That's a very difficult climb! I've done it twice towing a Catalina 22 with a 1987 Volvo 740 Turbo, and it went without problems but was very slow and stressful as the boat weighs exactly the cars maximum towing capacity. I also spent weeks of hard greasy work before each of these two drives inspecting and upgrading the brakes, cooling system, and suspension on the Volvo. Still, escaping the summer heat for a sailing season in the mountains was worth it. As a plug for 80s Volvos as sailboat tow rigs, they're heavily over-engineered in much the same way as Lyle Hess's boat designs- nearly every system has at least twice the capacity you would expect for a car of that size. They're built with roughly the same philosophy- safety is first and foremost, but this safety is accomplished in a way that still provides impressive performance. Even more evidence that the M15 is the perfect boat for me- something I can tow to alpine lakes without the stress and hassle of trailer brakes, or of pushing my car to the edge of it's design limitations! Tyler ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fran Lebowitz" <ftlebowitz@gmail.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 8:34:18 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: Any Montgomery 15 brakes? owners in Southern California? We used to have an M15 in So Cal, going up and down the mountain to Big Bear once a season. It did fine with no brakes. We pulled with 4 x 4 "88 Landcruiser, a 4K vehicle. Best, Fran