Hello to all participants at the Montgomery Owner's mailing list. The instructions for how to subscribed also asked that I try and post some sort of introduction, which is the lease I can do considering I'm betting I'll learn a lot about these boats and enjoy some dialogue with a number of you in the coming years. Here goes..... I live in Houston. I married my college sweetheart who was from a sailing family which is what exposed me to this wonderful hobby. Of course I got the bug much worse than she ever had it and I think she still holds it against her dad for introducing me to it. I've worked my way up through a number of sailboats, Sailfish, 19 ft Cypress hull sloop, O'Day Mariner, Catalina 22, then what I thought would be my next to last boat(then and now I think my last will be a Bristol Channel Cutter...... theraputic to hold onto a dream you know), a little known but wonderful boat called a Mystic 30, a few of which were built in the late 70's early 80's by Legnos Marine in Groton, CT. We started a family, and after two years of paying for all the things you pay for with a boat kept in a slip and sailing once, I sold her. We did the power boat thing(still do) but we now have nine and five year old sons, a lakehouse we just bought(Lake Livingston, TX, 70 miles north of Houston,) and a desire to make sure our boys are exposed to sailing. I had intended to wait a year or so before buying a small boat since we are hemmoraging cash getting this house, furnishing it, etc, but in total innocence a couple of weeks ago I rode though a marina just killing some time and .... you have all been there....., this place I'm about to describe.... sitting in the front of the brokergage office was an absolutely beautiful daysailer in a trailer with a huge Christmas bow still on it and garland strung all the way to the masthead on the stays . Christmas bows.... this was mid-Jan..... the poor logic of a smitten wanna be owner kicked in...."Wow, he thought he'd move this thing for Christmas and didn't . Man don't you know he's ready to deal now! It's mid cold Jan., we're supposedly headed for a recession, and I think I'll be in the driver's seat on this negotiation! Well, a quick once over ,wowed by the brand new blue paint job, and an immediate fear of "the guy who was just here yesterday taking picture of her and is really interested"had me going from the upper hand negotiator to the emotional buyer! That other guy is sure busy as hell, and amazingly has my exact taste. He's just left the parking lot 5 minutes before my arrival, on every darn boat I've ever bought! Anyway, I've got the guy converting the rudder to a kick up, and really giving the trailer a once over. I've got a 500 mile trip to bring her back to Houston week after next. I'll be reading everything at your site about trailer inspections(even the trailerable boats I've had I've kept in the water), and I'd sure love any suggestions anyone might have about a checklist I shouls use before beginning tht trek back to TX. Enough for now. I'm sure I've already secured the award of the most verbode new listee anyway. Rodney Holland rodh@earthlink.net EarthLink Revolves Around You.