Brian, I had a similar situation with my "new' - old M-17. She too had been in a slip in our harbor for many years with the centerboard down. I ask the owner if the centerboard would go up and she tried to raise it, breaking the line. I too had to force the board up when it went onto the trailer. The board was very hard to free. but with a lot of work and patience it was removed. The trunk had not swelled, and the board was rusty but in good shape. If you want the grizzly details, write me so we don't bore the rest of the group with details. wmcsyl1@cox.net Bill Sylvester M-17 # 279 Endelig On May 17, 2005, at 11:08 AM, Brian Gilbert wrote:

Hi Folks:

OK, here's the story: I'm driving down to look at a Monty 17 this Thursday. 1979 model- The boat looks good from the photos, and sounds good from the description, except for one disturbing detail.

She sat in the water for three years, and when the current owner went to get the boat out of the water, the center board wouldn't retract. So he forced the centerboard into the slot by driving the boat onto the trailer.

I'm concerned that I'm facing a huge amount of work getting this keel unstuck, or in the worst case, the centerboard may have cracked or split the trunk. The current owner thinks this is a minor problem caused by weeds/slime/misc growth on the canterboard. He might be right, but if it's stuck for another reason... like corrosion... this'll be a huge and expensive repair. Were the 1979 keels cast iron? Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

Thanks very much BG

-- Brian Gilbert Marine Media Author, "Fix It And Sail" (423)876-9990 3404 Hartford Drive Chattanooga, TN 37415 www.sailingsmall.com

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Worst case scenario is the trunk is swelled and CB stuck, in which case it can still be salvaged. As per Hooper's Yacht's in MN, the method is to grind open the keel from the side; jackhammer out all the existing iron shot ballast, fix the trunk from the inside, replace iron ballast with lead ingots and epoxy the side of the removed keel back into place, fair and paint. The cost for the entire job would be $1,500 to $2,000. Hooper's has done a few of these repairs. I would not recommend doing this yourself unless you have lots of experience in this type of work, plus the proper equipment to do the job and to do it safely. But knowing what the cost is (I would call them to confirm a repair cost estimate), you could deduct that from the asking price if you wanted to make an offer. Where is the boat? Sounds like one I've heard about around these parts (Missouri). As it's now Sunday and you were to look at the boat on Thursday...what did you find? Howard On 5/17/05 1:08 PM, "Brian Gilbert" <hammerguy@mindspring.com> wrote:

Hi Folks:

OK, here's the story: I'm driving down to look at a Monty 17 this Thursday. 1979 model- The boat looks good from the photos, and sounds good from the description, except for one disturbing detail.

She sat in the water for three years, and when the current owner went to get the boat out of the water, the center board wouldn't retract. So he forced the centerboard into the slot by driving the boat onto the trailer.

I'm concerned that I'm facing a huge amount of work getting this keel unstuck, or in the worst case, the centerboard may have cracked or split the trunk. The current owner thinks this is a minor problem caused by weeds/slime/misc growth on the canterboard. He might be right, but if it's stuck for another reason... like corrosion... this'll be a huge and expensive repair. Were the 1979 keels cast iron? Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

Thanks very much BG