Sorry . . . Wasn't paying attention . . . Thought Jeff's specs were of the M23 . . . But I still agree: The board weight of even the old M17 is not a substantial factor in stability . . . Jerry himself has proposed selling very thin light composite boards as replacements for the cast iron ("very thin" for those with trunk-swelling problems) . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Honshells" <chonshell@ia4u.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 12:22 AM Subject: Big Water in the M23 Stands to reason . . . And I believe the same principal holds true for even the older M17 . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff Grudin" <grudin@vdbs.com> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 12:06 PM Subject: Big water in the M23 More Info: Weight of Center board 320 lbs Total Ballast 1530 lbs Percentage of Ballast in centerboard 20% Draft Board up 2’5” Draft Board down 4’11” If you look at photos of the shape of the centerboard, you see that even when down, a large chunk of it remains within the hull of the boat and probably 90% of the weight of the board is within this and the first 6 inches extending below the hull. This is due to not only the triangular shape, but also that the board is thinner as it extends away from the hull. You can see this in photos of my centerboard at: http://www.vdbs.com/~grudin/m23/Monty23.html (go to centerboard repair) If this is even close to true, then only about 160 pounds (10%) is located beyond 6 inches of the hull with the centerboard down. That just doesn't seem like much in a 3600 pound boat. My Catalina 25, had a true swing keel. All of the weight of the keel was in the moving part and most of that was away from the hull. The keel clanked all the time in the slightest bit of chop. The worst thing was the “singing” of the cable at speed. It was very loud and impossible to stop. The centerboard in my Monty does neither and adds to the pleasure of owning this boat. _____ 73 de AC6KW <mailto:jeff@grudin.net> Jeff Grudin, DVM Web Add: http://www.grudin.net Ocean Animal Clinic / Cat Clinic of Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, California Montgomery 23 Hull #072 Norcal QRP * QRP-L * ARS * AR Qrp --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.596 / Virus Database: 379 - Release Date: 2/26/2004 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats