Tod, I was glad to hear that your cruise in Penobscot Bay was a success, I often think of trailering Osprey II up there and doing some longer sails with her. I sail those waters frequently, however, in a Pearson Ariel that I keep in Rockland. I have a mooring in the field off of Snow Marine Park, which is where I believe you put in. I also use a friend's Flicka which is moored in Center Harbor, he works for the Brooklin Boatyard. Those are some of the worlds best cruising grounds, and I'm glad that you had a chance to see them from the well found viewpoint of Busca Brisas' cockpit! The large boat traffic up the bay is usually direct up the west bay, and they don't dally. Headed to Winterport or Searsport, they can be pretty sizeable, and ther are coccasionally tugs with barges in tow, one needs to be aware of the length of their tow cables. I'll think about lobster on the dock at Cod End in Tenants Harbor tonight. Cheers, TH. --- Thomas Howe --- Real Estate questions? Here's Howe --- Your Link To Homes In Lawrence, Kansas --- Reece and Nichols. ACRES Realtors --- 785-550-1169 --- Thomas@TEHowe.com --- http://www.ThomasHoweOnline.com O --------(\----------- ~ (\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Original Message] From: htmills@bright.net <htmills@bright.net> To: Mboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Date: 12/31/1600 7:00:00 PM Subject: M_Boats: Re: Bilge water and trip preparations

Dan,

If I recall correctly, the earlier 17's have a centerboard winch just ins= ide the companionway? Mine is a newer one with the lighter board and the pendant (thank you Howard) "tube" is glassed to the cockpit sole and the pendant comes out in the cockpit like the 15's, so I don't think any is coming in that way.

I shall make it a point to re-do the traveller track before next spring, = Ken. I hadn't thought of that. I'm sure after 15 years of neglect it could = stand to be re-bedded. Thanks!

I shall check the drains, Wayne. Thanks for the testing procedure.

The amount of water on this trip was only about a couple of inches in the= bilge (not much) plus what laid in the lapstrakes. The main reason I'm concern= ed about it is that it gets things wet (cans leaving rust marks, can't easil= y store clothing below). Also, on a warm day the warmth and dampness shortens = the shelf-life of fresh food stored in the lockers. I suppose too, like Crai= g suggested, freezing water could damage the boat...

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Ron,

Yes, it does offer variety...one can stay back up inside the bays and sai= l in pretty well-protected water or venture out further if so inclined. It isn't as = hospitable as the Chesapeake but is still very interesting. And the boats on the = moorings are so beautiful. Sailing through a mooring field there is like strollin= g through an art gallery. I never saw so much gleaming woodwork before, including *wow* mahogany transoms with inlaid goldleaf lettering.

I didn't do anything special as far as outfitting. I did bring along a = small Sevylor inflatable dinghy, but to be honest, it's getting pretty tedious inflatin= g it and deflating it at each stop. It won't tow or row well. Haven't tried strapping it = onto the foredeck yet but I imagine that would be pretty tight. Maybe I'll try that this = weekend.

Busca has now her main and four jibs: 155%, 109%, 80%, and a 15 sq ft = storm jib. My main dilemma was a lack of desire to climb up on the pitching foredeck= when

just a few minutes earlier I had been periodically airborne on the vee-be= rth. I need to get that figured out better. During the trip I used every sail. The win= d while sailing ranged from flat calm to a little over 25 kts. Tried out the storm jib = and was pretty well pleased with it. It might be a wee bit small....maybe 20 sq ft woul= d be better.

I did bring the outboard but only used about an eighth of a tank. Used = it twice in Rockland Harbor (launch site), once to motor through the mooring field = at Brooklin when there was not much wind and some current, and once at dusk when the = wind died a half-mile from my anchorage and the current was sweeping me away.

No liferaft. Yes, singlehanded with pawed Bilbo as crew. To his credit = he never got seasick even while in a closed cabin (He prefers reclining on cushion= s to sliding and scraping on slippery gelcoat). Nothing special about the companionway= other than Busca was sporting new hatchboards of ash plywood with oak "battens"= . (the old hatchboard had some veneer damage and had been painted to cover = the repairs).

I was surprised to see not one single ship beyond the Maine Maritime Acad= emy's "State of Maine" tied up in Castine [http://www.mma.edu/]. Several small= er commercial boats (not counting the countless lobster boats) making runs to and from = the islands, but no ships.

While rummaging around I got to thinking about storage issues and got = the idea that it would be nice if the space under the vee berth forward of the pot & batte= ry had a couple more access hatches and was subdivided into three smaller compartments = with a T:

/\ / 0 \ / ------\ / 0 | 0 \ / | \

It seems that whatever I pack up there ends up who knows where after bein= g tossed and tilted and shaken all day. With the moisture, I've been keeping mainly = just the water jugs up there.

Another thought was some small storage compartments built on top of the = seatback between that top and the sidedecks. Those would be for little things lik= e the salt and pepper shakers, spare AA and D batteries, rolls of film and such.

I doubt I'll ever go to the trouble of those two changes, but something = I am planning on adding are some small racks to the inside of the companionway bulkhead. = But first I need to finish the windvane.

The Potter Yachters have added some of Bill Teplow's