M-Boaters; This was the first part of my cb message. Sent it to the wrong address..... I have an '83 M15 with steel CB and ballast. We bought the boat in spring of 97. I think the previous owner was already having problems with the sticking cb since there was a 1/4 inch hole drilled through the bridge deck and a fiberglass rod came with the boat that you inserted thru the hole to push the cb down when necessary. I remember writing to this forum many years ago about sealing the gap between the cb trunk and the keel. As I recall, Jerry said that was not necessary. I did anyway but by then it was probably to late. I usually kept the boat in the water for 3 months during the summer. A couple of times after the first launch of the year I had to pull the boat and take it to a local boat yard, they dropped the cb and ground off the sides a bit. resealed it and we were good-to-go for a year or two. The problem got progressively worse, so finally last year I bought a new, lead based cb from Bob E. He had made several M15 cb's a little narrower then the original. I think the trunk opening was 1-1/4" and the new cb is about an inch. Installed the new board and it worked great. Have not put the boat in the water yet this year, so I have to assume that all is still well. The board was $180 + shipping ($$$). If anyone is interested I still have the original cb. It is in good condition except for being a little fat. Replacing the steel with lead in a cb would seem to be easier than the keel trunk I would think. I wouldn't hesitate buying a mid-80s M15 even knowing now what I didn't know then. If the boat is in otherwise good shape , go for it. After all it is a Montgomery. You can do a rough check for a swollen cb without having the boat in the water by trying to pass a hacksaw blade between the trunk liner and cb. It should pass freely the whole lenght. Another short term fix if the board is not to badly swollen is to mount a hacksaw blade in a recip. saw and make a pass on both sides. This can be accomplished while the boat is on the trailer. Being conservative I ground the kerf smooth on the side of the blade. Regards to all, Don M15- 248 M711 too PS Congrats to the Challenge X participants and winners.