Jerry IMO a lead encapsulated dagger board would allow the boat to be low on the trailer and also beachable. I have no opinion on the CF deck the M15 has a glass deck and no compression post, but I suppose same strength and lighter is better if the cost is right. Have you had your knee surgery? and how are you doing? Out of pain and getting around ,I hope Thank you again for driving my boat to 1st in M17 fleet Eldor -----Original Message----- From: jerry montgomery <jerry@jerrymontgomery.org> To: montgomery forum <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Fri, Mar 16, 2012 3:05 pm Subject: M_Boats: (no subject) Hi- Almost three years ago I asked the members of the M list for advice and pinions on ideas that we had regarding a new project that eventually became the age 17. We gave great consideration to your opinions and ideas and there is bsolutely no doubt that it’s a better boat because of you. The checks are in he mail! We’re starting to get serious about a smaller version of the Sage, and I’d like o ask you for your help again. What we have in mind is a simple, three-stay ig, maybe even a cat rig, and possibly a dagger keel with a bulb in order to ake it sit lower on the trailer and be beachable. We don’t want purely water allast because of the performance limitations, but a combo of water and a lead lug on the end of the daggerboard might be worth considering in order to hold own trailering weight. We might be able to squeeze in a couple of low places to sit, by dropping the ft end of the interior down a few inches and for sleeping, fill in with thicker oam cushions. There would be storage under the settees, but not as much as therwise. I’d also like to hear your comments on the carbon deck like on the 17. There is bsolutely no doubt in my mind that it is one of the secrets of the S 17’s erformance, kind of like free horsepower except that it isn’t really free in hat it will make the boat cost at least a thousand dollars more. (After that t's free)! In your mind, is it worth the extra money? In the early 70’s ontgomery Marine, in the Montgomery 17 was the first American builder of roduction boats to use end-grain balsa in the deck. (C&C Yachts, in Canada, as the first, I believe) Now, pretty much all but the cheepie builders use it. think there’s a good chance that carbon will do the same thing. erry -- am using the free version of SPAMfighter. e are a community of 7 million users fighting spam. PAMfighter has removed 6308 of my spam emails to date. et the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message