I posted this on the Trailersailers Montgomery board and thought I would also post it here. If you monitor both forums I apologize for the duplication. I just thought I would get some additional opinions here. A friend of mine bought this 79 M17 last spring. It had been sitting in a barn for a dozen years or more. He asked me to help get it ready to sail since he has limited experience with dinghies and none with pocket cruisers. The boat seems to be in pretty good shape even though the sails and everything else appear to be OEM. It has the short traveler T-track at the forward end of the cockpit, a 110% jib, no jib or genoa tracks, an old MSD with holding tank and deck pump-out, water tank with deck fill, and the original wire/rope halyards. The cushions appear to be ok but the electrical system (what there was of it) is toast. The exterior looks decent except for some rusted screws and bolts a previous owner had used to mount some long forgotten pieces of gear. IIRC (the boat is about 250 miles from here) there are some gel coat cracks on the transom that could use some work. The exterior woodwork is in bad shape and the hatch boards are missing but that is no big deal. The outboard mount is stiff and the wood pad is rotted. Except for rotted tires and bad wiring the trailer is in pretty good shape. The keel cable looks to be in good shape as far as I can tell without lifting the boat, and the keel goes up and down ok. My friend decided he wanted a little bit bigger boat and found a Halman 20 he liked the looks of in Toronto. (see latest Small Craft Advisor for a review of this model). He bought the boat over the phone and will go get it this spring. Now he is thinking of selling the M17. I have a chance to buy it at what I hope will be a good price. He also mentioned the possibility of buying in for half ownership at half price, whatever that is. My dilemma is this: I already have a beautiful pocket cruiser that I have owned for over 35 years and dearly love, my 1974 Macgregor Venture of Newport, Chiquita. If I bought the M17 I would have two small cruisers. Unlike Sean's Dauntless and Scout, however, there is not that big a difference in size. So I don't think I would have two entirely different sailing experiences; they would be more alike than different. Raising 3 grandkids (possibly soon to be 4)and living on Soc Sec makes money tight. My rationalization for owning two cruising boats (in addition to the Mirror, El Toro, and Force 5 sailing dinghies) is this: I could leave Chiquita in the water here and hook up the M17 to take off with 1 or 2 of the grandkids for a few days or a week to explore any of Minnesota's 10000+ lakes any time I felt like it. Also, the M17 could become my primary boat as I get older if Chiquita gets to be too much to handle. I cannot fathom ever selling Chiquita; she would go to my oldest daughter or to the grandkids. So what are your opinions? Here are my specific questions: 1. How much do you think this boat is worth? What would be a fair price and what would be a really good deal? 2. Should I go for it? Depending on price, of course. 3. perhaps for a later discussion,if I did buy this boat, what mods would you consider essential? Looking forward to your input. Henry Chiquita ps - The tanbark jib in the pictures is one I bought on ebay to use as a heavy weather staysail on Chiquita. I hanked it on to the M17 along with the M17's own jib just to see how it would fit. -- Henry Rodriguez https://picasaweb.google.com/heinzir (see the album "Jay's 1979 Montgomery 17")