By "under power" do you mean under motor power or sail power? Sailboats need weather helm to point well upwind, but what you're describing sounds like lee helm. If you're consistently getting lee helm with the sails trimmed properly, you may need to rake your mast rearward by adjusting the shrouds to fix it. Once you have proper weather helm, you can temporairly reduce it by sheeting out the main, in order to tie off the tiller and go forward for a short time. It's hard to leave the tiller long on an M15 even if you balance everything, because moving your body throws everything off, as it's a substantial fraction of the total boat mass. Sincerely, Tyler ----- Original Message ----- From: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2019 11:20:40 AM Subject: M_Boats: M-15 balance I’m wondering about the rudder balance on my M-15. Under power when I let go of the tiller the boat immediately falls off with the helm going hard over and the boat spinning in circles. It makes singlehanding very difficult when you can’t let go of the tiller for even one second to raise or drop sail or grab something out of the cabin. I have a line for securing the tiller, but even centered the boat doesn’t want to hold a course and is always trying to fall off one direction or the other. Factory kickup rudder. Any thoughts or observations from M-15 owners? (And I have to say this every time...No 17’s please! They are completely different boats!) Rusty on Vanilla www.rustyknorr.weebly.com

Rusty. Crew weight really matters on the M15. When moving try to stay along the centerline. She really will not like to hold a course as you move. I've been able, with playing motor and tiller adjustment, to get the M15 to hold a course and make adjustments while standing in the cabin and leaning my body to steer. This is in SMOOTH conditions; if wakes or any waves all bets are off. A TillerClutch by Wavefront is the best to hold the tiller as it will hold the tiller firmly at the point you set the clutch (and balance point to hold course). I found I was able to make a good guess at how much offset to put to the tiller and set so I could go forward and do a quick task. The M15 didn't hold a.ciurse but it my guess meant it wasn't turning a circle. If I needed to do a longer task I idled the motor, steered till she slowed down, as turning off the motor thrust means the boat's balance is constantly changing as she burns off speed, and when at slow set the TillerClutch and go forward to do my task. :: Dave Scobie :: M6'8" #650 :: SV SWALLOW - sv-swallow.com :: former owner M17 #375 SWEET PEA - m17-375.com :: former owner M15 #288 SCRED - www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scred/ On Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 11:21 AM Rusty Knorr via montgomery_boats < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> wrote:

I’m wondering about the rudder balance on my M-15. Under power when I let go of the tiller the boat immediately falls off with the helm going hard over and the boat spinning in circles. It makes singlehanding very difficult when you can’t let go of the tiller for even one second to raise or drop sail or grab something out of the cabin. I have a line for securing the tiller, but even centered the boat doesn’t want to hold a course and is always trying to fall off one direction or the other. Factory kickup rudder. Any thoughts or observations from M-15 owners? (And I have to say this every time...No 17’s please! They are completely different boats!)

Rusty on Vanilla

www.rustyknorr.weebly.com