My M17's kickup rudder, http://msog.org/how-to/rudders/honshell.cfm , only feels spongy in very light airs when it's barely under load . . . Otherwise, if the boat is percolating along, it feels very solid. My '84, hull #389, came with three gudgeons/pintels and no lifting mechanism, and no arrangement for the pintels to accommodate the lifting rod used on newer M17's . . . I weighed the options of buying all new hardware from Bob, which he offered, or going to a kickup, which I thought would work better for the unexpected groundings I was encountering when Great Lakes water levels were at record lows during the 2000/2001 seasons . . . Fortunately, when I had my worst grounding, on rocky bed of Mackinac Island's harbor, I sheared a bolt on the lower pintel, an easy repair possible "in the field", rather than ripping out the lower gudgeon . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 1:44 PM Subject: M17 Rudders Larry I just sent you the photos.... All M_17s to my knowledge have this system. I think some of the early boats with only two pintles didn't. (?) I also suspect that as these boats get sold to new owners, many people don't know how the rudders on the 15 and 17 work. Some of the boats I have seen have bolts instead of the rod for the rudder. Some people don't even know that the 15 rudder is folding. Fair winds Bob Larry E Yake wrote: Bob, Could you send me some copies of those photos? Do you sell a "conversion kit" to change over to the raisable rudder? Thanks, Larry On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 08:37:39 -0800 Bob <Bobeeg@earthlink.net> writes: Fred I just sent you some photos of how the system works. Fair winds Bob Eeg Frederick M Berthrong wrote: Re the raisable rudder, Ever since I got my M17 hull number 300 I have read and see photos of the raisable rudder. I'm not talking about the kick up rudder but the outfit that allows the rudder to slide upward to clear the ground while on the trailer. My M17 did not come with such a contraption. Is the hardware available from somewhere? Thanks. Fred Berthrong Dulce, M17 #300