Hi Danelle, I second Bert Felton's comments. My M15 had slugs on the main, which made hoisting and lowering the sail very easy (I mostly single-handed the M15). The boom had a bolt rope, which I left as is since I only put it in place once at the beginning of the season. But on the main, slugs make life much easier, when hoisting or lowering your sail... To keep slugs from falling out of the mast slot you can either put in a sail stop - a device that fits into the mast slot and is held in place with a knurled nut. The problem with the sail stop is that they have a huge affinity for any adjacent body of water. If the screw loosens up, the sail stop will drop to the deck, bounce, and with great glee and perverseness dive into the water before you can capture it. Since an M17 will mostly have lots of water adjacent to it; it's bye-bye - sail stop.... So, a simpler, easier and cheaper solution is to take about a piece of about 1/4" diameter bungee cord, run it twice around the mast as you stretch it; then put a knot in it. This keeps the slugs from falling out of the mast slot when you lower the main, and if you loose the bungee cord, you have just lost a few cents, not several dollars, and, you can make a new one almost instantly with material you have on board. You also can roll it down to let the slugs fall out of the mast sail slot, or push it back up to hold them in place. Have fun and joyful sailing, Connie ex M15 #400 LEPPO Flickasf@aol.com wrote: I added sail slugs to my main. It works great for me because it allows me to do the following: 1. I can lower my main and flake it on the boom easily 2. I can raise and lower the main easily. Bert Felton M15, #365 Zephyr ************** Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4&?NCID=aolfod00030000000002) _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats