While everyone else was chiming in on the new Olympic class rigging competition, I quietly took possession of my used M17. I spend a day restoring the color (a unique butterscotch/Carmel color) and adding some personal touches (dings, scratches, and head knockers). However, the real story began Friday when I picked up the trailer on my lunch hour. For 8 years, the boat had not moved from its storage site. It had been reasonably protected from the weather by the typical cheap blue tarps. The local monsoon rains had conspired with the remnants of the cheap blue tarp to clog up the cockpit drain. When I arrived, it looked like there was about 8" of water in the cockpit (within a half inch of entering the main hatch). Having unclogged a few toilets in my time, I went about removing the clog with the tools of the Roto Router man; fashioning a sewer snake from the backstay cable and a plunger out of a hand held bilge pump. Within a few minutes I got it to break free with a gusher a fire truck would be proud of, coming out the transom of the boat. However, my lack of planning allowed a lot of other things to go down the drain that I eventually had to fish out. Although this was manageable in a parking lot, on the sea, it could be detrimental to the safety of a quickly draining cockpit. As the hole if fairly large, has anyone retrofit any strainers into the drain? Also, has anyone added a second or third hole to improve the draining capability of the relatively large cockpit? BTW, my boat is a '77 issue. I believe I have read where later boats may have had a change here? Steve Shenkel Steve Shenkel Director of Manufacturing 7432 E.Tierra Buena Lane, Suite 101 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Phone: 480 998-2333 Fax: 480 998-2201 www.appliedphotonics.com The Cutting Edge in Laser Technology