Thanks George. Those fixed blocks at the aft end of the toe rails might be for spinnaker sheets, but if you go trough the the block and now heading forward with the bitter end, there is no jam cleats facing the correct way to secure the line. The forespar tiller extension seems like a nice solution. Connie has one and a lock box. If it is like the one I used, besides spinning in its recepticle it also articulates up and down so you can stand up and steer without pulling up on the tiller. I've been wanting to stand a couple of times and ended up pulling the rudder out of the water. Connie figured that one out. I took the never used porta potti out of my boat, but after my first sail I filled it with water and put it back in. I noticed the difference the second time out. "Yes, Connie, I'm gonna fill that front locker with all kinds heavy junk". But what about those styrofoam chunks in the locker? Were they put in by Jerry or an owner? Taking out styrofoam and replacing it with a hundred pounds of sinkables doesn't seem prudent. Rick Langer M15 #337 Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 10:52:49 -0700 From: G Burmeyer <burmeyer@sbcglobal.net> Subject: Re: M_Boats: Learning Curve To: Montgomery Boats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <BCDCCA81.1FCE%burmeyer@sbcglobal.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Rick, Agree with you regarding the really basic traveler on the M15 and I have been wondering if I could or should rig a simple block and cleat affair to the aft mainsheet block to hold the boom to weather when needed. (My boat, which is pretty much stock, has no blocks on the aft end of the toerail. Might it be those blocks are for spinnaker sheet and guy?) The first alterations to my boat were to remove most of the Styrofoam blocks which had been stuffed into the forward locker (I left the ones under the cockpit) and used that space to store some water bottles and a portable battery. I also added a Forespar adjustable tiller extension. This keeps my all-too-considerable weight forward in the cockpit and helps balance the boat fore and aft. So long as you keep the water outside the boat, there's no problem. (Thanks to Connie for his wise words on this subject.) An added bonus of the ball-end tiller extension is that is works pretty well as a tiller tamer by jamming the ball against the cockpit seats backs as long as I don't dance a jig on the boat. It works so well that I'm planning on putting in a "tiller lock box" which will hold the ball end securely in place. George M15 #385 On 5/28/04 7:02 AM, "Rick Langer" <farreach@optonline.net> wrote:

Connie,

The "learning curve" is right. There's more blocks, fairleads and cleats on my M15's deck then I know what to do with. I've worked out the jib and main halyards to the cockpit and the working jib sheets seem to work well through the fairleads on the cabin roof, but the 170% genoa sheets still have me a little puzzled. I led them through fairleads on deck at the rear of the windows. This worked somewhat, but when sheeted in all the way they pulled down hard on the leech leaving the foot rather baggy. I tried running the sheets through the permanently mounted blocks at the aft end of the toe rail. This worked very well, with nice sail shape, but the sheets were not long enough to go through tacks rigged this way and there didn't seem to be a way to cleat them off.

Another issue is the traveler. I rigged it through the eyes on each side of the stern and the mainsheet block on the boom. This worked well enough on all tacks except close hauled. I wanted a way to pull the boom more to windward and found that if I pulled the boom by hand to windward that I could point better. Is this the correct way to rig the traveler or are those permanent blocks at the aft end of the toe rail somehow used for pulling the boom sideways?

On second look at the flotation, I see the logs you mentioned under the Styrofoam which I suspect was added by the original owner. Was there ever concerns on this list that the M15s didn't have enough flotation?

A solar powered Nicro vent seems like a good solution in conjunction with louvered hatchboards, but I'd really prefer an opening hatch up forward. I wonder if anyone on the list has tried to install one?

Thanks for all your help,

Rick Langer