With the encouraging reports (?) from our friends to the West (Havasu Montgomery's) I have decided to embrace denial and trudge on with other projects. We have placed a bid on a forklift at work and I may try to utilize that for my keel job, hopefully later in the summer when it is too hot to sail. In the mean time I have borrowed some thoughts from other M17 owners and fabricated a hinging autopilot mount for the aging Navico Tillerpilot I own. I fabricated a sheet metal bracket and stiffened it with oak wood spacers. The bracket is mounted by a stainless steel door hinge that allows it to fold back against the coaming or you can push out the pin and remove it completely. I have a picture posted on my site at: http://members.cox.net/slsail/AutopilotMnt.jpg . Also working with hinges, I mounted the license plate to a piano hinge so that it would be free to flex while going to weather at 55 mph (on the trailer). I have lost several of the flexible plastic plate mounts due to UV damage over time. Picture at: http://members.cox.net/slsail/platehinge.jpg . Steve Shenkel <>< _/) M17 #263 Glendale, AZ