I just picked up a 1977 M17. We had sold our 26 footer earlier this year and I was on a quest to get something that I could stand up in. Go figure! Well the rest of the story is that what I wanted, and what I had available financially, were apart for quite a few dollars and I decided to drop back to my first love (just sailing) and try that for a while. In the mean time, I may save some money, prices may come down, or I may just really enjoy the simplicity of sailing a great boat like the 17. I bought the boat from a man in hospice. The boat had not been sailed in 8 years. However, it had been fairly well protected from the weather. It had 7 sails including a new main that appears never to have been used. Additionally, it has a self steering vane, a sea anchor, and a ton of other stuff including two motors; a 4.5 Johnson, and a fairly new Honda 7.5. I think I will try to get the Johnson running and set the Honda off to the side for future use (standing headroom boat?). I sail around the Phoenix area and it is just miserably hot and a little humid right now. I hope to put the boat in our high bay warehouse at work(where it is air conditioned) to get it reasonable cleaned up and at least sailable for the month of September. I am scheduled for a hip replacement in early October, so I will have to save other projects, like tackling the delightfully modern plaid upholstery, next year. A good friend of mine had a M15 and I remember crewing on a M17 for a series of races. I hope to be a future contributor to this group. In the short term, I hope there are no unexpected surprises and I can get it together well enough to sail. Next year I will probably face the dreaded keel job and will search the archives for your help. BTW, the boat is a unique Carmel/butterscotch color. I suggested to my wife that we name it Carmel Knowledge. I just got the "look" in return. I think you know what I mean. Steve Shenkel Steve Shenkel