Charless, Welcome aboard! Enjoy your new (to you) M15. We also hope you will become a regular contributor to this group. FWIW, a couple of thoughts regarding your planned modifications. 1. Removal of the bow pulpit: The bow pulpit adds a measure of safety when changing headsails and also offers a place to tie down those sails when you douse them. That foredeck gets pretty small when the wind and waves force you to make headsail adjustments. The pulpit offers a handy hand hold. It also affords a temporary resting place for the mast when it is lowered, as well as a handy place to temporarily attach lights, lines, sail gaskets, etc. It makes a great tie-off point when raising the mast single-handed. (Tie a hitch in one end of a line about head-high on the mast -- or use a jib halyard -- and tie the other end to the pulpit, use your body weight to tension the line and pull the mast forward, and insert the forestay pin without requiring the strength of a deck ape.) Perhaps you should live with the boat awhile before making such a radical change. Personally, if my M15 didn't have a bow pulpit, I would add one. 2. Locker modification: Check the archives for the same modification Connie Benneck made to his M15. You might not need to re-invent the wheel. 3. Replacement of wheels/tires: Also check the archives for the discussion on radial tires. My radials (Sears car radials inflated to 32 psi) offer a better ride, run cooler and add an immense increase in safety. Joe Kidd M15 #207 "Poco A Poco"

Hi Charles Congralutions on becoming a M owner, you will find it's a great boat & you will have many happy hours with it. I would reccomend that you keep the bow pulpit. When you on the water & have to go foward to do anything , that foward deck gets mighty small. The bow pulpit is comforting. I'd like to add a stern rail to mine. Wayne M17 #204 Intrepid --- Original Message ----- From: "Charless Fowlkes" <cwfowlkes@imt.net> To: <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2002 9:42 PM Subject: M_Boats: new M15 owner

I was lucky to purchase a 1985 M15 with Ivory hull with Green trim last week when I was in California. It is in great shape but I am making "improvements" such as removing the bow pulpit which I did not feel I needed. As soon as the weather warms I will fill the holes; it snowed a little today in Bozeman.

In the rudder I noticed a loose pin on the rod connecting the tiller to the rudder blade. To get to the pin I had to dis-assemble the rudder. This took some pounding due to corrosion between the stainless bolts and the aluminum spacers. I plan to refinish the aluminum cheeks as soon as I can find some Zinc Chromate primer in my little town. Think I will put some anti-seizing compound on the bolts when I put it back together, that is if I can remember where all the parts go!

I am thinking about cutting out the well in the starboard locker to get access to that space. There were about five loose blocks of Styrofoam in this space, each about the size of a shoe box. Is this extra floatation needed?

After some minor rigging changes and painting the trailer and finding some new tires I should be ready to head for the water. We DO have some lakes in Montana but they are frozen part of the year. I have trailed other boats to Puget Sound, Baja, and the Florida Keys. Am not sure what we will do with the M15 but it sure is cute!

Thanks to the encouragement of several members of this group.

Charless Fowlkes Bozeman, MT

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