On 31-Jul-12 4:31 PM, whinkeljr@cox.net wrote: Hi Bill, The more you sail, the more memories you accumulate. The more memories you accumulate the more experiences you have gained. .... and so it goes. That's the fun of sailing. With each new experience you have learned something new; and your knowledge and experience grows. It's a great life-long adventure. Enjoy every minute of it, it only gets better and better with age and experience. Connie & Katrina

Sean, Fantastic photos, Fantastic sailing life - what an Adventure! Thanks for sharing and inspiring: I can't wait 'til I can sail into my own dreams!! Bill M15 "Prelude"

Hi Pam, Having the rod certainly helps in raising the rudder. Not like a kick up, but enough to "lift her skirts" so your rudder draft is close to that of the keel with the centerboard up. We just did that numerous times on a 2 week cruise. I have the boat in the driveway this week as we just got home last night. What info do you need about the shape? I can take some pics if you need. We normally ramp launch with the rudder mounted, in the raised position. I understand how hard it would be to pin the rudder in the water. We do have to turn the rod, or move the rudder side to side a bit to get it all to slide together. We use a split ring/ring-ding on the bottom of the rod to keep it from rising up. If the gudgeons on the rudder don't seem aligned, I would suggest backing off their screws, then slide the rod down through the various fittings. If need be, re-install the screws and gudgeons in the aligned position. Let me know if you want some pics of our set up or measurements. The transom pintle mounting positions may vary a bit boat to boat, year to year. Bill Makin' Time, M17 #622 On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM, pam and dana <denko@broadstripe.net> wrote:

I'm looking for information about the shape of an M17 rudder. The one that came with our boat did not include a rod so it could slide up and down, so we had one fabricated. Then I find that the gudgeons on the rudder (minus their pintils) are not aligned to receive this rod. If you don't use a rod, how do you install the rudder once in the water? We can't reach far enough to pin it in.

Thanks, Pam Port Townsend

Thanks Howard and Bill for your info on rudders. Howard, I especially enjoyed the web site and learned much. Now to tackle the job. This group is great. Pam Port Townsend On Sep 3, 2012, at 12:54 PM, Howard Audsley wrote:

Pam:

This might help.

http://m17-375.webs.com/rudderandtiller.htm

The main thing I found was the need to have all the gudgeons lined up before you install it on the boat. I put the rudder pin in before I drilled the second hole for each one. That way they should line up. I was also surprised to find the hole patterns on each one is not identical so if you move them around to different locations, they may go out of alignment. Best to mark each one, Top, Middle Bottom and port or starboard, so they go back exactly the same way each time.

I install the rudder when the boat is still on the trailer, just prior to launching it. Raise it up as high as it will go and it should not ground on the ramp during launch or retrieval. I do not trailer the boat with the rudder installed.

Howard

On Sep 3, 2012, at 11:00 AM, pam and dana wrote:

...

I'm looking for information about the shape of an M17 rudder. The one that came with our boat did not include a rod so it could slide up and down, so we had one fabricated. Then I find that the gudgeons on the rudder (minus their pintils) are not aligned to receive this rod. If you don't use a rod, how do you install the rudder once in the water? We can't reach far enough to pin it in.

Thanks, Pam Port Townsend

On 03-Sep-12 1:35 PM, David Gilroy wrote: Hi David, Glad to hear that your first sailing experiences with your new M-15 were so successful and enjoyable. It only gets better from now on as you gain experience in it's idiosyncrasies (almost none) and you gain more experience. The main thing I would like to emphasize is that you have to keep crew weight as far forward in the cockpit as you can, otherwise the transom drags in the water, and that slows you down considerably. That is why I built a new longer tiller for our M-15, which allowed me to sit as far forward in the cockpit as I could, while at the same time, my tiller extension was at 90 degrees to the tiller when I wanted to pull or push on it. (for better control) I got ballast weight up forward by removing the screws in the hatch under the forward end of the mattress and then using the space there to store my storm anchor / chain and rode. Gallon water jugs also lived up in that forward area. The first time you launch your new boat is definitely the hardest and most nerve-wracking experience you can have. The boat is new for you. You don't know what to expect. You are unsure how things fit together; I messed up raising my mast the first time, when shrouds and halyards aren't where they should be, and then you have to lower the mast; sort it all out, and do it again. ...but the second time you do it, you know the mistakes you made the first time; you know what to look for; and so rigging becomes simpler. You become proficient and an "expert". You develop a routine. You also learn that the mast is light weight, so raising and lowering it is not difficult to do - it's just the first time doing it that is hard. I increased the height of my mast support at the stern to make raising it easier. Doing it by myself, I also set up a jib halyard so that I could push the mast up partially, and then raise it to the upright position by hauling in on the jib halyard, which I could then cleat off while I inserted the clevis pin for the head stay. David, if your main sail has vertical batten pockets, and you didn't have the battens installed, that may be at the heart of your problem. I would guess that the luff of the main must have a batten pocket, which then acts as the vertical rotating curtain rod around which the main will roll up as you reef. I could imagine that with the vertical battens installed in your main sail , your main sail will then - per-force - roll up on the luff batten as you start to furl it. _*Just remember that you will have to release the main sail outhaul so that the sail can slide forward on the boom as you reef*__*.*_ Think of it as rolling up a vertical window blind as you reef .... Thoughts on launching: - Do you have chocks for the car and for the trailer wheels to keep the rig from going swimming unintentionally? - Do you have a small ladder so that you can climb aboard easily. I had a lightweight aluminum ladder that fit inside the Jetta. - Load the boat with all your equipment at home before going to the launch ramp. If you have everything in your car, then you have to climb up and down, up and down, etc. - Take your outboard off the motor mount when traveling on the road. The bouncing and jarring might drop the motor on the road. Why take a chance? - It's also a very inviting toy for someone to "liberate" if you stop at a gas station or a motel. - Double check that all hold-down straps are removed from the boat before backing down the launch ramp. Only my winch line was still attached to the boat. - Do you have a boat hook handy? Are fenders in place? Mooring lines? Did you open the air vent on the outboard cap? Is the fuel petcock ON? Did I send you photos of my companionway table? ... or the bottom slide for the companionway with the teak rack that held my binoculars, GPS, Grundig radio, and a beer? The M-15 is a great boat isn't it? Call when you have questions. Ciao, Connie chbenneck@sbcglobal.net

Dear Connie,

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm just back from my vacation at the CT shore, and I was able to get in many good days of sailing on your old M-15. The only problem is that now I don't want to go back to working. Oh well. The boat is by far the best sailing boat I've ever owned. It tacks! I'm not used to a boat that easily does that. It's two feet shorter and two feet narrower in beam than my last one, and it sails through Long Island Sound chop like a much bigger boat. I felt very safe and stable in it in some pretty good gusts. I had the centerboard worked on at Cedar Island Marina and it's fine now. I'm having ideas of voyagesÂ….

One question: I've mastered the roller furling of the jib and can easily reef it down as needed, but I have yet to understand reefing the main by roller furling it. I can get it to roll at the bottom, but the top of the sail does not get the idea and the result is a twisted up main that does not draw well in big gusts. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this subject. One thought I have had since is that I never put in the vertical too-hickeys which I can't think of the name of, like slats that go in sleeves of the sail. Maybe they'd make a difference in how the sail would furl at the top.

Your friend and happy sailor, David

...

Hi, Connie and Katrina! For some reason your message to me about the joys of the sailing life was resent today. I apologize for not responding then, but I really did enjoy and appreciate your thoughts! As you probably are aware, I will be retiring in 73 days and will be starting my fulltime sailing adventures. My dream for some time has been to live on a sailing boat and cruise our coastlines, the San Juans and the Great Lakes. My M15, "Prelude", was to be my training boat. Unfortunately, I have not been able to sail anywhere near as often as I intended, so I still have a lot to learn from her. My intention remains to find a liveaboard boat, 30-36'; after all, I have to live somewhere as cheaply as possible and be on or near the water! However, I plan to keep "Prelude" for those inland trips to lakes and day sailing - and, of course, HPCC. And all those memories and experiences I will be gaining? I look forward to passing them on to my 3 grandsons! Thanks again! Bill ---- Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 31-Jul-12 4:31 PM, whinkeljr@cox.net wrote:

Hi Bill,

The more you sail, the more memories you accumulate. The more memories you accumulate the more experiences you have gained.

.... and so it goes. That's the fun of sailing. With each new experience you have learned something new; and your knowledge and experience grows.

It's a great life-long adventure.

Enjoy every minute of it, it only gets better and better with age and experience.

Connie & Katrina

...

Sean, Fantastic photos, Fantastic sailing life - what an Adventure! Thanks for sharing and inspiring: I can't wait 'til I can sail into my own dreams!! Bill M15 "Prelude"