy, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. Cheers, John C. Harris Chesapeake Light Craft The Best Boats You Can Build http://www.clcboats.com