Hi Connie, I'm seriously considering the 17 and your comparisons make it look like the best boat for the $. I also like the Rob Roy 23 by Marine Concepts, but it is pretty expensive ($27k for a like new boat) and weighs about 800 pounds more. Since I enjoy windsurfing any of the small boats are going to be a little crowed at times when a board and sails are wedged on/into the boat. Thanks, Smitty Windsurfers Do It Standing Up ! US-842 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Conbert H Benneck" <chbenneck@juno.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 8:39 AM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Long M17 Cruise ? Hi Smitty, I have become a very happy M15 owner, after first buying a Bolger MICRO - which was a ball - then had a ComPac16, and after determining it's shortcomings, I finally found, bought, and love my M15. Before I had a 29 footer which was a great boat for 4 people. Then I bought it's big brother, a 38 footer, but found that I got size and mass, but really not more "useable" boat than we had with the 29 footer - and by now my crew were out of the house. So we sold the 38 footer. We sold the 29 footer because of increasing congestion here in the New England harbor areas. It's wall to wall boat these days. No place for peace and quiet. That when I bought the MICRO, a great boat. Being a Bolger box, it has a cavernous space inside, for it's size; and deck space is big enough to sleep two more. The reason I had to sell the MICRO was the problem of stepping the mast. It is a 22 foot long, solid spruce, no stays, and you have to hold it almost vertically to get it into the mast step at the bow. I could carry the mast horizontally, but stepping it became a problem at my age. That led me to the ComPac16 - with aluminum mast and shrouds, but............ The ComPac16 had no useable storage space as befits a good sailboat. You had to cram everything under the cockpit seats on the berths, and then if you want to use the berth you have to pile all your "stuff" up in the cockpit so that the berths are useable. No way to run a railroad! That's when I heard about the Montgomery. Talked with owners on the website and finally after all the good words I heard, bought one sight-unseen. For me it's a great little vessel: has excellent sail lockers and storage - which every boat has to have - it sails well; and is light enough so that I tow it with my VW-GTI. ......and the cockpit seats are long enough so that you could sleep there, if you have a Bimini. With the number of M17s in your area, why not get together with an owner and go for a sail to try it out? That would give you answers to your questions. Connie M15 #400 LEPPO _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats