After a prolonged search I have acquired a 1988 Montgomery 15, hull number 412. #412 has had many owners. The pedigree, as near as I can reconstruct, is thus: 1. Chris Jennewein of Atlanta, Georgia purchased the boat from Montgomery Marine Products on February 29th, 1988. 2. Mr. Jennewein either sold or gave the boat to Gigi Jennewein Fenton, of Greencastle, Indiana. Date unknown. One presumes that Mrs. Fenton is related to Mr. Jennewein. 3. Eric D. Cosens of Spencer, Indiana, purchased the boat from Mrs. Fenton on July 20, 1999. 4. Randy Cameron of Indianapolis, Indiana, purchased #412 from Mr. Cosens. Date unknown. 5. I bought the boat from Mr. Cameron on February 16th (yesterday). Mr. Cameron adored the boat and was clearly loath to sell it, but his wife did not like to sail, so room had to be made in the driveway. I drove out from Annapolis and towed it home. The boat now sits in the heated shops of Chesapeake Light Craft, my boatbuilding firm, awaiting refitting. In spite of the many and various owners, the boat doesn't appear to have had a name, or if it did, the lettering has since faded from the gelcoat. I have dubbed her "Chimpanzee." I think it's a whimsical, fun, boat, so she'll have a whimsical, fun name. Also in spite of changing hands many times, Chimpanzee is in beautiful condition. The gelcoat is slightly faded but I think I'll be able to buff it back to a fine gloss. From a careful survey, I'd say that the boat never was allowed to sit with rainwater or leaves in it; the topsides and interior are exceptionally clean. I had never seen a Montgomery 15 up close. To those who might be deterred by the expense of one, new or used, I would say: you're getting what you pay for. I have rarely seen such clean mold work, such thorough attention to construction detail. The design and fabrication is amazingly well thought out. The acquisition of the M15 brings the count of my personal fleet of small sailing boats to 9. Yes, I'm seriously addicted to small boats. The other eight boats range from 8-foot sailing prams to a 20-foot Pacific Proa. I owned a Ranger 23 for a time, and I've done some lengthy cruising in boats up to 45 feet. But while many sailors keep moving up in size, over the years I keep trying to find smaller boats with big cruising capability. Readers of this mailing list will understand, I'm sure. I have no plans for exploits in Chimpanzee. For the near future, I will thoroughly refit the boat, then take it to Rock Hall, Maryland, where it will live at the Rock Hall Yacht Club. They are installing a boat lift there. I'll be able to leave Chimp rigged and ready to go, to be plucked from its trailer by the lift and launched on impulse for daysailing and weekending in the Upper Bay. While I could rig the boat and go sailing in 15 minutes, I do plan to do some refitting: 1. I'll polish the gelcoat. 2. I'll lift the boat with the company forklift to remove and refinish the centerboard and refair the keel. 3. Renew the teak, and build new teak drop-boards for the companionway (they disappeared somewhere in the litany of owners, to be replaced by an ugly piece of plywood). 4. I've ordered new sails from Ulmer Kolius in Annapolis (I'm a longtime dinghy racer, and you know how we dinghy racers are about sails). 5. Install all new running and standing rigging, including Harken roller furling. 6. I will change out the horrid plastic jam cleats and fairleads for proper blocks and cam cleats. The jam cleats and so forth appear to be "stock" from the factory. I'll be retrofitting cleaner systems: liberally sprinkling the decks with bits of Harken, much more to my dinghy-racing tastes. 7. Install a watertight Lewmar hatch in the foredeck. While I like to sail mostly in the Fall, Winter, and Spring on the Chesapeake, the 8" x 8" screened hatch will take the edge off of hot and humid nights in August. What a nice community the Montgomery owners enjoy, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. Cheers, John C. Harris Chesapeake Light Craft The Best Boats You Can Build http://www.clcboats.com
Enjoyed your post, John. Welcome and congratulations on your fine find. I think we'll all benefit from your boat building and outfitting experience. Fran M15 #236
Welcome aboard, John. Perhaps we'll have a chance to meet at the Chesapeake Rendezvous in early June. If you decide to sail down the Bay to Hampton Roads, let me know. Stan Winarski M-15, #177, Carol II
John, Welcome aboard! How lucky can one man be! Nine sailboats and a big heated shop in which to store, admire and putter with them. It must be Heaven on the Chesapeake! Keep us posted on Chimpanzee's upgrade progress. Get those modifications completed ASAP, however, because you'll want to put her in the water for a romp out of Rock Hall as soon as the weather permits. Of course we're biased, but the sailors the M-net are betting that Chimpanzee will immediately become #1 of the 9. Joe Kidd M15 #207 "Poco A Poco"
At 06:58 AM 1/6/00 -0800, you wrote:
John, Keep us posted on Chimpanzee's upgrade progress. Joe Kidd M15 #207 "Poco A Poco"
Scarcely an hour had passed from John's post before I had written to him asking him to pass on to us his projects for the MSOG site. Though he's pretty busy, John has graciously offered to contribute what he can. And scarcely another hour had passed before we had his first offering. You can see the project on Making New Hatchboards, as well as Connie's Deck Vent Installation project from a little while ago (I'm trying to catch up), under "How To..." on the MSOG site. Since we have welcomed so many new owners in the past year, I'd like to give my annual spiel again (consider this a warm-up for April): You may not realize that practically all of the information on the MSOG web site is contributed by your fellow and fella M-boat owners. If you're planning winter and spring projects, I hope you'll consider sharing the project with us through the MSOG site. We really need more on refurbishing projects and specifications for the boats (sizes, diameters, model numbers, etc. for rigging, hardware, and creature comforts.) Just a page or two will do; I'll webify it. Photos are invaluable and worth--well, you know. If you don't have a digital camera, send me the photos and I'll scan 'em and send 'em back. You can see some of the other "How To" projects as examples, I'll proofread and clean up anything that needs it, and you'll have the chance to review it before I put it up. Please consider it. After all, someone else may contribute information that you need for your next project, saving you time and money. There. That didn't hurt too much, did it? Thanks, Doug ------------------------------------------ Doug King M-17 #404 "Vixen" Montgomery Sailboats Owners Group Web site: http://msog.org Email: mailto:msog@msog.org
Welcome to M-Boats John! Can't wait to hear progress reports on your projects. I'm also a small boat addict but my Admiral only let's me have one at a time (waiting for a weak moment to sneak a Laser in though). Of course, if a person is only permitted one boat, the Mongomery is certainly a fine choice! Fair Winds, Bob Campbell Montgomery 17 #615 "Alina" Lodi, CA ----- Original Message ----- From: John Harris To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 10:02 AM Subject: M_Boats: New Owner: M15 #412 "Chimpanzee" After a prolonged search I have acquired a 1988 Montgomery 15, hull number 412. #412 has had many owners. The pedigree, as near as I can reconstruct, is thus: 1. Chris Jennewein of Atlanta, Georgia purchased the boat from Montgomery Marine Products on February 29th, 1988. 2. Mr. Jennewein either sold or gave the boat to Gigi Jennewein Fenton, of Greencastle, Indiana. Date unknown. One presumes that Mrs. Fenton is related to Mr. Jennewein. 3. Eric D. Cosens of Spencer, Indiana, purchased the boat from Mrs. Fenton on July 20, 1999. 4. Randy Cameron of Indianapolis, Indiana, purchased #412 from Mr. Cosens. Date unknown. 5. I bought the boat from Mr. Cameron on February 16th (yesterday). Mr. Cameron adored the boat and was clearly loath to sell it, but his wife did not like to sail, so room had to be made in the driveway. I drove out from Annapolis and towed it home. The boat now sits in the heated shops of Chesapeake Light Craft, my boatbuilding firm, awaiting refitting. In spite of the many and various owners, the boat doesn't appear to have had a name, or if it did, the lettering has since faded from the gelcoat. I have dubbed her "Chimpanzee." I think it's a whimsical, fun, boat, so she'll have a whimsical, fun name. Also in spite of changing hands many times, Chimpanzee is in beautiful condition. The gelcoat is slightly faded but I think I'll be able to buff it back to a fine gloss. From a careful survey, I'd say that the boat never was allowed to sit with rainwater or leaves in it; the topsides and interior are exceptionally clean. I had never seen a Montgomery 15 up close. To those who might be deterred by the expense of one, new or used, I would say: you're getting what you pay for. I have rarely seen such clean mold work, such thorough attention to construction detail. The design and fabrication is amazingly well thought out. The acquisition of the M15 brings the count of my personal fleet of small sailing boats to 9. Yes, I'm seriously addicted to small boats. The other eight boats range from 8-foot sailing prams to a 20-foot Pacific Proa. I owned a Ranger 23 for a time, and I've done some lengthy cruising in boats up to 45 feet. But while many sailors keep moving up in size, over the years I keep trying to find smaller boats with big cruising capability. Readers of this mailing list will understand, I'm sure. I have no plans for exploits in Chimpanzee. For the near future, I will thoroughly refit the boat, then take it to Rock Hall, Maryland, where it will live at the Rock Hall Yacht Club. They are installing a boat lift there. I'll be able to leave Chimp rigged and ready to go, to be plucked from its trailer by the lift and launched on impulse for daysailing and weekending in the Upper Bay. While I could rig the boat and go sailing in 15 minutes, I do plan to do some refitting: 1. I'll polish the gelcoat. 2. I'll lift the boat with the company forklift to remove and refinish the centerboard and refair the keel. 3. Renew the teak, and build new teak drop-boards for the companionway (they disappeared somewhere in the litany of owners, to be replaced by an ugly piece of plywood). 4. I've ordered new sails from Ulmer Kolius in Annapolis (I'm a longtime dinghy racer, and you know how we dinghy racers are about sails). 5. Install all new running and standing rigging, including Harken roller furling. 6. I will change out the horrid plastic jam cleats and fairleads for proper blocks and cam cleats. The jam cleats and so forth appear to be "stock" from the factory. I'll be retrofitting cleaner systems: liberally sprinkling the decks with bits of Harken, much more to my dinghy-racing tastes. 7. Install a watertight Lewmar hatch in the foredeck. While I like to sail mostly in the Fall, Winter, and Spring on the Chesapeake, the 8" x 8" screened hatch will take the edge off of hot and humid nights in August. What a nice community the Montgomery owners enjoy, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. Cheers, John C. Harris Chesapeake Light Craft The Best Boats You Can Build http://www.clcboats.com
Welcome, John, to our Montgomery family. Always glad to have a new member. I'd also like to compliment you on your fine looking canoe kits. I have been admiring them for a while and dream of the day when I can plunge into a boat building project. Mark Dvorscak M17 #400 GRACE
participants (7)
-
Bob Campbell -
Doug King -
Fran Lebowitz -
Joe Kidd -
John Harris -
Roberta & Mark Dvorscak -
Stanley T. Winarski